Today's Business Lessons
By Francis J. Kong
(The Philippine Star) Updated November 20, 2011
One day, a business mailed out an advertising
brochure that had a mustard seed attached to the reply device. Below the
mustard seed was a caption that went something like this: “If you have
faith as much as this grain of mustard seed and you put it on our
product, you will have great success.”
A few months later, one person who had received the brochure wrote to
the sponsoring company. “You will be interested to know,” he wrote,
“that I planted the mustard seed that you sent me. The plant is doing
exceptionally well. It has grown beautifully and is now bearing very
healthy… tomatoes!”
I hope the story made you laugh. I did when I first read it.
I just love laughing and making others laugh. People say I have a sense of humor. Of course I do – I look at the mirror every day!
People also say that they love listening to my lectures. I hope they
are there not only for the funny stories but for the lesson as well.
Because when I speak and when I do trainings, I use laughter not only to
keep my audience awake, but to serve as a creative handle to make the
lesson stick deeper in the minds of my participants.
Some speakers inject even off-colored jokes to their lectures just
for the sake of making people laugh. That’s not good. It cheapens the
presentation and makes the speaker looks cheap, if he or she isn’t
already.
But there is a deeper reason why I embrace laughter. It may sound
corny to some, but it is really true. I embrace laughter because it is
an instant vacation.
Doctors also tell us that a good laugh after eating is one of the healthiest things we can do. “A healthy laugh gives a workout
to your stomach and chest muscles, heart and lungs. And though your
blood pressure and adrenaline go up during laughter, they drop to normal
or below afterward, releasing stress.”
This news is not altogether new. Aristotle, the famed Greek
philosopher, said the same thing 2,000 years ago.
Referring to laughter,
he said, “It is a bodilyb exercise
precious to health.” And a thousand years before Aristotle, Solomon
wrote in the Bible, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed
spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)
Famous author Barbara Johnson said, “Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles. It won’t take the potholes out of the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother.”
There is plenty of laughter in our house, and all my kids are into
it. We have fun together, we always try to find the funny angle to a
particular thing, and we let loose a great burst of laughter every now
and then. And when you visit my Mad Science office, you will find young,
talented, brilliant people laughing all the time. Their having fun is
the reason why they are creative.
Do not underestimate the power of laughter. Try working for a boss who looks like a vacuum-packed prune and see if any creativity will spring up in that place.
Don’t be too serious with life. No one gets out of it alive anyway.
That is, of course, in our decaying planet’s perspective. But it’s
totally different when we talk about eternal issues.
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