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Adrian Malpass

Business Developer (Emotionally Intelligent), The Experience Group

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Do introverts make better leaders?

Part of what I do is involved in developing emotionally intelligent businesses, leaders and teams.

Having recently seen Susan Cain's video on TED.com on 'The Power of Introverts' and listened to her in a recent radio interview here in the UK, I am increasingly finding my mind occupied by wondering about any link between being an introvert and being a successful leader.

My experience tells me that introverts quite possibly, or even probably, make better leaders than 'extroverts'.

What are your thoughts?

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Topics: Emotional Intelligence Extrovert business business development business idea collaborative learning introvert leadership team work
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    James Turner 10+

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    Apr 8 2012: I guess I need to decide between what a leader is and what a manager is before I even think about introvert vs extrovert personalities. Maybe it is very situational dependent. There are places for an extrovert to lead and places for introverts to lead. The question for me becomes what is a leader? and is a leader different from a manager?

    • Mwenjew Wewngwa

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      Apr 8 2012: Very true James,

      Leadership in the church requires a different set of qualities than say, leadership in the military or in a street gang.
      Its all relative.

      As you climb the corporate / military or whatever ladder it is, the task at hand ceases to be technical and becomes more of handling people, and how you make people do their job. Here is where you cannot deny the power of charm and charisma.The bottom line for me is whether one has these people skills or not

      Have we gotten to the place where were we are now asking are dictators better than charismatic leaders ?
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        James Turner 10+

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        Apr 8 2012: I must ask this question and I know is seems silly but is there at the core really a difference between dictators and leaders if the dictator is very charismatic? This assumes that we can separate these ideas from the questionable or even illegal and immoral acts of historical dictators.
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      Linda Taylor 50+

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      Apr 8 2012: This is a very simple concept and it is easy to see. You just have to know that it has nothing whatsoever to do with position.

      A leader makes it possible for people to do their job. A manager makes people to their job.

      That's pretty much it.

      Some of the skills are the same but that's pretty much it. I disagree with Mwenjew Wewngwa. I think leadership is leadership. The skill set is the same whether church or military. People are people in spite of the setting. The management across military and church is very different.
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        James Turner 10+

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        Apr 8 2012: Interesting thought and I appreciate you sharing it. Could a leader be thought of as an enabler and a manager as a forcer?
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          Linda Taylor 50+

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          Apr 8 2012: Perhaps in one domain. But that is really simplistic. Leaders and mangers do more than that. Leaders hold the vision that moves the company forward. This typically means they have to focus on what is happening externally as well as keep an eye focused internally to the company.

          Managers make sure everything works. Tend to the vehicle that moves the company. Their focus is typically within the organization. They are not mutually exclusive and so there can be confusion.

          Because of the overlap many people think that good managers are perfect for leadership positions. But that is not always the case. Sometimes the person in charge of business office should not be moved to the CFO position. Just because they are great with budgets does not mean they have the vision to project for strategic planning. Esp. ir they cannot think big enough or forward enough. The skills needed at the leadership level is to do the research and be able to project out 20 years. But that's just the baseline for my industry. I think that may be industry specific.

      • Mwenjew Wewngwa

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        Apr 10 2012: Leadership is a subset of management. In management you plan, organise,lead and control.Leadership is leadership, stemming from your discrimination between leadership and management.but how good a manager can you be without leadership skills ? With my very limited corporate experience I believe that effective managers must have the capacity to lead and inspire the group of people they are responsible for managing.I am trying to picture a gang leader trying to head our large financialinstitution .....or even a religious organisation......HTTP 404 i.e Horizontal intergration, vertical however does work, but not all the time. I would also like to point out that leadership in any organisation is not only restricted to the head.read visionary.leadership is required in all areas and levels of the organisation but what changes is simply the type of leadership. ieleadership in operational tactical levels is different from strategic level .what you are referring to.just because you are not at the top or even at stragetic level doesnt mean you are not a leader and do not require leadership skills
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          Linda Taylor 50+

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          Apr 12 2012: I disagree. Management is a sub-set of leadership. You can delegate management but you cannot delegate leadership. There are plenty of really great managers with NO leadership ability at all. They do not want it they will not take it. Management is TASK driven. They are not paid to inspire they are not paid to think. They are paid to do the tasks assigned to them and report the results. They simply have people that report to them that are there to help them complete the task.

          Many managers are happy with their management tasks and cannot make a decision or strategically plan. You only need one leader with a vision and that vision needs to be articulated to management that then carries out the vision.

          There are many many books out there on this subject. You might want to invest some time in one.

          Let's take your military example. It is very clear to know who the leader of the US military is. It is the President of the US. If he makes a decision say, to destroy a foreign dictator and replace the government with a democratic one, he communicates that to the heads of the military who then are duty bound to make that happen. They are not allowed to question the decision. They are not allowed to project what the results of the decision will be. They are not allowed to research the broader social implications of the decision. They make it happen. They articulate the vision to the people who report to them who articulate the vision to the people who report to them and so on until some guy is on the ground in Bagdad. They may need to make decisions and strategize within the scope of their influence but that minimal leadership is bound by rank.

      • Mwenjew Wewngwa

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        Apr 12 2012: Strong point Linda ! strong point !

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