Why Introverts Make Great Leaders

Key Takeaways

close your eyes and picture a CEO you're probably envisioning someone that's outgoing charismatic with excellent networking skills you're probably not picturing an introvert and guess what the majority of Business Leaders wouldn't either 65 percent of senior Executives see introversion as a quote barrier to leadership and only six percent have faith in introverts to oversee a successful team but here's why all of that is oh [Music] when it comes to identifying as an introvert or an extrovert most of us typically fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum but a whopping 96 percent of Executives identify as extroverts and research proves there's some serious bias against introverted leaders yet introverts have launched some of the biggest companies today ever heard of Google so why do so many of us assume they're bad leaders let's dispel some myths myth number one introverts simply don't want to be leaders this is so far from true it's stupid there's wildly successful introverts in almost every Arena especially business people like Jeff Bezos Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah are just a few of the introverted billionaires that come to mind myth number two introverts don't have the people skills to lead ugh this is also false introverted leaders may not be outwardly bubbly but they're more likely to be attuned to emotional cues and sensory details that's because introverts actually experience more blood flow to the parts of the brain that deal with internal processing and problem solving so yeah we kind of love when they're in charge myth number three introverts are bad communicators um ouch just because they may take a little longer to contribute doesn't mean they communicate poorly many of them are simply methodical thinkers and when they do speak up their contributions are some of the most well-developed and valuable in the room the fourth and final myth is that introverts don't like collaborating [Music] um yeah no a Harvard Business Review study found that extroverted leaders were more threatened by proactive employees while introverts listened carefully and motivated them turns out introverts are actually great at leading teams where everyone contributes instead of the ones where they dominate discussions we all know those managers so if you're an introvert and you want to run a company don't be afraid to grab that bull by the horns your quiet genius could be your greatest asset [Applause] if you made it to the end of this video don't be shy hit subscribe and check out the links below to sign up for our daily newsletter which keeps you up to date with the latest in business and Tech