787: Better Leadership Through Humor, with Chris Duffy

Coaching for Leaders

Dave Stachowiak

Business, Careers, Management

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chris Duffy: Humor Me

Chris Duffy is an award-winning podcaster, comedian, and television writer. He hosts the podcast How to Be a Better Human and you can find his comedic TED talk, “How to find laughter anywhere” online. He is the author of Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy (Amazon, Bookshop)*.

It sometimes seems like someone with a good sense of humor does everything a bit better. Perhaps leadership is no different – but it’s not about landing jokes. In this episode, Chris and I explore why everyday humor is all about paying attention and generosity.

Key Points

Humor might not make the list of top leadership competencies, but it helps you perform every other competency better.
A good sense of humor is inherently generous.
Effective humor isn’t landing the perfect joke or being the center of attention. It’s noticing the humor is everyday work and bravely calling attention to it.
The first pillar of cultivating humor is simply being present.
Start with times you are least present and most zoned out. Zero in with a “new bathroom” frame of mind.
Celebrate the bad stuff and find humor in it. By doing so, you inherently help people appreciate excellence.

Resources Mentioned

Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy by Chris Duffy (Amazon, Bookshop)*

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

How to Engage With Humor, with David Nihill (episode 235)
Get Better at Deep Listening, with Oscar Trimboli (episode 408)
How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It sometimes seems like someone with a good sense of humor does everything just a bit better.
0:06.3	Perhaps leadership is no different, but it's not about landing jokes in this conversation,
0:11.6	why everyday humor is all about paying attention and generosity.
0:17.8	This is Coaching for Leaders, episode 787. Produced by Innovate Learning,
0:24.6	maximizing human potential.
0:30.0	Greetings to you from Orange County, California. This is Coaching for Leaders, and I'm your host,
0:36.4	Dave Stahofiak.
0:38.4	Leaders are born, they're made.
0:41.2	And this weekly show helps leaders thrive at key inflection points.
0:45.7	You know, one of the things that I think so many of us enjoy is humor.
0:51.4	We love to laugh.
0:52.7	We love to make others laugh. And yet it's not something we often
0:56.3	think about in the context of leadership, but maybe we should. And in fact, today's guest has really
1:01.3	inspired me to be thinking about humor in a way that brings joy, purpose, connection into our
1:09.6	work. And also, by the way, helps us maybe to lead just a bit
1:12.5	better to. I'm so pleased today to welcome Chris Duffy to the show. He's an award-winning
1:17.0	podcaster, comedian, and television writer. He hosts the podcast How to Be a Better Human,
1:22.4	and you can find his comedic TED Talk, How to Find Laughter Anywhere Online. He is the author of Humor Me,
1:29.3	How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy. Chris, what's happening?
1:35.2	Good to see you. Thanks so much for having me. What a joy it is to be on the show.
1:39.0	I'm so glad to get connected with you. I just, what a joy getting into your work, reading the book.
1:45.2	I was thinking about humor and let me be serious for a moment because so much of leadership
	...

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