Introduction

What Is an Introverted Leader?

Is it essential for you to have quiet time after being with people?

Do you sometimes feel that your voice is not heard?

Have you found that you are sometimes passed over for career opportunities?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might be an introvert. It doesn’t mean you are shy, don’t enjoy people, or can’t collaborate with others. You probably draw your energy from within yourself. Most likely, you’re fine being with people, but after a while you become drained from expending social energy.

The model of successful leadership must expand from one that emphasizes extroversion to one that includes introverts. With the great problems our organizations face today, we are surely losing out by not tapping into more than half of our population and acknowledging the many gifts of introversion.

Introverts bring tremendous strengths to the challenges of leading a team. When they harness these quiet strengths, they can be powerful leaders. Introverts also have unique qualities that make them particularly suited to leading people toward great results. Many brilliant and accomplished leaders from all walks of life and professions have shown the way. Respected figures such as GM’s CEO, Mary Barra; Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Microsoft founder, Bill Gates; Federal Reserve chief, Janet Yellen; financier, Warren Buffet; and actor and gender rights activist, Emma Watson, are just a few examples of current accomplished introverts.² Other famous introverts from history include Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King Jr. They found ways to draw on their quiet power to achieve greatness.

Defining Introverts

Psychologist Carl Jung first defined introversion as energy being generated from within yourself.³ Think of your energy as if it were a battery. Extroverts charge their batteries by being with people. Introverts draw their battery power by going within.

At this point, it may be helpful to highlight the common characteristics of introverts and extroverts (see Table 1).

The Bell Curve

Most people typically fall somewhere in the middle range of the introvert/extrovert (I/E) spectrum. Think of it as a bell curve. There are outliers, or people at extreme ends of the curve, but most of us lean slightly toward one side or the other. Where you are can be determined by how important it is for you to have a break after being with people. If you must have a break, then most likely you are more introverted. If taking a break from people is nice, but not necessary, you may fall on the extroverted side.

TABLE 1 Common Characteristics of Introverts and Extroverts

Some research has been done on a concept called ambiversion.⁴ Similar to ambidextrous people who use either hand to write, ambiverts tend to shift between introversion and extroversion. An example is salespeople who must listen deeply (an introvert strength) and also be able to talk enthusiastically about their products (an extrovert strength). We all have many different assets. It comes down to a matter of degree in how we use them.

Selecting Behavior over Labels

In my work with thousands of introverted leaders, I find that the most successful are those who are self-aware and understand their need to quietly reflect. They don’t get hung up on labeling themselves “I” or “E.” When assessing a situation, they select the best behaviors to use. Sometimes it is speaking up, and sometimes it is deep listening. As you will read in this book, self-knowledge and self-acceptance yield strong results. The most effective introverted leaders are conscious of their choices. They see the value of tapping into their reflective side while also recognizing when extrovert behaviors are useful.

The Difference between Shyness and Introversion

Introversion is not the same thing as being shy. Shyness is driven by social or psychological anxiety, and it can be debilitating. According to the American Psychological Association, shyness can “keep people from interacting with others even when they want or need to—leading to problems in relationships and at work.”⁵ While shyness and introversion sometimes overlap, introversion is about how you are naturally wired. It is not a problem, flaw, or something to overcome. Many introverted leaders describe childhood experiences of being labeled “shy.” They also say that gaining life experience helped them outgrow shyness, and they learned different ways of handling social situations.

Validating Introvert Strengths

I often ask for volunteers in my primarily introverted audiences to call out loud the strengths of introverts. There is no shortage of answers as people let their words land. Starting like a light rain shower, they say “Observers, listeners.” And then a torrent emerges: “Writers, humorists, reflectors, calm, resilient,” and so on. You can see people sit up straighter as the list of introvert talents and contributions gets longer and they are reminded of their talents.

Now Is the Time for Introverted Leaders

Before I deliver a speech or begin a training program, I typically connect with a representative cross section of people who will be attending. I ask about their challenges. Their passionate responses reflect themes such as not being heard and biases— hidden and overt—toward people who are not the first ones to talk or who don’t exhibit high energy. In Chapter 1, Six Key Challenges for Introverts, you will see those obstacles described in detail. Perhaps you will relate to some of them.

Introverted leaders can harness their quiet strengths to meet these challenges. Expanding the model of leadership beyond one based on extroversion can also yield several key benefits, which include

• Solving pressing problems Introverts’ strengths help organizations to innovate, compete, and lead in a global, digital, and diverse marketplace. The creativity and brain power of introverts are needed to inspire new ideas, challenge the status quo, and solve pressing world problems, such as alleviating climate change and curing cancer.

Every day these qualities are needed to help our teams and organizations succeed.

• Increasing engagement Introverts make up between 40 to 60 percent of the workforce; and according to Gallup, 70 percent of workers worldwide are not engaged.⁶ We can’t afford to miss this huge opportunity to tap into introvert power. By engaging introverts, retention increases as people tend to stay with companies where they are contributing and recognized.

• Creating productive workspaces Workplaces that address introverts’ needs offer spaces for both collaboration and solitude. They also make remote options available. These flexible spaces benefit productivity and are performance boosters for everyone—introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts.

• Enabling extroverts to tap into their introverted side As introverts gain respect and recognition, extroverted colleagues tend to become more aware of their own quiet strengths. By taking even a short pause, for instance, extroverts optimize their own performance and hear the thoughts of others, which benefits the entire organization.

• Accomplishing more together Diverse teams can accomplish more than homogenous teams. Introverts and extroverts working together bring the full range of their strengths to projects. Genius opposites, those introverts and extroverts who achieve strong results, offer a range of solutions and brainpower to clients and customers that is exponential. (For more on Genius Opposites, see my book The Genius of Opposites.)

We face tremendous problems in our workplaces and the world at large. Our organizations, teams, individuals, and ultimately, our planet will benefit when we highlight and harness these strengths, reaping the broad range of introvert talent available to us.