Would anyone play an April Fool’s prank on Meryl Streep, the domineering boss, in The Devil Wears Prada? Probably not...

Was it childish to get up to pranks yesterday? The now-celebrated April Fool’s Day, when we keep getting tripped up by someone cleverer than us who has thought up a smart hoax? Media have been the most innovative in taking the mickey out of their readers, year after year.

A truly clever one (which those in the media and in the printing business still enjoy) saw a supplement of The Guardian talk of a resort called San Seriffe with its two islands — Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, its capital Bodoni and its leader, General Pica.

It just set us thinking about the element of fun that seems to be missing in many corporate establishments. Often, in this pressure-cookered existence, playing the fool could be just the steam that we let out to rid ourselves of the built up stress. The more enlightened amongst HR managers do believe that playing practical jokes in an office actually builds up a feeling of closeness and camaraderie.

Building morale when spirits are down or aspirations are soaring too, too, high, can help to lighten tensions. One career counsellor remarked that it is important for people to be able to laugh and have a good time in the office together occasionally, her only exhortation being that there should not be any serious embarrassment, and no real physical hurt.

Taking pungaa with the boss can be fun if it is without malice, and if done in cahoots with a number of people. It happened in a company when an assistant to the CEO of a manufacturing company persuaded the entire department to phone in individually that they were unwell and could not come to office. Every employee was at work, and they even watched the boss drive in to the office. They hid on different floors, and kept calling him with their individual excuses. They trooped into office just as he was getting completely harried, with a peace offering of sweets. Good thing, the boss had a sense of fun, or the shoe could have been on the other foot.

Germane to prankstering is the fact that it can be innovative and bring out the creativity in people. Imagine the planning that goes into a ruse almost as well-oiled as the think-tank that goes into the strat-plan. But more delicious in the execution and the after-effects. Don’t overstep your boundaries and such ploys can be just the right recipe for a de-tox.

aying the fool has a creative edge to it, but the capped fool must also be able to take it in the right spirit. There’s an Arabian proverb that states: “A fool may be known by six things: anger without cause; speech without profit; change without progress; inquiry without object; putting trust in a stranger; and mistaking foes for friends.” That’s the serious part of it. But letting the junior fool you occasionally makes you that much more of a leader, who doesn’t abandon the ship even when he has that sinking feeling of having been taken for a ride.