Laughter - The Key to Learning and Leadership
@Dana Asher unlocks the value of laughter for both learning and leadership.
"We’d failed. The executive who’d attended our kickoff presentation had rejected even our most basic premise. What he did manage to do, though, as we discovered after returning for a fresh meeting several weeks later, was recite a joke my colleague had told.
She didn’t even remember telling it (it was about a consultant and a dog), but for whatever reason, it had stuck. That joke– which was immaterial, from our perspective, to the learning goals of the session–had somehow cracked our client’s brittle armor. Hearing him retell it eased us into an open conversation about his challenges leading the division. Ultimately, we emerged with a shared vision of what actually could help him.
Relaxing is key to learning. Learning is key to leadership. Laughter unlocks both.
LAUGHTER MAKES US VULNERABLE
When we laugh, we relax. As anxiety decreases, our capacity to retain information expands.
When we laugh, we relax. As anxiety decreases, our capacity to retain information expands. Jokes also prompt what experts call “expectation failures,” memorable instances of cognitive dissonance that, in forcing us to grapple with what’s just been said, aid retention. In other words, the heightened emotion that humor evokes doesn’t just make it easier for us to hit upon insights we otherwise wouldn’t–it also helps us remember them."
Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/eF7Exih
