Personal Growth — March 18, 2011

Introverts Make Great Leaders, Too

It’s vitally important for introverts who wish to be leaders to understand how their introversion is viewed by others, how it may impact teams, and to work to overcome additional challenges.

bigthinkeditor

Lisa Petrilli remembers when hired as an Executive Leadership Trainer for a Fortune 500 company she worked for she was given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument and discovered she was an introvert. “This didn’t surprise me at all, but it did bother me when I was told that most CEOs and elected officials have, historically, been tall, male, extraverts. As a quite petite, female, introvert I felt a bit doomed. …It’s vitally important for introverts who wish to be in leadership roles to understand how their introversion is viewed by others, how it may impact teams, and to work to overcome additional challenges.”

Ancient bust of a bearded man, believed to depict one of history's generous leaders, with detailed facial features, set against a plain turquoise background.

Business

Aristotle plus generosity: How to soften the hard-boiled leader

Tough and cutthroat leaders are celebrated in a results-driven culture — but there is another path to C-suite success.

Starts With A Bang

The unsurprising non-detection of intelligent aliens

Life arose on Earth very early on. After a few billion years, here we are: intelligent and technologically advanced. Where's everyone else?

A person in a dark robe wielding a glowing red lightsaber on a desert dune under a night sky with a large crescent moon and a visible planet.

High Culture

Does science fiction shape the future?

Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.

A human brain preserved in a clear glass container filled with a yellowish preserving fluid, set against a bright, light green background.

13.8

The key problem with the “brain in a vat” thought experiment

Even with the best technology imaginable, you'd probably never be able to exist as a consciously aware brain in a vat.

A dramatic solar eclipse with a radiant ring of fire visible around the moon, set against a backdrop of clouds and a sunburst.

13.8

A cosmic coincidence: What eclipses tell us about Earth

Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Hitchens Urges Perspective on Revolutions

Christopher Hitchens has a wary prognosis for the Egyptians who thronged Tahrir Square: they likely haven’t got the resources to break the chains of tyranny.