In a recent blog post, JK Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter series, revealed how she was struck with the idea of the child wizard while travelling alone on a train from Manchester to London.
A self-confessed introvert, Rowling was giddy with excitement about the idea but didn't have a pen to jot down her thoughts. Too shy to ask for one, she let the thoughts simmer for four hours.
According to author and lecturer at Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, Susan Cain, introverts offer more at work than their outspoken counterparts. In her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Cain explains why.
"Introverts are often stigmatised for their demeanour which is seen as negative," says Cain. Introverts aren't keen to socialise and are hence seen as poor team players.
But Rowling's brooder personality is one she shares with many geniuses. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Marcel Proust, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffett and Charles Schulz were also known to be made of the same wallflower mould.
Alpha bias Society works in a value system that Cain calls Extrovert Ideal. She refers to "the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable". This puts introversion -along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness in a second-class personality trait. Statistics show that one out of every two people are introverts, they may never know it. Introverts tend to hide even from themselves. Many, often labelled shy and quiet, in a society that seems to think higher of extroverts, turn into `pretend extroverts'.
"Extroversion, an appealing personality style, has turned into a standard that all of us feel we need to conform to," she says. People confuse introversion with antisocial behaviour. The bias fuels the assumption that fast talkers are more competent than slow ones, and people who prefer to listen aren't leadership material. "Our schools, workplaces, and religious institutions are structured for extroverts," says Cain.
Busy brains Clinical psychologist Laurie Helgoe, in her book Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength, found that introverts tend to have higher brain activity. She used brain imaging studies to prove that when introverts and extroverts respond to external stimulation; introverts work faster in brain compartments that process information, make meaning and problem solve.
US psychotherapist Marti Olsen Laney, author of The Introvert Advantage, highlights research that suggests that the signal to an introvert's brain follows a longer path than that of an extrovert. So introverts may take longer to react to a question, but they make a lot more "mental connections" on the way and their response may contain more substance.
Lone creator He further argues that their temperament and ability to spend time with themselves increases selfawareness and spurs creativity. According to Albert Einstein's biographers, the German physicist didn't utter a word until he turned three. Little did his parents know that this `odd' child would discover the mysteries of quantum physics.
Cain says this correlation is because of "their capacity for quiet". Introverts are careful, reflective thinkers who can tolerate the solitude that idea-generation requires. Extroverts may then be less creative due to their inability to have lengthy dialogue with themselves.
Two-way dialogue Cain, who calls herself an introvert, says she woke up to the power of introversion when she started practising corporate law at Wall Street. "I was good at building loyal alliances. Behind the scenes; I could close my door, concentrate, and get the work done. And like many introverts, I tended to ask a lot of questions and listen intently to the answers, which is an invaluable tool in negotiation," she says. Implementing good ideas requires cooperation, and introverts are more likely to prefer cooperative environments, while extroverts favour competitive ones. While introverts are overwhelmed by too much stimulation, they pay attention to detail. They also avoid multi-tasking.
Middle ground Swiss psychia trist Carl Jung brought the terms `intro vert' and `ex trovert' into the spotlight in the 1920s, he defined an introvert as a person who gets his energy from within. An extrovert, however, is charged due to external stimuli. So while introverts need solitude to think things through, extroverts are stimulated by activities, people and places around them. As per Jung's clinical studies, there are no pure extroverts or introverts. Most of us sit somewhere in the middle.
Introvert or shy? According to Susan Cain (in pic): "Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not over-stimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not."
Strong, silent kind A study conducted at Harvard Business School in 2010 found that introverts can play a crucial role in leading teams. The researchers found that extroverts were more dominant, drove conversations and were less receptive to new ideas while introverts listened to ideas, internalised them and were able to improve team performance.
Introverts also deliver top-quality performance when leading a team of proactive workers since they are more open to taking suggestions.
BDST: 1529 HRS, JULY-17, 2014
