Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life: It’s Ok to Laugh at Yourself
Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it serves as a reminder that you need to be able to laugh at yourself.
I feel like this month has been all about laughter and joy. A couple of episodes ago, the focus was about laughing in the circumstances, then there was a reminder of the importance of celebrating milestones on a journey, and now this illustration is in the same vein of joy. It happened when my older brother and his wife came to visit. They had been missionaries in Brazil for about 30 years, and recently had moved back to the United States to work as representatives of their mission agency. Because they had been living in another country, my grandchildren had never met them in person.
They were excited when the day came for their arrival. When the knock on the door came, I opened it, and they stepped inside. My granddaughter was there, waiting to meet them. When she saw my brother, she put her hands on her cheeks, and started jumping up and down and laughing and exclaimed, “Where is your hair?!” She knew he was my brother, and she expected him to look like me, so it completely surprised her when a bald man came in the door.
What I appreciated was that he laughed along with her, and then bent over so that she could touch the top of his head. She did, and she laughed some more, and even after they left, when she saw his picture, she would say that he forgot his hair, laugh, and call him the funny man. It was important that my brother was able to laugh at himself in this situation, and show that to my grandchildren. He modeled for them what it means to not take yourself too seriously, to not take offense too easily, and to laugh at yourself, even at your own expense. Those were important lessons for my grandchildren to learn.
And those are important lessons for you in your leadership. If you take yourself too seriously, other people will not. If you take offense too easily, you will get easily offended frequently. If you cannot choose to laugh at yourself, you will instead become bitter and angry. It is better for our emotional, mental, and social health to be able to laugh at ourselves, and in the laughter, bring joy to others. This truth is emphasized in Proverbs 17:22, which tells us, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.”
That’s the lesson on leadership from this little thing in life, from my granddaughter laughing at the bald head of my brother. You are different than others and you will make mistakes, and people will sometimes laugh at you because of those things. My dad was a pastor, and I can remember as child after the sermon laughing at mistakes he made while speaking when he would mix up words, and hearing him join in the laughter. It is important that you are able to laugh at yourself in those moments as well. Don’t take yourself too seriously, don’t get offended too easily, and choose to express joy.
