By Resilience Speaker, Jamie Mason Cohen
What can we learn from Abraham Lincoln about humour’s power to influence, show humility and connect with others?
I spoke with Dr. James Cornelius, the Curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum about Lincoln while doing research for my TEDx talk and book.
These are some of the fascinating, little-known insights I learned about Lincoln that we can all apply when it comes to humor:
- Lincoln told jokes unrelated to the situation at hand to lighten the mood during tense cabinet meetings.
- He told parables interweaving his personal history with historical references.
- He used these stories, some of them humorous to simplify the complex issues of the day.
- He practiced taking a little joke for his children and applying it to a broader context.
- He used humour to make fun of himself or agreed with a certain disparaging remark used against him by his opponents. This tactic broke up the crowd and disarmed his challengers’ attacks on him.
- Lincoln would attempt to soften up bitter cabinet members by acting a little silly and off-the-wall with impersonations or in his tone of voice. This was to shift the tone of the conversation to prepare the group for a serious discussion to come.
