Why We Need Introverted Leaders | Angela Hucles | TEDxBend

Translator: Quế Ngân Ngân Reviewer: Nada Qanbar I believe we all have the capacity to be great

leaders

. What is important is the act of being a leader and discovering our moments to lead in life. Being prepared for

leaders

hip moments means making decisions that will ultimately put you in a position to succeed when the opportunity presents itself. Sports teams, business teams, and even family teams

need

to have strong leadership to collectively achieve desired results. Ninety-six percent of leadership positions are filled by extroverts with extroverted qualities. Only 50% of the population truly identifies as extroverted. That other half, introverts, provide only 4% of our leaders.

As an introvert, who has held leadership positions on teams I have played on, as well as being the president of the Women's Sports Foundation, I find that providing the vast majority of our leaders with only half the population is a bit myopic. Imagine a group made up solely of extroverts. (Laughs) Now imagine a group made up solely of introverts. Isn't it the combination of the two that really creates the best space? Energy, enthusiasm, excitement, combined with grounding, listening, strength and calm. Can introverts lead too? If we can. Today I want to tell you how we can create the conditions for that to happen.

As an introvert, I definitely

need

my downtime, especially after being around large groups. I remember when I was seven years old and I was working on a class assignment. The school bell rang signaling recess, which was one of my favorite times of the day. I jumped up to go get my coat. The teacher turned to me and said, "Angela, you can't go out yet, you haven't finished your homework. You can finish it now or stay inside the classroom." Well, that's what she said. It wouldn't be until I was an adult that I understood what she meant by staying inside the classroom until she finished her homework.

I loved the feeling of running around the schoolyard and that freedom. There was something quite peaceful right after all my classmates left the room. At that moment I observed this peace, this tranquility. I remember the sun coming through the window and this feeling of energy coming back to me. This is my first memory of enjoying and needing that quiet time and recharging as an introvert. You can imagine my surprise when I turned to the teacher and told her that it was okay for me to stay inside the classroom waiting until recess was over, instead of doing my homework.

She walked me to the principal's office. (laughs) I wasn't trying to be bold or problematic. At that moment I was expressing what I really needed and I ended up getting in trouble for it. Have you ever been misunderstood? Or did I feel dishonored like I felt by my teacher? Maybe you're an extrovert and someone told you to stop talking so much and stay quiet. Or maybe you're an introvert and someone told you to talk more and participate. That longing and desire for stillness was a sign of my

introverted

self. It was an example of how, although introverts can sometimes be calmer than others and less likely to throw themselves headlong into conflict, we can still maintain a very strong will.

There is still a passion that resides in an

introverted

soul, even if they may be more reserved most of the time. It's the time of solitude when introverts can harness their strength to lead, to find courage, which they can then demonstrate once our teammates, coworkers, and classmates return from that playground. Have you ever needed some time just to regroup or recharge? Maybe you're at work and disappear to the bathroom, or maybe you just need to go for a walk alone. It is during those moments of solitude, and really that strength and power within its stillness, where we can draw on our strength to lead, to find courage, which we can then demonstrate once everyone returns to the room.

There was a very special moment in 2008. It was the 2008 Summer Olympics, I was playing for the United States soccer team and we won. (Applause and cheers) We took first place and won gold at the Beijing Summer Olympics. As a gold medalist in soccer, and every player on that squad can wear some gold jewelry around her neck, I was also a winner of the Silver Boot. That is, I was the second top scorer in all the women's soccer Olympic Games. (Applause) Thank you. Additionally, I was the leading scorer for the American team at the Olympics that year. (Applause) And that's the extroverted version of this story.

I still struggle to express that side of the story to this day. Does anyone else here get a little squeamish when they have to talk about their own accomplishments? The irony is that with the success that my team and I shared in those Olympic Games, it is a bittersweet memory for me. Behind success there was stress. There was anxiety and a really big fear to overcome. The leading and driving force of our 2008 Olympic team was our forward, Abby Wambach. She was the energy, driving force, and outgoing leader of our team. Before the Olympics, even before we flew to China, we played a practice match, called a friendly match, against Brazil.

