Topic: CEO Humor in Corporate Communication

Speaker:  Prof. Dr. Andreas König, Professor of Strategic Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship and Vice Dean at the University of Passau’s School of Business, Economics, and Information Systems
 

Presentation:

Why do investors, analysts and the media ignore what may be one of the most powerful indicators of a company’s health and future: CEO humor?

At a time when every executive utterance is dissected for market-moving insights, dismissing humor as a mere personality quirk could be a costly oversight. Andreas Koenig’s groundbreaking research shows how the jokes and quips of top executives can significantly influence the way journalists, analysts, and ultimately the financial markets themselves evaluate companies. Working with leading computer scientists, König and his team examine four distinct types of CEO humor: affiliative, self-enhancing, self-defeating, and aggressive.

Contrary to popular leadership advice that advocates self-defeating humor to build rapport, CEOs who indulge in self-deprecation may inadvertently signal weakness and undermine perceptions of their competence and authority. This misalignment can lead to negative evaluations and undermine audiences’ confidence in the CEO and the firm. Even more provocatively, CEOs who use aggressive humor—despite flouting valuable social norms—may be perceived as more competitive and dominant. These patterns may translate into a strategic advantage, positively influencing analyst ratings and investor sentiment. The implications, of course, require reflection: Should investors recalibrate their models to account for the nuanced effects of CEO humor? Is aggressive—and thus harmful, normatively undesirable—humor an underappreciated asset in a leader’s communication arsenal, capable of moving markets in unexpected ways? Professor Koenig doesn't advocate abrasive leadership styles, but his research forces a reevaluation of how unorthodox leadership behaviors affect organizational perceptions and financial valuations - potentially offering new explanations and perspectives on social phenomena far beyond CEOs and financial markets.

Speaker's bio: 

Andreas König is Professor of Strategic Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship and Vice Dean at the University of Passau’s School of Business, Economics, and Information Systems. His research focuses on discontinuous organizational transformation, strategic leadership, and executive communication, including in financial markets. His award winning work has appeared in a wide range of journals with academic and practical focus. As researcher, keynote speaker, and executive coach, Andreas König has been working with many German and European Blue-Chip companies. He also cooperates closely with several start-ups and non-profit organizations. His work is significantly influenced by his unique diverse experiences, particularly as a professional musician (he holds a Master of Music in trumpet performance from the Royal Academy of Music, London, and a Bachelor of Music from Codarts University for the Arts, Rotterdam) prior to entering the field of business studies.