Introverts Are Great Leaders

There is a misconception about leadership that just won’t seem to go away. It’s the commonly held belief that the best leaders are charismatic and inspiring and hence, the best leaders are highly extroverted. Too many people still seem to believe that extroverts make better leaders than introverts. In a survey of senior corporate executives, 65% viewed introversion as a barrier to leadership. And in what I am sure is a total coincidence, that same percentage is also the number of extroverts in senior leadership roles.

But introverts are great leaders too. Introverted but well-regarded leaders include Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, and Mahatma Gandhi. And beyond the anecdotal examples, there’s solid research suggesting introverts are quiet, but powerful leaders. Research from Adam Grant, Francesca Gino, and David Hoffman found that introverted leaders performed significantly better than extroverted leaders, especially when leading teams of proactive, extroverted people.

In this article, we’ll review four of the reasons introverts are great leaders.

Introverted leaders are better listeners

The first reason introverts are great leaders is that they’re often better listeners. Introverts tend to be more introspective. They tend to listen a little bit harder to…