A quiet, reserved introvert is probably not what first came to mind. Aren’t entrepreneurs supposed to be gregarious and commanding—verbally adept and able to inspire employees, clients and investors with the sheer force of their personality? No wonder the advice for introverts who want to be entrepreneurs has long been some form of: “Be more extroverted.”
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I have always though that introverts make better entrepreneurs than extroverts. As an introvert, I am constantly thinking of ideas (except when I’m tired from staying up so late thanks to this school) of how to do/make random projects. I keep a journal, or just write on my hand, the ideas that I think of throughout the day to keep them from escaping into the depths of my mind. With that constant flow of thoughts to improve things, I made a great entrepreneur during high school when I ran a candy selling business.
I disagree with the article that introverts don’t want leadership or power. I absolutely would like to be a leader or in a position of power. Having responsibilities to manage people is thrilling in my opinion. I think that it’s just more apparent in extroverts which is why that misconception is apparent. Many of the students here in the school of drama are introverts, but it doesn’t make them any less able to fill leadership positions.
The terms introvert and extrovert have always fascinated me; countless studies, articles, books and conversations have centered on why a person is out going or more of a loner. I think it is a great way for people to learn more about the other spectrum than how they normally think. This article had valid points for why introverts can be great entrepreneurs. Susan Cain is quoted in the article saying, “By their nature, introverts tend to get passionate about one, two or three things in their life. And in the service of their passion for an idea they will go out and build alliances and networks and acquire expertise to do whatever it takes to make it happen.” That quote really resonates with me because as an introvert I may not be excited about every little thing but it doesn’t mean I’m not passionate at all. I have my own desires and will do whatever it takes to achieve. So never say that an introvert is a loner and goes through life being quiet and reserved because we have our own desires and dreams that bring us out into the world everyday.
My mother and I have had many conversations about the dynamics of introverts and extroverts because we are on two very different ends of the spectrum and she couldn't understand some of my behavior, like needing time alone to decompress or feel inspired again.
I can identify with lots of typically introvert behavior this article talks about, like be creative when I'm alone and being very passionate about the select few things I choose to devout my energy to. I'm so glad that those, and other, introvert qualities are being recognized as valuable for people in positions of power like CEOs, because most of those powerful or in charge characters in television or movies are outgoing extroverts who are masters of networking and charm. But in the real world sometimes its the people who speak with their work and ideas, not their words, who are the best for the job.
As an introvert, I love this article. Everything it says about introverts is spot on from craving solitude to thinking a lot. And I can see how these, and the rest of the points the article makes, would make a really great entrepreneurs. However, I, and I’m sure many others, have fallen into thinking that you have to be the most outspoken person to start your own business or be charismatic and be really good at networking. I think a lot of that is just because you see more of those types of people simply because they are the ones who talk a lot and draw attention to themselves. I really like what Lia pointed out about introverts getting really excited over a few things throughout their life because that’s how I often feel. I may get excited about a lot of things, but I only get passionate about certain things in a way that will actually make me want to see it to completion every once in a while.
I really enjoy this article, not only because I'm a huge introvert, but also because it's one of the few times I've seen introversion defined correctly. What a great deal of extroverts believe is that introverts are shy and antisocial and tend to not have the best communication skills. This article nips that in the bud right away. I also agree with a lot of the reasoning behind the assertion that introverts make better entrepreneurs. One of the things I thought of right away when I read the title of this article is that extroverts do a lot of the talking. And sometimes, workers are distrustful of people who talk to much. With introverts, who tend to be more methodical, the information they express is guaranteed to be the most useful and important information. I also love the uses of Mark Zuckerburg and Bill Gates as examples. These people are such major and influential icons, but, especially in Zuckerburg's case, they are huge introverts. It definitely gives hope for those of us introverts who sometimes shy away from leadership positions due to a fear of whether or not we'd be successful. But this article has pointed out to me that all kinds of people have the ability to be in leadership positions. Which is a very uplifting thing to hear.
I find that this article does not only apply to business/entrepeneurs. As a student, I’ve been constantly told to be louder and talk more even though I’m doing perfectly fine academically (and mentally) - my high school counselor even asked me to go see a psychologist because I’m not “extroverted enough”. When I got into Carnegie Mellon, everyone around me who thought I "talk too little" was surprised. I think this article points out that there’s nothing wrong with being introverted, and that just because someone's introverted doesn’t mean that person is less capable.
