I like collecting the clues about our President’s temperament. So I am relying on reporters like Holly Bailey of Newsweek. Is he or isn’t he(an introvert)?
Bailey writes in the 5/4/09 issue http://www.newsweek.com/id/195086/page/2 of walks the President has taken(that give the Secret Service heart attacks). “He likes solititude, where he can just take a moment, collect his thoughts and breathe”,
says a close Obama friend.” At Camp David, “There’s lots of open space where he can go for a walk and clear his mind,” says Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House aide and longtime friend of the Obamas.”
I imagine that all Presidents relish breaks from the intense demands of that role but if Obama is indeed an introvert, I imagine these breaks are critical. Walks and basketball sound like good re-energizers to me.
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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