Two English shoe salesmen were sent to Africa in the early 1900s to assess potential market opportunities there. Each sent a telegram back to their boss in Manchester. The first wrote, ‘Situation hopeless. They don't wear shoes'. The other enthused, ‘Glorious opportunity! They don't have any shoes yet'.

This anecdote, shared by Benjamin Zander at the start of his TED talk, has the audience roaring with laughter. Zander then links it to his message: that some people think classical music is dying while others see it as thriving.

Zander is passionate about classical music, but he knows that many of his audience will probably roll their eyes at the very mention of it. So he uses one of the most powerful influence tools in the book, the power of humour.

You have to be kidding

In the world of influence, humour is the new frontier. Humour? You have to be kidding, you might say. ‘I'm not funny, and definitely not at work!'

Somehow work has become burdened with an often unnecessary gravitas; it has lost its sense of fun or play. Work is often tiring and demanding. To paraphrase bestselling Irish author Marian Keyes, or rather her wonderful character Maggie Walsh, that's why it's called work; otherwise it would be called deep-tissue massage.

Humour is a joyful conjunction of connection and influence. It is the Trojan horse of influence.

Every motivational speaker knows that no matter how compelling your message, the two tools that help you get behind your audience's defences are humour and story.

I speak for a living and know that my identity can get in the way of my message. People wonder if I am Indian or Sri Lankan or from some other country. So I often tell this story: ‘I was so excited when I started storytelling I raced home to tell my mother. My mother replied like any good Indian mother [I then slip into an Indian accent]: “Is that a job? Why don't you go into IT or become a doctor?” '

Everyone laughs. They find the story, my mother's attitude and the Indian accent both charming and disarming.

A couple of things happen at this point. I've resolved the puzzle of my identity, so people are free to listen to my message. And my use of humour has helped my audience to relax. Their expectations are heightened too, because they think this is going to be funny and entertaining. So the performance is already set up for success.

It was about five years before I started playing with my identity using humour. I was fearful that it may be offensive. Obviously it's not to me and to many other people; I am Indian, after all! But it takes courage, and finding the right angle is vital.

It's not that easy to engage humour as an influence strategy. So what stops us from using humour at work?

More than a joke

You can write off humour by thinking of it as only telling jokes. While a leader may slip a joke or two into a presentation, humour in leadership involves a good deal more than telling the occasional gag.

You may also worry that resorting to humour could be seen as unprofessional; no one will take you seriously if you suddenly become the office joker. This chapter is not about becoming a clown or an air-headed funster, and as with all modes, your application of humour power must correlate with who and what you want to influence.

Most of all (and I hear this all the time), you may suffer from a bone-crunching fear that you're simply not funny.

As with any skill, using humour authentically and with integrity can be taught and learned. It's all about finding your personal style and voice, and then having the courage to try. Remember, as a power player you want your influence to take a quantum leap forward. Humour will help you achieve that.

Do it well, do it professionally, find your voice — all of this sounds hard. But why would you even bother with humour as an influence tool? Unless the why is compelling enough, you won't board this bus or give the tool a healthy workout.

The facts on funny

In a 2014 Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Lead with humour', Alison Beard writes, ‘Make 'em laugh to boost engagement, and wellbeing, spur creativity and collaboration and improve analytical precision and productivity'.

You know how you feel after a good belly laugh. Your brain and body are flooded with endorphins, you feel recharged, more optimistic, happier. There's a spring in your step and you feel anything is possible. Imagine amplifying this across your team and your organisation?

Humour lifts us above the humdrum, which is what so much of business communication is. When was the last time you eagerly downloaded a form, or felt giddy with excitement at attending another business meeting or presentation?

Every field of human endeavour

For most business engagements we set the bar so low because we expect them to be eye-wateringly boring. Speaker, consultant, trainer, author and storyteller Lori L. Silverman was inspired to call her book Wake Me Up When the Data Is Overbecause that was the lament executives would mutter when asked to sit through yet another meeting or presentation.

Imagine if people instead looked forward to meetings with you, and had a smile on their lips just thinking about your next presentation.

This doesn't mean you have to turn everything into a comedy act so work becomes one long comedy festival.

If only.

What it does mean is that humour is a tool that can help you both to stand out in a crowd and to influence positive outcomes.

In business, humour is number one in scarcity value. If humour were a natural resource, our current dearth in business would be declared a worldwide emergency.

You may argue that it's impossible to enlist humour in your field because it's all data and numbers. But humour is a universal language and you can improve every field of human endeavour by its appropriate application.

David McWilliams is an Irish economist who is credited with predicting the bursting of the Celtic Tiger bubble. He is also thought to have coined the definition of economists as accountants with a personality bypass. (I'm an economist myself, so I know the ribaldry that comes with the territory.)

McWilliams has created the world's only economics and comedy festival. It's known as Kilkenomics and leading economists and comedians from all over the world attend and present. It's a fabulous way of making something like economics accessible to the general public but in a format that tickles their funny bone. Who would have thought that possible?

