Learn to laugh
Three lessons to restore your perpective and renew your spirit
By Jim Huling
August 2008
Iwas excited to speak to
the class of newly hired
employees. As CEO, I had always taken pride in personally relating the company’s history as well as its
strong values-based culture
to each new hire class.
Approaching the room, I
could hear the program
leader introducing me,
recounting the many successes the company was
enjoying and letting the class
know how special my opening message would be. I felt
my chest swell with pride as
I listened outside the door.
Smiling and confident, I
entered the room with a
sense of importance. Holding
my morning coffee, I
walked to the front and
welcomed everyone to his
or her first day with the
company. After placing
my mug on one of the
classroom tables, I casually sat on the corner of that
same table, adopting the
relaxed posture that I imagined a CEO should take, and
started my message.
Instantly, the world turned
upside down. I had failed to
realize that putting my entire
body weight on the end of
that table would cause the
other end to flip skyward.
Within seconds, the table
was literally soaring, accompanied by a dark waterfall of
steaming coffee, and both
were flying straight toward
me. I sprawled helplessly on
the floor with my legs
splayed in the air and
uttered a high-pitched shriek
while the class looked on in
disbelief. Although the table
missed me, the coffee didn’t,
and I was bathed from head
to toe in scalding java.
I will never forget the
image of each newly hired
employee, astonished and
immobile, looking down at
the CEO who had just
screamed like a child.
Clearly, it was not my best
moment. But then a miracle
happened.
The absurdity of how I
looked and what they must
be thinking became so clear I
started to laugh. It began as a
chuckle but quickly grew into
a doubled-over belly laugh as
I crawled to my knees wiping
coffee from my face. Within
seconds, the class started
laughing with me and soon
we were roaring so loudly
that people from other offices
were coming to see what was
happening.
In more than a decade of
giving the welcoming
address, this particular session is the one I will remember because it taught me
again the power of laughter.
Learn to laugh at yourself.
Regardless of your role or
title, it’s easy to take yourself and what you do too
seriously. If you’re not careful, you will cross the line
that divides responsibility
and obsession, and you will
find that the price of pursuing perfection is much too
high. Laughing at your
mishaps and mistakes
reminds you that you aren’t
perfect and aren’t expected
to be. Like an instant vacation, laughter restores your
sense of perspective and
enables you to relax, making
you not only happier but
also more effective.
Learn to laugh at life. Over
time, your day-to-day worries can be like too much
spyware, clogging your
mind’s ability to function.
Your imagined consequences
will almost always be
greater than your real ones.
But when you really laugh,
you sweep away all the
debris of your difficulties,
both real and imagined, and
return to your day with a
new ability to tackle your
challenges.
Learn to laugh with others.
The ability to laugh makes
you more vulnerable and
approachable — as a leader
and as a person. These qualities enable the people in
your life to connect with you
more easily and, in the end,
help you to build a greater
sense of unity in your team,
your community or your
family. Whatever else my
new hires learned that day,
they knew they could always
laugh with me, and I believe
it made me a better leader.
In the survival kit of life,
laughter is surely one of
your greatest tools. Use it
today, and every day, to
uplift your spirit and connect to the people who
matter most.
JIM HULING is CEO of The Jim Huling Group, a strategic consulting company enabling leaders
and their teams to achieve extraordinary results. Jim’s leadership experience spans more than
three decades, including 11 years as CEO of a successful technology company recognized four
times as one of the “25 Best Small Companies to Work For in America.” Jim is also the author of
“Choose Your Life! a powerful proven method for creating the life you want.” He can be reached
at jim@jimhuling.com.
