Mike Lynch Cartoon in March 2007 Harvard Business Review

I love those wacky corporate ideas. You know, the button-down corporation decides it's going to do something "fun" for its people (free snacks in the coffee room, weekend rock climbing, etc.). Sometimes it does not work out.

Case in point: Mick Stevens drew a classic one 13 years ago. And here are a couple of cartoons that I've drawn, making fun of weird company ideas to enhance the employees' existence. I'll start with the cartoon that's in this month's Harvard Business Review:

Actually, the idea for the cartoon came up one day, and it came easy. That was unexpectedly nice. However, I remember holding my pen over my 100% Recycled Paper Robert Bateman Spiral Bound Artist Quality Sketch Pad, puzzling and hesitating over how to depict the idea. It took a while to resolve. Finally, just adding some windows to the office, so we could see the not happy results of Face Painting Friday filing by, was arrived at. It took longer than it should, but there it is. Hey, as long as the final result looks effortless -- and funny.

A couple more cartoons; below is a cartoon taking a shot the now-classic Hawaiian Shirt Day. I remember being in a small town bank on a Friday, and the whole staff was wearing khakis and golf shirts. Next to each tellers window was a sign letting customers know that even though there were no crisp white shirts and conservative ties, that it was still OK to do business. A patron must've complained.



And, below is one of those "Take Your ________ to Work Day" cartoons. I should've drawn the chimps all with diapers on. That would've added a subtle hint of how dreadful this wacky corporate idea was.

Regardless, one of these three cartoons failed to sell, and, yes, the chimpanzee one is that loser of the batch.