Raise the Umbrella and learn how to keep others dry

I was reading through one of my fellow bloggers sites and reviewed some of the pictures of the decades and could not help but be depressed by the insanity of the world we live in and our ability to inflict pain and suffering on each other. All of us have a responsibility to lift our game both individually and collectively to make this a reality. Now, I am not asking that we all become charismatic in engaging self righteous individuals. I do think we can all take the world a little more seriously and do our bit to increase the human interaction to a much more charitable and forgiving place. I remember reading a quote from Mother Teresa and forgive me if I am not exact on the words, but she did say that she would never join an anti-war rally, but a rally for peace, she would be there every time. I do feel we can shape people thinking by focusing on the positive. My point is not to turn you into a jokemaster, but rather to help you find ways to look at life from a different perspective. So, with that in mind, here are ways to inject some levity into your workplace.

Lampoon hypocrisy. Challenge those who talk not live the talk.
Take the high and mighty down a peg. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously. Make it safe for people to make light of your shortcomings.
Put up an Umbrella and dance. As a leader, learn how to raise an umbrella so all the crap falls away and you take responsibility for what happens under that umbrella. Keep it light, keep it fun, keep the trust alive.
Point out absurdity. Be the one who people look to, that focuses on truth. Be the one who dreams the dream but people look to be inspired by, not scared of. Look to be the one people follow naturally and instinctively because of the truth and trust you give.

The point is not about working and being committed. It’s about the manner in which you do it, the mindset you bring to it, the engagement you create in other people, and the sense of purpose and humour you bring to it.

As with all things humorous, tread carefully. Avoid jokes that lampoon gender and ethnicity; if you suspect a joke may be taken the wrong way, act on that assumption and don't use it. The point of humour in the workplace is not telling jokes; it is to lighten the mood.

Brain Dead

The last couple of weeks in Australia have educated me on a couple of interesting things. Firstly, the opportunity to have an outdoor life has to be one of life’s great advantages and secondly, how connected the world really is. I have always considered that I am fairly hard wired to work, but the level of sustained effort I was able to maintain on my travels makes me query where the balance comes into play. Do today’s leaders need so much coaching because of the relentless march of the machine connections? Are our lives now entirely ruled by technology that Orwell’s prediction has secretly slipped past us and we are now in this twilight world and nobody has told us? Are we now being morphed into one big machine where the world is one colossal entity being managed by some alien interloper who every so often allows us two weeks off only if we have our blackberry on so that the surveillance and GPS can track us constantly?
Maybe we should take our chips out (not the kind you eat) and say today: now I am going to be me. I am capable of switching off all the phones, TVs, laptops, sat nav etc. and be in touch with no one but myself. Ah, the sense of freedom! But, will my brain be so stressed by the backup of meaningless emails, social network updates, latest x factor voting that it will never be so?

Reading is only One way of Learning about Leadership

I was reading Leadership is a Verb by John Bishop and I happened across the below which is a direct lift from John's site:

“Since so much of what is on the internet about leadership is based on our ability to learn from the written word, I decided to start a search of the websites that specialize in compiling significant videos of thought leaders". Following are a few examples:

• TED – Technology, Education and Design - Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.
• MIT World Distributed Intelligence - MIT World is a free and open site that provides on demand video of significant public events at MIT. MIT World's video index contains more than 600 videos.
• The Leap - Hosted by David Belasco of USC Marshall School of Business to provide “Inspiration, empowerment and a kick in the ass.”
• eCorner – Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner - Entrepreneurial thought leaders lecture series that take place every Wednesday during the academic year.
• Manager Tools - a weekly podcast talking about new tools and easy techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives.
• YouTube EDU/Leadership - dedicated exclusively to videos from the more than 100 schools--ranging from Grand Rapids Community College to Harvard Business School.
• iTunesU/Business/Management - More than 170 schools offer content free to the public on Apple's iTunes U, which originated in 2004 as a way for colleges to distribute content privately to their own students. (downside - requires you register for iTunes)
• Academic Earth/Entrepreneurship - Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.