Quiet Confidence: Follow the Introverted Leader | Nikki Ling | TEDxYouth@ISBangkok

Be a

leader

, not a

follow

er, this is something we have been told our entire lives, but what is a

leader

supposed to be? We see a leader as someone who is charismatic, sociable and outspoken. We live in a world where we revere those who are talkative and outgoing, also known as extroverts, our society has developed the belief that if we are

quiet

and

introverted

we will always be just

follow

ers growing up. One of my biggest fears was parent-teacher conferences. No, it wasn't because I was afraid that my teachers would complain about my bad grades, rather it was because I was afraid of hearing the phrase your daughter needs to talk more or she's too

quiet

over and over again.

I always felt like something was wrong with me just because I prefer to listen rather than talk just because I am an introvert in school we are told that our introversion is something we must overcome, a weakness, an obstacle that stands in the way of our becoming a great leader, but recently I've been wondering why about 50% of the world's population are introverts. We are tel

ling

3.5 billion people in the world that if they want to be a great leader they must change who they are. This is a belief that is largely based on our misconceptions about what an introvert is.

The dictionary describes an introvert as a shy and reticent person. but in reality an introvert is not always shy and a shy person is not always an introvert being an introvert just means that you appreciate your time alone and lose energy when you are with other people for too long it also means that you can be relatively quieter or more reserved, This leads to the notion that introverts cannot be leaders and that extroverts are the world's ideal leaders. There is a cultural bias against introverts right now. In a 2006 USA Today survey, 65% of senior corporate executives viewed introversion as a barrier.

When it comes to leadership, only six percent believe introversion could be an advantage. Furthermore, statistics show that while only 50% of the world's population is extroverted, 96% of all leadership positions in the world are held by extroverts, if we choose to believe in this extroverted ideal, but extroverts are of better leaders if they have been introverts, we are saying that people like Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement from Great Britain, were not fit to be leaders, that Douglas Conan, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg and Abraham Lincoln were not They were fit to be leaders because each and every one of them The person on this screen is an introvert and yet each of them was able to lead others and achieve something that changed our world for the better.

We tend to think of these people as exceptions to the ideal extroverted people who were somehow able to overcome this so-called obstacle of introversion and achieve greatness because what we should do is see them as the years of the introvert community who are paving their way. path to becoming great leaders and breaking the misconception that extroverts are the best leaders, in fact, they exist. There are many qualities of introverts that can make them better leaders than extroverts first according to the frontiers of human neuroscience. Introverts are more responsible and cautious. Introverts tend to think more clearly about their decisions instead of jumping to conclusions.

Extroverts have a different way of processing. information their brains are more sensitive to rewards which pushes them to be more hasty when making decisions their extraversion pushes them to seek risks however as a leader unfortunately it does not take long before taking action because you are not just everyone who follows you 2 July Contrary to popular belief, introverts work very well in groups because they are great listeners. A study by Harvard Business Review showed that

introverted

leaders are best in proactive groups. The researchers studied managers and employees of one hundred and thirty pizza companies. The results showed that when a proactive group had an extroverted leader their earnings were 14% lower than the average, on the other hand, when a proactive group had an introverted leader their earnings were 16% higher than the average, in this case having an extroverted leader actually hurt the success of the pizza franchise.

This is because the introverted leader was able to do something that the extroverted leader could not, which is listen to the ideas of the people around him and listen to improve the success of the pizza franchise. The introverted leader was then able to analyze all of these different ideas and thoughts and turn them into something productive and beneficial, plus the initial rooms and braided solitude and extra credit tend to get uncomfortable when you are alone for too long and in the company of a large group of people, however, according to Susan McCain, author of a silence a power of introverts is stunned but solitude is a catalyst for innovation and, in the words of Picasso, without great solitude you cannot do serious work because Introverts are comfortable working alone as well as working with others, this flexibility in the work environment allows them to think both productively and creatively in different situations, so my question for you today is why do we still believe that extroverts are the best leaders?

Because that's how it's always been. It's not because that's what society has taught us well. It's time to change that. It's time we recognize the strengths of introverts instead of pressuring them to be something they're not. Next time you're looking for a leader, don't look for the loudest voice, look for the person who has the best ideas and the most level-headed mind and this may be the calmest person in the room, but it's time we recognize that leaders They come in many different forms, some may be the extroverted leaders we have known for so long, but they may also be those you have just labeled a follower. simply because they were quieter with the introverts in the room if we join everyone in talking who will listen the world must be a balance between those who listen and those who speak or else we would just be a chaos of noise without understanding and As Gandhi once said, gently, you can shake the world, thank you.