Introverted Leadership

Introverts routinely downplay their contributions, their voices and shy away from taking credits for their work. They contribute in a subdued yet powerful manner. Unlike, introverts, extroverts, by sheer expression, expend their energies in talking than doing. These are no absolutes as we find each one of ourselves on, in different point of Introvert - Extrovert spectrum.

Rise of Industrial Revolution was a major force behind the paradigm shift from Culture of Character to Culture of Personality. Culture of Character, was serious, disciplined, sincere and honorable. While Culture of Personality gave rise to focus on how people were perceived, superficial liked, quick interaction, easily forgotten. The key words that we found in Culture of Character were, Duty, Work, Honor, Reputation, Morals, Manners, Integrity. On the other hand, In Culture of Character, we found words like Magnetism, Fascinating, Stunning, Dominant, Forceful, taking roots.

Bill Gates, Gandhi, Warren Buffet and more interestingly, Dr. Seuss have all been strongly introverted personalities with diverse range of professions or deep work they delved into. None of them have been loud in their presence but strongly authentic and voices of reasons. Introverts are deliberate risk takers because they consume themselves in thinking through all angles of their decisions often leading to fewer losses. Extroverts, on the other hand, for the want to be the ruling voice, shorten their deep dive into challenges and their actions which often lead to higher risks.

Leadership is often misunderstood in our current times. While extroverts occasionally make decent leaders, there are a lot of very deep studies and qualitative data that suggests that being outspoken and social has got nothing do with successful results and better leadership. As elaborated by Susan Cain, in her seminal work, Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World that Cannot Stop Talking. She says, Introverts make better and powerful leaders, simply because of their internalized strategies. They listen, they delegate, they analyze various perspectives and devise a plan that have low or zero risk factors. When they are asked to take on leadership roles, they actually outperform their extrovert colleagues in almost all situations.

One of the significant differentiator you will notice in Introvert leaders is that they more authentic. It takes them longer to recover from failures. They are cautious and modest. Their prudence ensures that they are high on scrutiny on situations, more inclusive, egalitarian and thus deliver better results. Extroverts do not get impacted by failures so deeply. Hence, they move on quickly and learnings from previous situations can be easily overlooked. So while, introverts leapfrog with better strategies, extroverts look for external circumstances to blame and move on quite quickly.

To conclude and to pick up another time, I borrow a quote by Willian James, "A Man has as many social selves as there are distinct groups of persons about whose opinions he cares. He generally, shows a different side of himself to each of these different groups."