Up until a few years ago I would have told you I was an extrovert. And most of my friends and family would have told you the same. Now I realise that it was more a case of thinking that I must be an extrovert because I’m not particularly shy, I like pushing boundaries, and so on.
I have come to learn that not only do most people sit somewhere in the middle (i.e. there are few true introverts and extroverts), but that the terms refer to how you respond to the world. Introversion is not the same as shyness – Carol Jung (the Swiss psychiatrist who coined the terms) described introverts as people who tend to find social interactions tiring and are energised by time alone rather than in groups.
It now makes a whole lot more sense to me why I struggled with self-promotion when I first started out. At networking events, for example, it seemed essential to make sure that as many people as possible knew who I was (because that’s what I observed the extroverts doing), but ‘working the room’ always felt false and very uncomfortable for me. Instead, over time, I have used my introvert attributes to build relationships with a smaller number of people – the old adage of quality over quantity seemed to work well. This has resulted in both long term clients and quality word of mouth referrals.
If I had continued to try to ‘be an extrovert’ in business, I am sure I would have quit long ago. But embracing my ‘introversion’ and realising that it is an asset, not a liability, has been of utmost importance to my business journey.
Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender
