How Humor Makes Leaders More Compelling

0:28This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. of America for a reason. With SUVs made to move with your rhythm. The versatile Equinox tackles your entire day. The spacious Traverse fits your crew and your whole weekend. And tracks bring style with value you can count on. All infused with tech that has your back. So your drive always hits the right chord. Chevrolet. Together let's drive. I was on a flight one time with Jay Leno and I was coming back from Las Vegas and I think he had just performed at Caesars and I had probably been working at Little Caesars. But I asked Jay, I said, Jay, give me some tips on your standup and your comedy.

1:12And he said, Adam, you want LPMs. And I said, what's that? He said, laughs per minute. And I think leaders don't need to get a lot of laughs per minute, but they want to increase the number of laughs per meeting. And that doesn't mean that you have to generate all the laughs. It might be that you create an icebreaker or invite your management team to share their funniest dad joke because there are different styles of humor. So someone on your team might be really into puns. Somebody else might exaggerate stories. And so the mark of a good leader is not necessarily that they're funny, but that they're open to creating fun and connection.

1:51There was another study done not too long ago by Oxford that documented that humor-friendly cultures actually show a 30 % increase in productivity and creativity. I believe it's because when we're playful, we feel more persuasive, we feel more productive, and perhaps most important of all, we're more collaborative.