Welcome back friends to a new week on our introvert series. Today, we will look at introverts and leadership roles – are they still interested in them? would they perform well? and some reasons they may or may not accept leadership roles.
In 2013 when I got admission into St.Francis Catholic Secondary School, I was given the role of the class captain which I retained till I finished junior school. This wasn’t because I was the most outspoken person in the class or the best fit for the position, but because my form teacher and classmates felt I was too quiet and kept to myself. To them, it was a way of making me come out of my shell and stop looking outside the window all the time. Apart from the position, I was moved from the window seat to the middle of the Class. Did I like it or not? Well, I’d rather say that it was a worthwhile experience.
The mentality people have is that introverts may not be able to lead well or be successful leaders, but that’s not the case. Introverts have the capability to guide others, serve as examples, a mentors to others and be responsible for those under their wings. There is also the belief that those who talk more tend to be more confident and the best possible leaders but introverts like Martha Minar the Dean of Harvard Law School, JK Rowling and Courtney Cox have proven that introverts have the capacity to be great leaders and outstanding personalities.
You may be tempted to think that introverts don’t like leadership roles but it is not totally true. A write-up by Zachary Crockett has stated that about 65% of senior executives think that being introverted is a barrier to leadership with only 6% thinking introverts have the people skills to run a team.
This shows that it’s not true that introverts don’t like to lead but existence bias has already taken away their chance due to their nature.
Introverts have special traits that if properly harnessed can put them at the top of the ladder for leadership roles. Some of these traits are time management, the realization that the world does not revolve around your head or mind and the maintenance of deep meaningful relationships with people.
It is important to note one thing that Bill Gates said in 2013 “if you are clever, you can learn to get the benefits of being an introvert”.
See you next week and we hope you enjoyed this article.
