Welcome Professionals…
…I had an epiphany a while ago. I re-discovered the importance of humor in my life, especially in my business life.
Humor has always played a major role in my life. Fortunately, I had a happy childhood in my family with 3 younger brothers where we always had some funny banter going on. As a school kid I used to tell lots of jokes and later at university, I participated in a student comedy contest. With a friend I founded a satire magazine, one of the first published in the internet back in 1996.
When I entered my job as a top management consultant something changed. I remember my first project where we celebrated the final milestone of the project with in a dinner meeting with our client. Soon enough I found myself joking around with the client, in part recycling some bits of my comedy repertoire. I think we had a fun time and I thought the client as well. Except for my project leader.
As I found out during the final feedback round, my project leader rated my behaviour at the dinner table as completely inappropriate. He evaluated my client handling skills as unsatisfactory as a result.
My epiphany occurred when I realized that my long forgotten experience with my first project leader still influences me in client contacts. At least in high-rank client contacts, it makes me act more serious than necessary. Seriousness is an extremely important trait in top management consulting, but overdone it can show as rigidity. So I am acknowledging the situation in my early career that made me suppress the humorous part of my personality. With new confidence I am deliberately adding more fun, banter, and humor to my client interactions. It leads me to come across as a more rounded personality and is relieving tension in various situation. After all, it is more fun to work this way!
Have fun,
Malte
Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!
Excellent tip – love to see/hear you in actio!