Today's Business Lessons
The power of humor
Modern life is full of tensions, as evidenced by the popularity of
psychiatrists, anti-stress drugs, exercise spas and meditation
techniques. Laughter is one way to deal with these pressures. It
provides a much-needed release not just for ourselves, but also for the
people around us. Even Scriptures say, “A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs.17:22)
Some people say that after God created the world, He made man and
woman. Then to keep the whole thing from collapsing, He invented humor.
Humor is so powerful it can diffuse business tensions. This is a
classic: when Eugene Cafiero was president of the Chrysler Corporation,
he went to England to resolve an intense conflict between management and
members of the union at a Chrysler plant. As Cafiero entered the plant,
a man confronted him and loudly declared, “I’m Eddie McClusky and I’m a
Communist.” Cafiero held tight his hand and replied, “I’m Eugene
Cafiero, and I’m a Presbyterian.” Laughter followed, and it cooled off
this confrontation. When a situation is potentially explosive, humor can
diffuse it.
Don’t you just love a cheerful person? I do. When I come into the
presence of anyone who is so serious he or she looks like a raisin, I
can immediately feel the tension, and I begin to expect that the
encounter and the conversation will be challenging.
Doing business should be serious, but you and I shouldn’t be too
serious with ourselves. We need to cheer up. And the best way to cheer
yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. Those who have never
learned to cultivate a healthy sense of humor become impatient,
critical, skeptical and cynical (This part sounds like a list of weight
reducing drugs.). People without a sense of humor miss out on the joy of
life and living.
I’ve had memorable conversations with established business people and
achievers. I noticed that most of those who have made it to the top of
their field are those who have learned to laugh off their mistakes,
learn from their mistakes, and profit from their mistakes by moving
forward strengthened by their experiences. Remember: Those who can’t
laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
You find humor most powerful in public speaking. When seasoned
speakers make people laugh, it’s like they could own the audience
they’re addressing. Amateurs know this but don’t know how to actually do
it. They crack jokes just for the sake for saying something funny, and
worst, they crack green jokes in their desperation to elicit laughter
from their audience. They actually pollute the air this way and thus
should be charged with unhealthy carbon emissions.
Humor administered tastefully makes the audience laugh, because the seasoned speaker makes the
audience see themselves and laugh at their own idiosyncrasies. The
idea is not to insult and laugh at the audience or other people, but to
laugh with them.
I’ve made it a habit to look at the humor in everything. Even God has
a great sense of humor – if you don’t believe me, just look at the
mirror.
People who don’t know how to laugh look like raisins, but people who do are great to be with.
Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. And, if you really think
about it, most things in this world are really just small stuff in the
light of life after the one in this world. We have many reasons to be
joyful, if we really think about it. So we shouldn’t take ourselves too
seriously.
Learn to laugh, love and live, for God has designed this life for us
to enjoy it, not just for us to sorrowfully endure it. We can do that if
we put our faith in Him.
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