Hi Laughter Lovers!

We’re used to the cost of living going up but alarmingly the cost of laughter is heading north too!

Humour consultant Malcolm Kushner has been compiling a Cost of Laughing Index since 1987. Kushner tracks the prices of 16 leading humor indicators, including such items as rubber chickens, Mad magazine and tickets to comedy clubs. Over all the cost of these essentials has risen a saddening 3% in the last year.

And I hope you’re sitting down folks because I have to tell you that the cost of Groucho glasses has shot up by a staggering 60 percent in just two years and they are now $24 a dozen!

But have you ever stopped to consider the high cost of not laughing?

Sure the emotional, psychological and social costs of a laugh-deprived life are tragic but let’s talk dollars and cents. Let me tell you folks, the punchline affects the bottom line – and you can take that to the bank.

In case you weren’t casually sitting on the couch last night reading researcher Fabio Sala’s report “Relationship between Executive’s Spontaneous Use of Humor and Effective Leadership” let me fill you in on what he found out about the value of laughter.

Sala analysed the ability of a group of executives to create laughter. He found that the executives who had achieved outstanding financial results in their careers used humour twice as often as less successful execs. In another study of CEOs he found the most successful made humourous remarks three times as often as the less successful.

But why should laughter skills lead to loot? Sala explains that “a natural facility with humor is intertwines with, and appears to be a marker for…high emotional intelligence.” A pair of Groucho glasses is starting to look like a damn good investment – hang the expense!

In my next blog I’ll explain how developing a sense of humour helps you develop other incredibly valuable qualities that will boost your emotional intelligence and therefore your financial success.

Until then go forth and be funny - your bank manager will thank you!

Laughingly yours, Anthony Ackroyd

© Anthony Ackroyd 2011