Being a leader doesn’t have to be so serious. You can lead without being a boring, uninteresting, or dull person. In fact, notice that the most charismatic leaders almost always have a sense of humor.
* Increases Motivation – You know about the “know, like, trust” factor in business. Well, when people feel as if they know you, they’ll start to like you, and finally trust you. This combination will motivate your team to act on your behalf as if it was their name on the line. If you want to motivate more people, find ways to bring humor into the mix. Happy people are motivated people.
* Makes You Memorable – If you want to be a leader, you must be memorable. If you’re too stiff and boring, you may not be able to attract a huge following. There are things you can do to be memorable that are funny today. Wear a bow tie. Put a pink stripe in your hair; develop a phrase that makes people laugh and think of you.
* Relieves Tension – Sometimes business is hard. It can be tough and feel like a cut-throat world. But, the right humor can relieve so much tension. The technology didn’t work for your webinar? So what – laugh it off, make a joke about technology and start over. People will understand if you are laughing.
* Puts Everything into Perspective – Being able to look outside the immediate situation from a distance or from someone else’s point of view is very helpful. People with a well-developed sense of humor tend to be able to look past the forest to each individual tree.
* Brings Energy to the Room – Ever notice how some people just light up a room? Is the energy palatable? If you learn to use humor and laughter in the right way, you can do that too. Leaders tend to know how to do that instinctively, but it is a learned skill. Take a comedy class, go to Toastmasters, and watch a lot of stand-ups.
* Bonds You to Others – When you make people laugh, truly laugh, they start to love how they feel when they’re around you. They may not associate it that way but that’s how love starts. While you don’t want people to love you romantically at work, it’s sort of the same idea. You do want people to love you and feel bonded to you. Humor can get you there.
* Makes People Feel Good – When you bring humor and laughter to any situation, it simply makes people feel good. When they feel good, they’ll gravitate to doing more of what makes them feel good. If you’re that rod that lights up their mood, they’ll follow you anyplace.
* Shows Understanding of Human Nature – People who know just the right way to make people laugh know human nature. Human nature is so important because if you don’t know how to read non-verbal cues, you might be upsetting people rather than humoring them. Study people and see what makes humor so important to them.
When you understand human nature, want to make people feel good, and seek to show perspective to others, you become a great leader because people want to follow you. The trick is understanding the type of people you want on your team and using the right humor to attract them.