I’ll preface this response with saying I definitely consider myself to be a huge introvert. That being said, I feel like as a society, we’re starting to move away from the whole strict dichotomy of extroversion vs. introversion (I’ve never heard of the word “ambivert” before, but I think probably everyone is ambivert to some degree). While I do like that this article points out how introverts can be good leaders (because, I suppose, most people are under the impression that extroverts are natural leaders), I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to say that certain people will be better in leadership positions than others. For example, I think that there are plenty of extroverts who are great listeners, and plenty of introverts who have a hard time staying focused. I feel like diving up the population into personality categories, while being an interesting way to evaluate society, doesn’t provide a complex or deep perception of people and how they work. This article reminded me of a Humans of New York picture I remember seeing, showing a girl talking about how she was in art school, but was being discouraged as a graduate trying to navigate the art world, saying that she felt like it was more about popularity and outgoing-ness rather than artistic merit. This made me upset, especially as someone who identifies as an artist, an introvert, and a leader. I think there is a key difference between being introverted, and being so shy and quiet that you are unable to direct people’s attention or be self- confident.
There is definitely a happy medium. If you take a Meyers Briggs test it will tell you if you are more extroverted or introverted, but its a percentage. The closer to 0%, the less you are one over the other, and the more you are both. SO like Sasha said, its not a binary concept. With that in mind I think an entrepreneur needs to be able to handle both. As an entrepreneur you need to be able to focus on the technical aspects, and also handle the business side of your company. The article uses the Woz as an example. I think that's pretty silly considering the real situation. Woz was the technical side of founding Apple, he came up with the ideas. Steve Jobs turned it into what Apple is today. Woz is an introvert, and Jobs is an extrovert. They made a great team. I think that's really what makes a good entrepreneur more than anything else, the ability to surround yourself with people that can do what you can't. A business is managed by its leader, but thrives on the leader's ability to recruit good talent.
The Myers-Briggs Personality test is incredibly interested to me. Maybe its not a perfect way of defining people, you can disagree with your results, but I felt like it made it so much easier for me to categorize people from a distance. I now understand why some people start talking to me for no reason, because they're extroverts and conversation is what gives them energy. This article made a lot of really good points, and I thought it did a good job of sharing equal information about the difference between introverts and extroverts. I can totally see how introverts are successful in leadership positions because they make the work about the work and not about themselves. I also feel like introverts allowing themselves time to process information internally is a trait that helps them a lot. Although, I do think there are benefits to “throwing pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks,” courage is not always stupid.
Totally agree with what Burke said about Myers-Briggs and its implications on working with others. This article is not wrong about its opinions of introverts. As a personal introvert, it is certainly nice to hear that a major publication thinks that I would make a great entrepreneur. However, the issue here is that the article did not talk about adjustments. On the one hand, leaving out the remainder of letters in Myers-Briggs and simply focusing on the energy preference, the conversation loses the complex understanding and categorizing that the scale achieves. Whether somebody takes in information intuitively is also extremely important for understanding leadership, as well as whether they make decisions based on thinking or feeling, and then if they accomplish tasks structurally and linearly or if they prefer to do it in more worldly, less linear, and rounded way. The issue here is that, if an extrovert reads this article, their ability to be a leader is put down. The way to solve that problem is not to point out that one is superior to the other, but to encourage awareness of the type of person you are, and be asked to make adjustments to best suit the team you are leading. Undoubtedly, that is the lesson that everyone of the list of entrepreneurs in the article learned when they were building their multi-million dollar companies.
I have never pictured introverts making good business people but after reading the article it feels illogical why they wouldn’t. But you have to understand that no profession is ever truly going to be for only one time of person. Who we are is a mixed bag of strengths and weakness that we naturally love to categorize; labeling ourselves as introverted and extroverted.
What I wish the article could have addressed were that introverts might make a more calculating and receptive decision when it comes to a business choice but that doesn’t necessarily means that decision or idea is any better than an extrovert. Sometimes the decision process of an introvert might end up taking longer than the extrovert bouncing of ideas of other people. In some sense an extrovert is to being receptive and taking in information of the people around them, but they are just doing this in real time rather than taking the time to get to that state on their own with analyzing the data collected earlier.
Regardless which time is more suited for the job there just are some qualities that extend from both types that are necessary to always improve upon to really be good at the profession, but the more important thing is just to have passion.
I have always been fascinated by the way we think, which includes introversion/extroversion. This article does a very good job of using correct definitions and not precluding the benefits of either way of thinking. I also love the book by Susan Cain mentioned in the article. As an introvert, I love reading articles like this, as it usually seems that extraversion is the personality type more people like, especially in the theatre where it sometimes seems like we are all expected to be loud and outgoing. I feel like this article can go hand in hand with the one about calm stage managers from last week. I have met people who thought that the only way to stage manage was to be a loud, outgoing, extraverted person. This article helps disprove that misconception. That's not to say that extraverts cannot be CEOs or stage manage, it is just that both extraverts and introverts can bring different things to the job.
I think in order to successfully start and run a business, you have to be both an introvert and an extrovert. While most people fall somewhere in between those two terms, it often depends on either key personality traits, rather than just one's social preferences. An introvert may be hardworking and focused, but an extrovert could be all of that with the addition of being able to communicate ideas easily. Though I as an introvert would never be able to start a business even if I wanted to, I think it is unfair to group people together and decide which ones will be better business leaders.
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