The Ability to Make Others Feel Good Will Help You in Business.
Bill Clinton was famous for – among other reasons – the ability to make people feel great when he was with them one on one. (No Monica jokes, please. I’m making a point.) Hundreds of people wrote about how the President made them FEEL during their interaction.
Whether or not you like him, it’s hard to argue that a two-term President wasn’t successful in some ways. One of the reasons for his success was this undisputed ability to make others feel good about him.
Clinton reminds us that personal charm is a piece of the success puzzle. Good news, sports fans: I’ve got another piece for you and it will make you laugh. If you’re lucky, that is.
JoAnne Bachorowski, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University, studies the acoustics of laughter. Her research tells us that the acoustics of laughter (the actual frequencies and sounds of somebody laughing) makes us feel good.
It seems subtle, so maybe in case you missed it, here it is again: science proves that the sound of laughter creates a pleasant response in others. Wow. You laugh; your ‘audience’ has a enjoyable experience.
In other words, people who hear us laugh respond with a positive physical response. And making others feel good enables us to shape their behavior towards us. It pre-disposes them to feel good towards us.
If you can make others feel good they are more likely to feel positive about us. It’s true. It’s science. Just ask Professor Bachorowski.
Wow.
Why Should You Care? We ALL want to shape other’s behavior towards us. Whether it is as leaders, as sales people, managers, as employees, as friends, as parents, as customers…. You name it! And one of the easiest (and coolest) techniques we can use to get what we want is to laugh more.
You’ve heard Fake It Until You Make It? Yup, it works with laughter. (Unless you laugh like Santa or a hyena, that is.) But if you have a reasonably good ability to FAKE laughing, that laughter will still serve you. And if it is real, it will serve you even better.
If you WANT to be a person of influence – and we all do – then you’ll be more effective if you laugh.
Science proves it: laughter works.
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Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Lover of Laughter, Humor Expert
Thanks Brad,
Another awesome post. As an educator I want to spread the news to other educators that when “You laugh; your [class] has an enjoyable experience.” I know for myself, if I have to learn something new I would much rather have an “Edutainer” such as your self present the info!!!
Holly