I read an interesting article recently about how the use of humour can enhance your career. A survey of 737 CEOs on the subject stated that 98% gave preference when recruiting and promoting to people with a sense of humour. Once in a job, it also means that those who use humour (appropriately of course!) work better, stay healthier and are less stressed. A winning combination for the individual and the organisation!

From a personal perspective, I know that humour is an important part of my working life – be that my own use of humour and that of the rest of the team I work with. In my experience, using humour is about being human and instills trust in people. In the current economic climate where we are recovering from the aftermath of bankers operating in a corrupt way, someone who creates authentic connections and exudes warmth is a breath of fresh air and is much more likely to do well in their career.

What do you think? Has using humour enhanced your career?

I once had a discussion with an HR Director about leadership development where we found ourselves listing the attributes we felt all good leaders should have.  High on our list, if not in top spot, was authenticity – one of the 3 Golden Rules of Personal Branding.  But then my companion made an interesting point: it depends on your definition of the word.  She’d worked with executives who felt being authentic was as simple as not telling a lie – what I’d classify as ‘truthfulness’, which doesn’t in itself constitute being authentic.

So instead, here’s my definition:

• Authenticity is knowing and understanding who the real you is – from the tangible, rational aspects of your image, skills and experience, to the more intangible, emotional aspects of your behaviours, beliefs and values
• Authenticity is accepting the real you comprises not only the great attributes but also the not so great – and being willing to let others see both
• Authenticity is being the real deal at all times with all people – regardless of occasion or status

Do you agree? And if not, what constitutes authenticity for you?  Leave a comment!

My dad came to visit me when I was working in a church in Ventura, Calif., many years ago. There was a reception to recognize some sort of milestone I’d crossed, and he was always supportive of his kids’ accomplishments. It was the only thing that would get him into a church. He explained his refusal to attend services as a favor to regular church-goers: “I’d hate to be responsible for the deaths of all those good folks if the roof fell in because I was there.”

He was listening passively to me talk about all the things we were achieving when I mentioned my responsibility for visiting shut-ins, mostly elderly women and a few men who were no longer able to get out of their homes. His face lit up at the mention of these people and he said, “That’s the real church! Those are the ones that really matter!”

I think of that encounter quite a lot as I’m coaching senior leaders. They deal with systems and social and market forces. They think about their companies in terms of divisions and departments. Information comes to them by way of slides and spreadsheets and presentations, while their influence is spread through memos and meetings and ‘subordinates.’ Senior leaders operate at the organizational scale. From that vantage point, it can be hard to remember the human scale.

Executive coaching introduces a speed bump in the headlong rush of impersonal interactions. It creates a moment to slow down and see what really matters.

There’s a famous tale in Judeo-Christian tradition of a fellow named Jonah who is called to speak truth to a people disinclined to hear it. He can’t really be blamed for trying to escape in the opposite direction. This hasty retreat by merchant ship is aborted when his fellow passengers toss him overboard and he’s swallowed ‘by a great fish.’

Being in the belly of the beast would not seem an improvement of circumstance, but it affords Jonah a chance for reflection. When he’s spit up on land several days later, Jonah resumes his mission and goes where he was called to go. Still beset by doubts and lacking even the pretense of enthusiasm, he preaches a demand for change – and suddenly finds himself wildly successful.

As a coach, I meet my clients in the belly of the whale. I can’t stop the maelstrom around us, but I can create a contemplative space in which real thought may occur. We can ask, What is really important? What might be done? What is the human impact of my deeds and the deeds of my company?

Consider your own role. People flock outside your office (and buzz at your digital doorways) with dire warnings and the need for quick answers. In meeting after meeting, you are expected to distinguish the important from the merely salient and respond intelligently and with critical wisdom. And your lieutenants are sometimes like dray horses pulling in opposing directions. Without reflection, your actions are really reactions to these assaults.

With an executive coach, you are forced to step out of the reactionary mode and think.

When you sit down across from me, you learn that I have no use for leaders who will not act. But I have even less use for leaders who act without thought. When we talk, you know I am committed to you and your well being, but not beholden to you. You learn that I am more committed to the truth than to your comfort, and I am more engaged with your impact than your happiness. And together we will pay attention to the human scale of your business.

In this space, often uncomfortable and uncertain, we are free to face the truth in all its beauty and ruin and to act today with tomorrow in our sights. The result can be leadership: the transformative force in human life.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccl/2012/04/24/how-to-stop-reacting-and-start-leading/