During that game, our outgoing leader, whose energy was great enough to fill a 100,000-seat stadium, Abby Wambach, suffers a tackle and breaks her leg. That year she would no longer be able to compete with us in the Olympics and we were devastated. Not only were we incredibly upset about losing our fearless leader, but we didn't really have a plan B without her. And at the time when we needed to be at our best and most focused, we had feelings of nervousness on top of what we already felt naturally competing in the Olympics. In our first Olympic match we faced Norway.

Fifty-nine seconds into the match, Norway scores a goal. Three minutes later, Norway scores the second goal. At the end of the match we got a goal, but it was not enough and we lost our first match in the Olympic Games: 2-1. All those fears we had, all the comments from dubious journalists questioning our ability to not only defend our title, but also get out of group play, really started to come to the surface for our team. What would you think in this situation if you were part of this team? Can you remember a time, whether at work, family, or even a sporting event, when the stakes were high and you were faced with this moment of truth?

What did you do? Well, my team had to make a decision: face the defeat that loomed over us, or take a step in the opposite direction, towards that Olympic podium. We had a decisive moment. Our approach and mentality changed. So what did we do? We leave behind that first defeat against Norway. We left it behind. We decided to commit and trust in our abilities, trust in our preparation. Individually and collectively we seize our moment to lead. We understood that each of us had a greater responsibility to fulfill and that we should not depend on a single extroverted leader.

So we entered the field with a high sense of confidence, a great responsibility, because we had to do it. We needed to use our leadership qualities to have a chance of achieving our ultimate goal. Throughout those Olympic Games, we were tasked with gaining trust from the media and others who doubted our abilities. But the most important thing is that we played in a way that gave us confidence in ourselves. Most of my career and my time with the US national team I was a substitute, a bench player who came to games. Throughout my life, some coaches encouraged me to act like other players instead of myself.

In these Olympic Games, it was a very special opportunity. You see, the year before these Olympics was our World Cup year. I was one of the only two players who didn't play a single minute in that entire tournament. However, at these Olympics, this introvert was asked to start and play in place of our team's more outgoing leader, Abby Wambach. During this leadership crisis, no teammate, no coach asked me to play, talk or be like everyone else. They understood what I needed. They allowed me to be me. The space created allowed me to play or recover, but it made me feel better.

And that allowed me to give my best. I began to notice the same things in my other teammates, whether they were starters or reserves, typically vocal or typically silent. People were freely assuming their roles and responsibilities, and something magical began to happen. People were beginning to assume their leadership roles and responsibilities. The energy and cohesion of our team began to take shape in a new way, at the perfect time. What at first seemed like a devastating loss, due to Abby's injury and that wake-up call of the defeat against Norway, we transformed into a collective victory. By individually assuming our own unique leadership positions and each of us seizing the moment to lead, we managed to get every player on that US soccer team that year to the podium with a gold medal around their neck after the whistle. final.

The New York Times recently published an article titled, “What Google Learned from Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team.” A common behavior shared by the most successful team was equality in the distribution of speaking turns. The other finding was that the teams had a high average social sensitivity. In essence, individuals in the teams felt psychologically safe to be themselves, to speak up, and had feelings of mutual trust and respect. My 2008 Olympic trip was my first-hand experience showing me exactly what that research is talking about. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what position or title you may currently have.

It doesn't even matter what personality you have. Our greatest chance for success—for having a happy home life, for meeting our quotas with our teams at work, or for reaching an Olympic podium—comes from each of us having the opportunity to contribute to the conversation. I don't know the percentage breakdown of how many extroverts versus introverts there were on that Olympic team. But what I do know is that a space opened up, one in which an introvert like me was given the opportunity to show leadership. At the beginning of this talk I mentioned that 96% of leadership positions are occupied by extroverts, with extroverted qualities, and only 50% of the population identifies with being extroverted.

If we continue to fill 96% of all our leadership positions with only half the population, are we really operating at our best potential? We all have unique abilities. How would things change if we opened the space for everyone to feel psychologically safe and be themselves? No matter who you are, each and every one of us has the ability to harness our very passion, our strong will, and when the time comes we will be ready. Let's make sure we focus on creating and opening space for each other, no matter what kind of "vert" we are, so that any of us are prepared for that moment to lead.

Thank you. (Applause)