As part of my personal development, I dip into the Company's database of e-books to broaden my own knowledge. The first book that caught my eye today is Nancy Ancowitz's 'Self Promotion for Introverts: The quiet guide to getting ahead'. In the introduction, she lists the difference between introverts and extroverts.
Looking at the list, I am definitely an introvert, which is borne out by my MBTI scores on the intraversion / extraversion scale. I used to be even more introverted in uni but have since learnt to talk a little bit more.
Society seems to value extroverts more than introverts. Hence I arm myself with the necessary tools to promote myself, and well, generally be a more pleasant person to be around :). Susan Cain in her TED talk makes an interesting point that when introverts do get to leadership positions, followers intuitively sense that they are there because of their deep belief in the cause and not for themselves. In fact, followers sense the introverted leader will much rather be home alone, or in this case 'office alone', with their own thoughts but are compelled to be leaders by the courage of their conviction.
That's true for me. I prefer not to speak, but to listen attentively.... there was one work interaction which led to a deeper connection between me and my Indian teammate S. J, my ex boss, usually starts our fortnightly work meeting with work or personal highlights and lowlights. S shared that she had been in hospital for a week but she is ok now. My antenna immediately went up, and I pinged her to ask how she is. From her hestitant and slow responses on IM (she is normally an open and chatty person), I deduced that she had just suffered a miscarriage, then told her "You and husband must be very sad to lose baby". S was initially taken aback.... she was silent for a long while, then said yes I m right, but how did I know.... we spoke for a while more and shared our traditional medicine (me: traditional chinese medicine, S: india ayurvedic medicine) remedies for women who miscarry.
Looking at the list, I am definitely an introvert, which is borne out by my MBTI scores on the intraversion / extraversion scale. I used to be even more introverted in uni but have since learnt to talk a little bit more.
| Introverts | Extroverts |
| Get energy from “down time” | Get energy from people contact |
| Think before speaking or acting | Think out loud |
| Listen more | Talk more |
| Speak more softly | Speak faster and louder |
| Are more inclined to make deep conversation | Are more inclined to make chitchat |
| Prefer to speak with one or two people at a time | Prefer to work the room |
| Wait to be approached in social situations | Initiate conversations in social situations |
| Are typically reserved | Are typically active and expressive |
| Enjoy working alone or with one person | Enjoy working in a group |
| Know a lot about a few topics | Know a little about a lot of topics |
| Are reflective and appear more calm | Are more energetic |
| Are more detail oriented | Prefer faster, less complicated tasks |
| Need more personal space | Enjoy more people contact—the more the merrier |
| Are more private and hesitant about self-disclosure | Are more readily open |
| Have a few deep interests | Have many interests |
Society seems to value extroverts more than introverts. Hence I arm myself with the necessary tools to promote myself, and well, generally be a more pleasant person to be around :). Susan Cain in her TED talk makes an interesting point that when introverts do get to leadership positions, followers intuitively sense that they are there because of their deep belief in the cause and not for themselves. In fact, followers sense the introverted leader will much rather be home alone, or in this case 'office alone', with their own thoughts but are compelled to be leaders by the courage of their conviction.
That's true for me. I prefer not to speak, but to listen attentively.... there was one work interaction which led to a deeper connection between me and my Indian teammate S. J, my ex boss, usually starts our fortnightly work meeting with work or personal highlights and lowlights. S shared that she had been in hospital for a week but she is ok now. My antenna immediately went up, and I pinged her to ask how she is. From her hestitant and slow responses on IM (she is normally an open and chatty person), I deduced that she had just suffered a miscarriage, then told her "You and husband must be very sad to lose baby". S was initially taken aback.... she was silent for a long while, then said yes I m right, but how did I know.... we spoke for a while more and shared our traditional medicine (me: traditional chinese medicine, S: india ayurvedic medicine) remedies for women who miscarry.
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