Leaders who laugh won’t be taken seriously.

Leaders who laugh are unprofessional.

Leaders who laugh aren’t good leaders.

These are all misnomers. It’s actually the opposite.

Leaders who laugh are relatable.

Leaders who laugh humanize themselves.

Leaders who laugh are leaders people want to work for.

Stanford’s Graduate School of Business lecturers and workplace humor experts, Naomi Bagdonas and Connor Diemand-Yauman, shared this research in their 2021 video Laugh More, Lead Better.

  • Laughter changes your brain chemistry and primes you for more connection, creativity, resourcefulness, and stress-resilience.
  • Humor builds genuine connection, well-being, and intellectual safety among coworkers.
  • Leaders with a sense of humor:
    • are admired more and seen as 27% more motivating,
    • have 15% more employee engagement, and
    • have teams who are over 2x more likely to solve creativity challenges.

Workplace humor expert, Andrew Tarvin, echoes Bagdonas and Diemand-Yauman: “When a leader uses humor in their leadership skills, it builds deeper relationships, increases their personal likability, and improves their team’s job satisfaction.”

In my own research I found how much humor matters! It’s called Good-humored G Factor and people who have it are people others want to work with and work for.

G Factor is your ability to get people to gravitate to you. And when you do, your team and your coworkers will trust you more, be more loyal, and do their best work. It’s true!

*If you are someone who wants to increase your gravitational pull or know someone else who does, you should probably check this out – Boost Your G Factor in 10 Days!