I hope you're now persuaded that humour can be drafted by anyone who wants to lift engagement and boost creativity and productivity. The next barrier is probably in your head: can it be done by anyone? Absolutely!

A formula for humour?

In The Humour Code, Peter McGraw and Joel Warner conceive of humour as a formula that can be broken down and used again and again. The first theory of humour was hypothesised in a research paper written by Thomas Veatch in 1998. Veatch proposed what he called the N+V theory: the idea that humour occurs when someone perceives a situation is a violation of a subjective moral principle (V) while at the same time realising that the situation is normal (N).

For example, Groucho Marx: ‘Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read'.

McGraw and Warner built on Veatch's work to formulate a new comedic hypothesis: the benign violation theory. In this amended theory, humour occurs when something seems wrong, unsettling or threatening (that is, a violation), but simultaneously seems okay, acceptable or safe (benign).

When an event is just a violation, such as someone falling down stairs, people feel bad about it. But, according to McGraw and Warner, when the violation turns out to be benign, such as someone falling down stairs but ending up unhurt, people often do an about-face and react in at least one of three ways: they feel amused, they laugh or they make a judgement: ‘That was funny!'

McGraw and Warner came to believe the benign violation theory could even help people improve their comic routine. As they put it, people could use this theory to make upsetting concepts more amusing by making them seem more benign.

McGraw calls this tactic the Sarah Silverman Strategy, after the comedian who gets away with jokes on abortion and AIDS because the way she tells them is ‘so darn cute'.

On the flip side, McGraw believes that pointing out what is wrong with our everyday interactions with sous-chefs and ‘close-talkers' (people who stand uncomfortably close to us when talking) can help make those experiences hilarious. This technique is known as the Seinfeld Strategy.

For influencers, what is and what is not humour?

Humour is not simply telling jokes. While we might break the ice with a humble joke or two, humour is seeing the lighter side of things on a broader level. Hans Rosling's TED talk ‘The Best Stats You've Ever Seen',is an example of how you can create humour even when grappling with a serious topic.

Rosling presents complex longitudinal global statistics on child mortality but adopts the persona of a sports broadcaster. It's magic and it works without his minimising the gravity of the issue he is dealing with.

Humour is unexpected and refreshing. In a wonderful scene in the movie Dumb and Dumber Jim Carrey's character (Lloyd Christmas) is trying to ask the girl of his dreams out.

Lloyd: ‘What are my chances?'

Mary: ‘Not good.'

Lloyd: ‘You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?'

Mary: ‘I'd say more like one out of a million.'

[Pause]

Lloyd: ‘So you're telling me there's a chance … YEAH!'

It's a fabulous moment of blind, wild optimism that usually has audiences in fits of laughter.

Humour is also about grace under pressure. Our only guarantee in life, beyond death and taxes, is that things will go wrong — it's Murphy's Law. My client Dee tripped on her way onto the stage to deliver a presentation. The audience gasped, but Dee regained her balance and puffed, ‘Things can only get better', winning a laugh from everyone and even a smattering of applause for her response.

So where can we begin with learning humour? The humour matrix, illustrated in figure 10.1, gives us a tool with which to learn this skill.

The humour matrix helps us work through the three levels of learning on the humour journey: from amateur to apprentice to master. Each level has three components: the first is your mental and emotional state — how you show up; the second consideration is the content you use; and finally there is what you seek to become, or the potential outcomes of your efforts.

Humour amateur

We start off as humour amateurs because we see humour as a tool that can help us move from the humdrum to the sublime. We might make a start with jokes and then slowly evolve our own personal style. A simple way of making jokes work, one that I learned from my mentor Matt Church, founder of Thought Leaders Global, is to search Google for jokes about professionals.

Adapt a situation similar to yours. For example, I found a joke that asked: How many lawyer jokes are there in the world? But I'm an economist and want to poke gentle fun at other economists when I speak. So I've adapted the joke: ‘How many economist jokes are there in the world? [People usually answer with variations on ‘Plenty'.] No, only three … [Pause] the rest are true stories'.

So if you're looking for a funny line about innovation, Google jokes on innovation, use your own material to set up the body of the joke and then adapt the punch line at the end. You can use a funny quote or photo this way for a safe and very doable start.

Practise imitation too. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Who do you find funny? Can you appropriate some of their humour and style? Note their sense of timing and use of language, then slowly evolve your own. Remember, this is just the start of your own humour journey.

As a humour amateur moving up the ladder to humour apprentice and on towards mastery, Benjamin Zander's admonition should be your touchstone: Don't take yourself so seriously!

Please don't mistake me. Not for a moment am I suggesting that what you do is not important or should be treated lightly. Rather, humour is a way of being light-hearted and optimistic even while doing important work and your best for a better world.

Humour apprentice

As a humour apprentice you start using humour with purpose. You begin to look for humour to offset your message anxiety. You think, ‘How could I make this funny?' Humour makes information memorable and lowers people's defences. Funny is the compass that points you to the new frontier of influence.

One of our colleagues, Anna, loathes getting her taxes done. It's always a burdensome chore, and she dreads the end of the financial year.

