Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women -- Groucho Marx Being funny, breaking up the gridlock of seriousness, not taking oneself too seriously in the workplace is a good thing. As the old saying goes, “laughter is the best medicine.” In an era of employee disengagement, high pressure work environments and hyper-focused bosses, I certainly think humour is really the needed medicine. Humour in business is considered frivolous. It dilutes the message. Business is about achievement, productivity, making money, accomplishing tangible things. In reality I find that there are more funny stories that come from corners where you never would have imaged - such as an army unit at the brink of war, doctors during the operation, inside board meetings deciding on investment mergers. A recent study at University of Nevada showed that leaders who keep their sense of humour when unwanted change happens, did better at their jobs. Humour is a double edged sword - it can can make the day for you or it can kill you. We can find this concept from the book "Humor as a Double-Edged Sword: Four Functions of Humor in Communication" by John C.Meyer Humour at work is much less about wisecracks than about levity: the shared moments of lightness that propel relationships forward and balance the seriousness of labour. So what has Crazy Mohan to do with this topic?
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“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang To drive in Madras (now called Chennai) is one hell of an experience. I would like to stress on the word HELL a bit more than you can dream off. Every day while driving it’s like you are holding your life in your mouth until you park your vehicle. Yet the moment you park and catch the smell of Filter Kaapi from the kitchen [not necessary from yours] – all the stress disappear. To start with, there is only one main rule of driving in Madras that operates on the fact that you are the best and leave the rest to the insurance company. This is due to the road condition, which is a clear example of Darwin’s theory – “Survival of the Fastest”. The male protagonist of this story, the driver, goes in with a set algorithm. He usually starts in the left unless it’s occupied. In that case he tries to go to the right, unless that is occupied too. If both are occupied he goes for the centre. Then he proceeds by occupying the next available slots in the road, as in a chess game. So it’s a fairly easy algorithm to master – go for the empty spaces in front of you. What do you mean by Rationalisation? The dictionary meaning is: the cognitive process of making something seem consistent with or based on reason. Another way to put it is a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening. (Psychatric explanation) Why do we rationalize in the first place? When something happens that we find difficult to accept, then we will make up a logical reason why it has happened. The target of rationalization is usually something that we have done, such as being unkind to another person. It may also be used when something happens independent of us which causes us discomfort, such as when a friend is unkind to us. We not only rationalize actions and the things we have done, we also find reason for our beliefs, models, values and other inner structures and thoughts. These systems are often implied in rationalization statements. We rationalize to ourselves. We also find it very important to rationalize to other people, even those we do not know. It Looks like everything which I own today is broken and waiting to be fixed. Do not believe me then here is a sample list:
Defective things lying around my house
While reading the book by Guy Kawasaki titled "Art of Start 2.0" a guide for anybody wanting to start something I found 2 top ten lists which he had created - Top Ten Lies series one for entrepreneurs and the other for VCs. This sprang a thought on me that I can do one for Engineering teams. So here it is ... Legal Disclaimer: All phrases and incidence portrayed in this blog are a work of fiction. No identification with actual projects, teams and products is intended or should be inferred. No development teams were harmed in the making of this blog. |
AuthorVasudevan is a Leadership Mentor and an Executive coach. I run an online website geared towards helping creative entrepreneurs and future managers to build their dreams. Archives
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