We may be drawn to the most charismatic and engaging among us. But engineering managers need to think about how to get the most out of their introverted employees.
Extraverts love to hog attention, but recently, introverts have come in for a bit of popularity. The author of a book titled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking has given interviews on National Public Radio, written an article for The New York Times, and lectured for a TED talk. Susan Cain makes the point, as do others, that today's world has turned almost entirely into an extraverted culture, and the value of introversion is overlooked as a result.
Psychologists' definitions of introversion and extraversion differ from the commonly held notions of being reserved or outgoing. There is some truth in those adjectives, but they are not prescriptive. Introversion is neither shyness nor a fear of public speaking. Introverts, however, do need to prepare and practice a public speech, whereas extraverts can thrive at...
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