I was in Chicago yesterday speaking at a customer conference for bswift (look em up www.bswift.com). Not only was it a freakin’ gorgeous May day in Chi-town, but the group I spoke to was an absolute delight.

Most of them were HR people, so I always wonder how my message will go over, but to their credit they laughed and cried at all the right places and eased up a little on their HR sensitivities (they didn’t wrinkle their noses or knit their brows if I was a tad edgy).
Patrick McGarrity, a bswift guy, played host and had the audience cracking up with his karaoke rendition of YMCA, supplying his own awkward lyrics cleverly tied to bswift’s business. It was somewhat “geeky” but very funny. The theme of their whole conference was “Fun at Work” a blatantly bold theme to tout in today’s anxious economy. Patrick’s energy, affability, and willingness to be laughe “at” not “with” set the perfect tone for their day.

In these turbulent times, as leaders we should follow suit and look for ways to lighten up a bit, even a little self-effacing humor when appropriate can only help lowered morale.

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