Isn’t introversion something that we need to cure people of by sending them to the Dale Carnegie course?
People hear “extrovert”, and they think: outgoing, friendly, social, capable, productive, NORMAL. People hear “introvert”, and they think: shy, withdrawn, anti-social, illusive, dysfunctional, wall-flower.
The problem with these labels is that neither is particularly accurate, and it infers that people are capable of only one set of behaviours exclusively. There is also a connotation that Extroverts are more likely to excel in business.
You might be surprised who may be a closet introvert: High-profile leaders, television personalities, sports stars, maybe even one of your friends, neighbours, or family are introverted. They’re everywhere, so beware – you never know when they’ll want to slink into the back corner of a meeting room, and silently wish everyone would stop talking at once. Or perhaps pray that someone will listen to them for 20 seconds before interrupting them. Worse yet, they may think about something before responding to a question creating that awkward few seconds silence.
As someone who spends a lot of time talking to groups of people, and a person who worked in television (for a short and spectacularly unsuccessful period of time), I am rarely accused of being an Introvert, even though that’s what my MBTI indicates.
I prefer to label myself as a Recovering-Extrovert.