Introverts make great entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is for extroverts -  a person needs to be outgoing, an expressive speaker, and an experienced networker to promote their ideas and lead businesses. Psychologists now say that introverts have unique skills too that make them great entrepreneurs (Association for Psychological Science, August 24, 2015).

Introverts have the ability to focus for long periods, use critical thinking over impulsiveness, and can be quietly persuasive. Professor Adam Grant of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in America found that introverted leaders generated better performance and higher profits in the workforce than extroverted leaders.

Researchers found that introverted leaders were more able to channel creative talent into high workforce performance, through their ability to listen, accept a range of ideas and encourage employees to shine. Previous 2009 studies at Boston College in America and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found that extroverts sought a happy state from everyone while completing tasks, whereas introverts preferred to maintain a neutral emotional state. The introverts’ definition of ‘happy place’ is a quieter space with less interruptions – i.e. less over-stimulation.

Self-admitted introverts include people such as Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft), Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Larry Page (co-founder of Google), Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook), and Marissa Mayer (president and CEO of Yahoo). Introverts are more likely to partner with like-minded people to work together to generate ideas and turn them into reality. Introverts emphasise the idea, product, or outcome, rather than themselves.

An article in The Wall Street Journal (August 24, 2015) stated that about 33% of the world’s population are introverts. They get their energy from processing information internally and researching deeply, whereas extroverts gain their energy from networking and through interactions with lots of people. Introverts tend not to need external affirmations, whereas extroverts like to bounce ideas off people. Introverts tend not to take setbacks personally, because they focus on the idea, whereas extroverts tend to take setbacks personally, because they generated the idea.

Recent terminology recognises that there is a third category of people, called ambiverts, that fluctuate between introvert characteristics and extrovert characteristics, depending on situations, timing, and the company they keep.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/why-introverts-make-great-entrepreneurs.html