Our Human Story: Humor, Humility and Leadership

The best and brightest leaders have a BIG sense of humor. They are driven by curiosity that is both inspiring and humbling.

Stephen Hawking was one of the greats. His life was a powerful reminder of something really big and important about leadership in any field: that intelligence, humor and humility go together. It's why we love him and so many leaders out there. It's a part of humanity that stays grounded and connected to the best parts of who we are.

My husband works at NASA where some of today's greatest scientific minds have changed how we view space, time and physics. Stephen Hawking, "American by association," was one of those brilliant minds.

He was also very funny. He had a big sense of humor and many of the most brilliant people on the planet do. (Here is his hilarious appearance on Last Week Tonight with the very funny John Oliver).

They realize that the more they know and learn, the less they know out of the vast universe of info out there yet to be explored. They realize that their place is but a small one in all that ties us together and they never forget that.

He took science seriously and could poke fun at himself as leaders with big values can.

Humor, humility and leadership are intertwined. Humor comes from the root of humility. And #humor is a big value. If your leaders don't exhibit it, how will your culture? How will your brand? It won't. It can't.

A smart person without both humility and humor is just that - smart, and not a leader.

I have worked with and for people who could not laugh at themselves. I have never made that mistake again. And not just because I have both a communications + storytelling and a comedy background; rather, because I am a human being first. And we are wired for humor. It's who we are and a deep part of our humanity.

I know what leadership is, and you do, too. We know it when we see it and experience it. You cannot motivate or inspire without humility.

Where does #humor fit for you? It's in my top 3 of big leadership traits. I cannot and will not work with leaders who do not value it. It's too important not to take seriously. Here are my 12 humor principles for success in life and business.

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Kathy Klotz-Guest, MA, MBA, is a keynote speaker, author and improv comic. Founder of Keeping it Human, it's her mission is to help organizations, leaders and teams use strategy plus improv to unleash more creativity, innovation and storytelling so employees and their customers thrive! Turn your brand and team into a idea-driven startup! A comic improviser and author, Kathy also runs The #yesandbrandshow livestream and hosts a weekly comedy show in Silicon Valley called Laugh Tracks. Her fave audience is still her son, who laughs himself silly daily. Her book, "Stop Boring Me!" was listed as a top marketing read for 2017 and 2018 by Inc.com.