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On first appearances, Bill Gates doesn’t seem like an obvious leader. Quietly spoken and unassuming, it was clear from an interview he did in Australia a few years ago that he considers himself to be an introvert. On being asked how he managed to succeed in a “predominantly extroverted world” he paused before saying: “I think introverts can do quite well.”
Gates is, of course, the billionaire founder and CEO of Microsoft – one of the most successful business leaders in the contemporary world. And he’s not the only great leader to be an introvert: Eleanor Roosevelt, Warren Buffet and Barack Obama are introverts who’ve gone on to be at the very top of their game.
Marti Olsen Laney, doctor of psychology and author of The Introvert Advantage, considers 75% of the world’s population to be extroverted (according to reporting by CrowdSpring). Extroverted behaviour pervades all aspects of our society, including business and politics – we expect our leaders to be confident, gregarious and bold. And indeed, many of our leaders are exactly that – Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for example – but it’s telling that many of Boris Johnson’s critics talk about preferring a different, quieter, less showy candidate for leadership of the country.
While this doesn’t necessarily suggest that the odds are tipping in favour of introverted leaders, Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D. and author of The Introverted Leader reports in an article for Forbes that 40% of executives consider themselves to be introverted. Considering only 25% of the population are introverts, that must mean a significant proportion of business leaders are, in fact, introverts.
