Introverts as Leaders

Today I learned that for many things, particularly in business, being an extrovert is expected and being an introvert can be a bit of a handicap. It brings me back to college interviews and how awkwardly shy I was, and gosh, no wonder I didn't get into Brown or Harvard!

However, just because introverts are quiet does not mean they are poor leaders. The book cites a few studies, though the area has not been thoroughly researched, showing that introverted leaders have better outcomes than extroverted leaders when their employees are extroverts, and vice versa.

Cain also went on at length about evangelical Christianity and the overwhelming expectation of extroversion. I think that's one reason I always felt supremely awkward at the few big box Christian churches I've been to. I just didn't fit in. She uses an example of an introverted pastor who questioned his faith because, if all the other people are so enthusiastic, maybe they really believe more than he does. Malarkey!

She also used an example of an exercise done at Harvard Business School where the incoming class is split up into groups and told that they are handicapped in a subarctic climate. They're supposed to individually rank the importance of 13 items they were able to salvage. They rank them first individually and then as a group. The group succeeds if the group ranking is more correct than any individual's, and likewise lose if any of the individuals had a higher score than the group. This exercise tends to reveal that the big extroverted take charge personalities overwhelm good ideas from quiet people. I know for myself that I've held my tongue and gone ahead with sub-par ideas in academic settings just to get it over with and to make people just STOP TALKING.

I also learned that I really ought to write my learning blog on the correct day, because I've been letting things pile up and then trying to remember what I learned and it's much more difficult to remember things even one day later.