In this Blog I have refered to several management books as good reference material on how to conduct both sales and your business. Despite our best efforts we invariably will find ourselves in a position that can only be described as comical. Someone will ask you a question, or senior management will give you an order that will cause you to stop, and look for the hidden camera that must be around to capture your response. It is times like these that make me glad that I have read some of the very good satires of management books.

Stanley Bing has two great satires out on books that I have recommended. “What Would Machiavelli Do?” and, “Sun Tzu Was a Sissy” are great examples of what really good management content can become in the wrong hands. I would be very surprised if you have not run into a manager as described in these books. It also gives you an idea of what can happen when fundamental principles are practiced (or twisted) to the extreme.

That also brings us to Scott Adams and the quintessential “Dilbert”. Despite its skewed view of business and management, I have learned many things and seen many truisms in Dilbert. I have also caught myself in more than one instance where I was going to act or say something that could have been featured there.

A broad sense of humor is essential for leadership. Without it we run the risk of becoming a characterization of what a good manager should be. Characterizations and satires help us to understand what the extremes of a good thing can look like. They also help us laugh, and sometimes the best thing to laugh at is ourselves.