Most great leaders put authentic humour to good use. Probably, you agree a little well-placed humour could go a long way to easing work stresses and strains.

 

How would one go about developing authentic humour skills?

 

One answer is: borrow some brilliance from leaders who illustrated skill in this area.

 

Here are some examples:

• Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity. Albert Einstein
• "A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.” Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.” Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Say you want to learn how to make the best use of authentic humour. By borrowing the brilliance of other great leaders you can learn how this can be done. In each of the above examples, the leaders accomplish humour by poking the finger of fun at themselves. In the first example, one of the greatest scientists in history, Albert Einstein makes fun of his major physics accomplishment. In the second example, the wife of the USA’s leader and a leader in her own right, Eleanor Roosevelt pokes a little bit of fun at her gender. In the last one, Canada’s leader Pierre Elliott Trudeau makes fun of his country before making fun of his country’s nearest neighbour.

 

Two messages:

• You can learn from other leaders and you can tweak your character so it aligns with the pleasing personality a leader must have to inspire followers. This, like everything else of value, requires some work.
• After giving it some thought, you may decide you should tweak your use of humour…up a bit…or down a bit.

That was an example of what Spirited Leaders calls borrowing brilliance.