We live in a reality which seems to aggrandize extroverts. Even when it comes to leadership, we tend to prefer extroverts, the ones who are usually louder in the room, the ones who appear "more social" and can connect more with others.
Before digging into the binomial “introverts & leadership”, I want to underline that repeatedly "introverts" are misunderstood. Many times introverts are seen as the shy ones, people who don't like to talk with others and want to be alone, isolated. This is absolutely not true! The key difference between introverts and extroverts is about how those groups interact with the world outside them. To charge their batteries, extroverts need to be with other people while introverts by themselves. Introverts get their energy from their inner world; they are usually introspective, observant, quiet and creative. In other words, introverts master internal workflows. I simply love Susan Cain's TED Talk "The power of introverts", I recommend you to watch it.
Now let’s move to leadership. Commonly “leaders” are identified as the ones able to influence and guide others to reach the group goals. Extroverts radiate confidence and energy, qualities that strong leaders are supposed to have. Introverts are quieter and in large groups might not show the qualities that extrovert leaders display.
The question now is: are introverts great leaders? The answer is “yes”. I collected some reasons why introverts can be tremendous leaders:
1. They are capable to solve problems without haste
Introverts have usually bigger gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain accountable for the decision making process. Introverts tend to take decisions after they have been thinking and reflecting a lot about it.
2. They stay focused
Introverts “disconnect” themselves from the others, their power comes from within. Because of that, they get less distracted and achieve high level of concentration.
3. They are great listeners
Introverts don’t try to dominate conversations, they are usually quiet and pay attention to what others are saying. That’s a prodigious quality for leaders: they set the stage for their people to success.
4. They are capable to build deep one-to-one relationships
Studies showed that introverts experience more blood flow to the thalamus and frontal lobes, the areas of our brain in charge of problem solving and internal processing. This means that introverts outperform when it comes to deal with complex personal situations. They possess outstanding emotional sensors and demonstrate to perfectly handle delicate cues. In other words, introverts are highly empathic and able to build those healthy one-to-one bridges with their employees.
Many talented leaders have been defined as "introverts", take a look at the gallery below!
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