Advice from a Moron: Self-Deprecation Matters

It was the early 1990’s and I was working for Hewlett-Packard at one of their call centers in Santa Clara, CA.  We were wrestling with a large project that required extra hours, so we decided to come in on a Sunday morning to try and get ahead of the week.  A coworker wisely brought donuts and coffee, and the meeting began.

About ninety minutes in, we decided to take a bio break, refill on caffeine and nosh on any remaining donuts.  Turning toward the coffee station, I spotted an older man walking aimlessly up and down the miles of cubicles.  Suddenly he stopped, picked up one of our crullers and started munching away.  ”Hey!”, I yelled, rushing toward him.  ”Those are ours!”, I cried, “And what the hell are you doing in the building?”  My voice shrilled as I all but snatched the remaining crumbs from his wrinkled paw.

“I’m so sorry young man, I had no idea.”, said the man, turning his eyes upward.  He wiped his hands on his pants and extended a handshake.  ”My name is Dave Packard.  I hope I didn’t disturb your meeting.  Nothing like a strange old man to throw off your concentration, is there?”  He grinned wryly and had a little chuckle at my expense. 

As I nervously smiled and slowly backed away from the “P” of HP, I realized what a moron I had been.  His picture was on the wall.  His initials were everywhere.  Holy crap…I had just verbally abused the Chairman of HP in his own building.  What else to do but dig in a little deeper and hope he’s a good sport, right?

“Don’t let it happen again!” escaped my lips as I wagged an accusatory finger.  ”I’ll be keeping an eye out for you.  And try not to hire any brash young idiots, okay?”  I fake-scowled, smiled and he had a good laugh, waved and moved on.  Whew…that was ugly.

My point in sharing that story is that I have embarrassed myself in literally hundreds of ways over the years (just ask my wife).  But guess what?  So has everybody else.  In my experience, one of the keys to success is to truly and sincerely admit that you are human, you make mistakes and can recognize your own shortcomings.  Self-deprecation is one of the things I enjoy most.  It’s much nicer than making fun of others and typically serves as a good way to draw people into a conversation.  

But what about when self-deprecation is false?   This is the feeling some had (myself included) from this weekend’s Saturday Night Live appearance by Sarah Palin.  There is a fine line between allowing people to mock you in your presence and actually mocking yourself.  Palin did the former and should have done the latter.

Self-deprecation is not new to the campaign trail.  To that end I’ll leave you with a story from “Mirth of a Nation” by humorist Mark Katz.  Let’s keep the conversation going and I’ll look forward to seeing some of you in Las Vegas tomorrow.

In 1958, then-Senator Kennedy was already leading the pack for the Democratic presidential nomination, but many in Washington still dismissed him as the brash son of a wealthy and unscrupulous man, a father too eager to bankroll his son’s upcoming bid for the White House. Speaking at the Capitol Hilton before an audience of such skeptics, Kennedy held up what he said was a telegram from his “generous daddy” and read it aloud: “Jack, Don’t spend one dime more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I am going to pay for a landslide.”