Humor | Lorne Rubis

The Terry Bradshaw Manifesto: Keep It Fun …Keep It Simple

20101 Nov
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Posted inBe Abundant

Many of you may not be American football fans, or you may be in part of the world where it is irrelevant. However, I had an opportunity to hear American football icon Terry Bradshaw speak to a room full of business executives the other day at the Aria Hotel & Casino (a beautiful facility) in Las Vegas. He’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is an actor in a number movies (including Failure to Launch). It was interesting to see Terry hold 300+ people in the palm of his hand for 60 minutes. Of course many were men or women who saw Mr. Bradshaw lead The Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles as quarterback, twice as Super Bowl MVP, and watches him religiously every Sunday in his role as a Fox NFL Sunday Analyst.

He held the room mesermized with more than just talk about football; it was his philosophy of living. During the talk Terry had this incredible approachability, like he was just jawin’ with a bunch of good ole boys at the bar, or mates at the pub.

Throughout his stellar football career he, like most of us, has had many personal ups and downs, several divorces, financial issues, and more. He couldn’t get a high enough grade to get to a top notch college. People called him dumb, too stupid to be a pro QB. So through the highs and lows, here are a few elements of the Bradshaw philosophy:

Have Fun every day… smile all the time …laugh …laugh …and find the humor in life, it’s all around us (read my recent blog on humor).
Love and respect yourself first. How can you love others if you don’t love and respect yourself first?
Say thank to people every day. Most of us need others’ help and support to be successful (as you might imagine Bradshaw told poignant stories of the help he got from his teammates).
Call your mamma and papa. Tell them you love them. Forgive them if you have to; they probably did the best they could.
It is all about family. When we die they are likely to be the ones in the room.

There were a number of other “bradshawisms” but in the end he tries to simplify life everyday by focusing on what’s most important. People want to be around people who want to win… and Terry talked about how glorious a feeling it is to accomplish what one sets out to do. In the end it often comes down to human beings having fun and liking to be with each. We like to do business with people we like.

If you want to see Terry living out his philosophy, watch him this Sunday on Fox. He’ll be there with that giant Louisiana smile, grinning through our TV sets like we are all his buddies watching the game together.

Bradshaw’s speech reminded me that while the Character Triangle has a serious back bone, living it daily can and should be done with fun and laughter. Every interaction starts out better with a smile. I don’t know about you but I need to be reminded of that from time to time.

Live and laugh the Triangle,

Lorne

Chuckles and the Character Triangle

201019 May
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Posted inBe Respectful

Shirin Khamisa is a career coach with Toronto Careers by Design. She is quoted in the Edmonton Journal (May 1, 2010) as noting that humor “is sometimes underrated” in the workplace. She goes on to emphasize that laughter is a good way to build connections with people, create a contagious positive vibe. I agree. I love working with people who laugh and smile often.

So how does humor intersect with respect? Montreal career coach Cheryl Stein points out in the same article a simple rule of thumb for humor at work: “a joke isn’t a joke unless both people are laughing.” She goes on to stress that its important gauge your audience and ask yourself first, whether the joke’s at someone’s expense. If it is, it’s obviously not funny and therefore not respectful.

I think it’s worth emphasizing the importance of humor and its essential fuel in acting with character. The benefit of the noting these guidelines is that humor and respect do go hand in hand. The scarcity people who make hurtful fun of others need direct coaching and guidance. People acting with character have the ability to get people laughing and seeing the humor in much of our daily life.

Combine joy and respect.

with Character,

Lorne

Character Triangle

Our character is exclusively ours. We define it by how we think and what we do. I believe that acting with Character is driven by what I call the Character Triangle.

What, exactly, is the Character Triangle (CT)?

The CT describes and emphasizes three distinct but interdependent values:

Be Accountable: first person action to make things better, avoiding blame.
Be Respectful: being present, listening, looking again, focusing on the process.
Be Abundant: generous in spirit, moving forward, minimizing the lack of.