Tom Fishburne, founder of Marketoonist, has spent years turning workplace truths into simple cartoons. He uses humor to expose what many workplaces avoid saying out loud. His message is simple: when teams can laugh together, especially about themselves, they create psychological safety, strengthen bonds, and collaborate more openly. Laughter becomes a signal that it’s safe to be honest, human, and real at work, allowing culture to grow stronger.
Fishburne’s cartoons resonate because they reflect reality. The unspoken rules, the awkward meetings, the contradictions of modern work. When teams recognize themselves in those moments and laugh together, something important happens.
Tension drops. Defensiveness fades. People relax.
Laughing together, especially about ourselves, sends a clear message: it’s safe to be human here.
That sense of psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of healthy team dynamics, better collaboration, and long-term performance.
Company culture isn’t built through big statements or values decks. It’s built through repeated, everyday interactions.
Shared laughter is one of those small moments that compound over time. It helps teams feel more connected. It makes feedback easier to give and receive. It reduces fear around speaking up or making mistakes.
When people feel safe, they collaborate more openly. When collaboration improves, trust grows. And when trust grows, culture strengthens naturally.
This is especially relevant when designing team building activities, company offsites, and corporate retreats.
The most effective experiences are not the ones that try to force fun or connection. They’re the ones that create the right environment for it to emerge organically.
Moments of shared laughter during a team activity, a workshop, or an offsite dinner often become the most memorable parts of an event. Not because they were planned, but because they were real.
These moments help teams reset how they relate to each other once they’re back at work.
At Gecko Events, we see this across every company retreat, team building session, and corporate event we design.
The experiences that truly move the needle are not the most complex ones. They’re the ones that allow people to drop their guard, connect naturally, and enjoy being together.
When teams share meaningful experiences outside their usual work context, laughter becomes a bridge. A bridge between roles. Between departments. Between people who may rarely connect day to day.
That’s when culture stops being abstract and becomes something people feel.
For People and Culture leaders, Fishburne’s message is a reminder that culture doesn’t need to be over-engineered.
Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is create space for teams to be human together. Space to reflect. Space to connect. Space to laugh.
Because when teams can laugh at themselves, they can also trust each other, collaborate better, and build a culture that lasts.
And often, it all starts with a shared laugh.
In many companies, laughter is still seen as something secondary. A break between meetings. A nice moment, but not real work.
In his TED Talk, The Power of Laughing at Ourselves at Work, Tom Fishburne challenges that belief in a simple and powerful way. Through humor, he shows that laughter at work is not about being funny. It’s about creating the conditions where people feel safe enough to be themselves.
And that’s where culture truly starts.
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