Being funny and smart, she dreamed up an alternative approach. She created the Anna Tax Festival and invites her friends over to help with her taxes. With food, drink and good cheer, and lots of tax humour, she gets the job done. She influences her friends to help by using the fun umbrella of a tax festival. And it works.

As a humour apprentice you go on regular humour safaris or treasure hunts, collecting humour wherever you can find it. Your humour radar is active and you've invested in a notebook to capture the funnies. As a humour amateur you copy; as a humour apprentice you curate. You find the best ideas and adapt them for your own context. The key is to be a keen observer of life. A great idea can come from anywhere, and opportunities for humour present themselves every day.

Erica King, who owns and operates several dental practices in Melbourne, exemplifies this observational skill. In 2007 she was in San Francisco for a marathon and spotted the legend ‘Running Divas' on a T-shirt.

For Erica, the juxtaposition of two such unlikely personas — an athlete and a female opera singer — tickled her sense of humour. She loved it so much, she went on to found the Australian startup Running Divas to help women get into running. I love the name and the back-story.

All great comedians are keen observers of life. Seinfeld's technique was simply to milk his everyday observations and put them together.

If you have a funny palette, use it; if observational comedy is your forte, own it; if you have comic timing, then that is your authentic funny self. Remember, apprentices may borrow from or be inspired by others; they are brilliant humour curators, but what they create is truly theirs.

Oscar Wilde famously said, ‘Be yourself, everyone else is taken'. And nowhere does this apply more than on your journey as a humour apprentice.

Humour mastery

You know you're ready for humour mastery when you seize every opportunity to publicly practise your humour as an influence tool.

Michelle Obama, America's First Lady, was recently seen dancing on stage to convey her message about fighting child obesity through structured activity. It was fun and authentic, and it worked for her young audience. Humour and the energy of dance connected where normal messaging would have failed.

To become a humour master, you need to find your authenticity — this is who you are, not who you try to be. You develop, nurture and celebrate your personal self and style.

Mahatma Gandhi, celebrated as leader of the world's largest non-violent struggle for independence, was also known for his sense of humour. Asked by a journalist what he thought about Western civilisation, he replied with a glint in his eye, ‘I think it would be a good idea'.

As humour masters, we also begin a kind of transcendence into a lightness of being. Whoa! Did you read that right? Did I just throw that in as a joke? Absolutely not. It is a serious idea, so please stay with me here while I explain.

A lightness of being, the ability to laugh with others and at yourself, and to use self-deprecation as a controlled form of humour, are benchmarks of a balanced personality. This does not detract from your professional image or standing; rather, it enhances your humanity, making you more attractive and memorable.

In a recent talk show interview, award-winning actress Helen Mirren surprised and delighted the audience when she breathed in a helium balloon and delivered her lines in her new, squeaky voice. Her performance had the studio audience rolling in the aisles and was beamed in newscasts all over the world.

Mirren was so comfortable in her own skin, she could display a comic side of herself without in any way diminishing her stature as a serious artist. But she's an actress, you may argue. Could a leader do that?

In May 2013 passengers on an AirAsia flight were very surprised to be served by one of the most powerful men in the world dressed in drag. Richard Branson had lost a bet to Tony Fernandes, AirAsia chief, and this was the deal. Branson went the whole hog, donning the AirAsia uniform, make-up, high heels and stockings to meet AirAsia's grooming standards. But he kept his famous beard, joking, ‘Haven't you seen a stewardess with a beard before?'

Of course this won huge global publicity. Branson said, ‘I've done some outrageous things in my time but this will be up there with the best of them'. Before boarding, he had commented, ‘I've just got to practise walking in high heels first'. Richard Branson exemplifies lightness of being.

Of course humour mastery does not require you to be wacky or zany, but it does require you not to take yourself too seriously. No matter what stage you've reached on your humour power journey, used appropriately, humour can be your secret weapon in influence.

Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate: Your 7 triggers to persuasion and captivation, shares a wonderful example: ‘The moment I walked on stage for a recent speech, my microphone died. I said: “Don't worry, I've been trained in mime … And I'll be delivering the entire speech in interpretive dance”. By the time the laughter died down, my new mic was ready to go, and the speech went on to a standing ovation!'

That is what mastering humour can do for you: standing ovations, happy people and your message zipping through.

Of course, not every subject lends itself to humorous treatment (unless you are Sarah Silverman!). Politics, sex, religion and race are generally taboo in a work context. But with that proviso, who would have thought you could have fun with influence, or that influence in business could also be funny?

There's a wonderful moment in the first Harry Potter film when Hagrid reveals Harry's true nature. It's the turning point in his life and the warm, funny pivot of the whole series.

Hagrid: ‘You're a wizard, Harry.'

Harry: ‘I'm … I'm a what?'

Hagrid: ‘A wizard, Harry.'

Mastering humour as an influence tool can do that for you. It can make you an influence wizard.

All the influence tools we have explored so far have important roles in building influence for power players. In the following chapter we show how you can step up another level to become a mega influencer by using the power of positioning and profile to channel influence.