I had the pleasure of meeting Wendy Gelberg, career coach and author of The Successful Introvert: How to Enhance Your Job Search and Advance Your Career, on my recent trip to Cambridge, MA. Wendy offered some tips for introverts that I know you will find useful.
Fast forward a bit. I am sitting with Sam, a new executive coaching client. A bright, ivy league introverted guy who is managing people for the first time. He shares some feedback about being seen as too intense and intimidating.
I asked him to breathe. Sam squirmed in his chair but consciously took in air and let it out. I asked him to do it more slowly, more deliberately. We even breathed a few breaths at the same time. I encouraged Sam to check in with himself. “How do you feel?”, I asked. “Calmer,” he replied.
Clapton grew up an introvert. He spent many hours alone with his guitar dealing with a rough childhood, honing his gift. Later on he battled alcohol and drugs. None of that mattered last night.
I am not sure how I feel about this. Easy for me to say as an adult, but isn’t the school bus a kind of learning lab for social interaction? We learn how to make conversations and talk to people different than ourselves. We even get some experience in fending off the mean girls and rough boys. And what about getting the real scoop about teachers and school policies, etc.??? All of these are skills that serve us well as we swing through the workplace.
“My brother lost his job,” said my friend, Sam. Will you give him some tips? I asked how much of a network his brother had and Sam turned to…
When you think of a successful business leader, you probably imagine an outgoing “people person” with a strong handshake, a warm laugh, and a booming voice. A commanding presence, in short…….
I usually like the advice that John Rosemond, a parenting expert, gives in his columns. However I agree with Yuri, an introverted professional who wrote to critique a recent column in which Rosemond offered advice to a worried mother of a 4 year old twin. She said,
I ran a leadership program with a group of Public Affairs pros today. One introverted leader shared how his team had learned from a recent situation.
Mr. Leno continues to be a brute for work. Last year, even working 46 weeks on “Tonight,” he managed to perform his stand-up act on 160 dates. It is not uncommon for him to finish taping a show and then fly off somewhere like Fresno, Calif., where he appeared this summer at a chicken festival in 104-degree heat. He said he had just as many stand-up appearances booked for this year, even with the new show.
