I met a very extroverted guy on line waiting at my local coffee shop. We started making conversation and the discussion moved to my fave topic – introverts and extroverts in the workplace Turns out he was a frustrated sales manager. ” I try to talk to these Tech (GA) grads, who are all Engineers and they just stare at me. They hide out and don’t talk. One of our introverted bosses just stands at my cube and will never take a seat. He has one foot out the door…..what is with these people!? ”
This “introvert bias” is all too common. The extrovert’s frustration is real but how about getting rid of the judgment first? My next entry will address some tips for the extrovert to better connect with introverts. But the first task is to get rid of that pointing finger, don’t you think?
Actors like Streep prepare extensively to take us into the world of that character. Likewise, introverts often emphasize how much they prepare for meetings, calls, presentations, etc. so that they perform at their best ( a side note: Meryl Streep is an introvert like many actors). Yet, despite careful preparation, you can’t always anticipate what is thrown at you. Handling the moment sometimes trumps preparation. Continue reading the rest of this article...
The sort of coaching that fosters effective innovation and judgment, not merely the replication of technique, may not be so easy to cultivate. Yet modern society increasingly depends on ordinary people taking responsibility for doing extraordinary things: operating inside people’s bodies, teaching eighth graders algebraic concepts that Euclid would have struggled with, building a highway through a mountain, constructing a wireless computer network across a state, running a factory, reducing a city’s crime rate. In the absence of guidance, how many people can do such complex tasks at the level we require? With a diploma, a few will achieve sustained mastery; with a good coach, many could. We treat guidance for professionals as a luxury—you can guess what gets cut first when school-district budgets are slashed. But coaching may prove essential to the success of modern society. Continue reading the rest of this article...
Introverts are so often mischaracterized and even blamed for the woes of the world. Now government workers seem to be taking the hit. Continue reading the rest of this article...
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