Jean Zarzour is the owner of Lipshtick Creative Concepts, a comedy firm that develops exercises and live theater around corporate issues. Jean's approach in dealing with widespread issues of downsizing, restructuring, and reengineering is to "address the reality with humor, but don't patronize. People already experiencing myriad emotions from fear and terror to cynicism. They want to hear the truth, not empty, sugarcoated explanations."

Jean suggests that humor can be presented using the most absurd, far-fetched, extreme scenarios possible: "I was asked to do the opening segment for a regional meeting of a company that was in the process of restructuring. The situation was very delicate because the employees attending the meeting still had no idea who would end up there as far as jobs and departments were concerned. We put together a series of slides representing the extremes of what could happen".

"For example, one slide showed a corporate cartoon character wearing scores of hats and having the boss continue to toss on more, even if none of them were staying on. They were topping off his head, and each one was labeled with the different departments and functions of the company. That silly, visual image directly addressed their sense of being overwhelmed, which was exactly what the employees were thinking and feeling. So it helped to open the channels for discussion of the real issues. To use humor effectively in a difficult time, you have to try to see the company from the employee's point of viewed them make fun of the company, not the people."

Bixler, Suzan. TAKE ACTION: 18 Proven Strategies for Advancing in Today's Challenging Business World. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1996. pp. 138-139