“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” - Phil Jackson

1. Introverts, Extroverts,
& Winning in the Workplace
“The strength of the team is each individual
member. The strength of each member is
the team.”
Phil Jackson

2. No matter your workplace, success rarely rests on one person’s shoulders.
Winning requires the contributions of introverts, extroverts, and everyone
in between.
Too often, though, we miss opportunities to make the most of the skills
and styles of our team members.

3. The Avengers: A Case Study

4. As witnessed in a decade of wildly successful
films, the characters in The Avengers
showcase distinct backgrounds,
personalities, and powers.
From super-soldiers to billionaires in high-
powered laser suits, to martial artist spies
and farm-boys expertly wielding bows and
arrows, the actors and characters bring their
best.

5. Joe Russo, co-director of Avengers:
Endgame, says, “Part of what’s fun with
having so many great actors on these films,”
he said, “is that they all bring a different
process to it. And it keeps it exciting as a
director because every day someone else is
showing up.”

6. Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), for
example, is “very gifted on a technical level,”
often capturing the essence of the scene in
one take.
“Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), you could shoot
him all day long, because he just likes to
keep trying different things.”

7. Beyond Blockbusters: Balanced
Success

8. The Avengers can teach us something about how teams
and offices might be structured to maximize the
potential of every type of member.

9. In the fast-paced modern office environment,
extroverts are the superheroes.
Susan Cain—author of the seminal book
Quiet—writes that Western culture, in
general, operates under an “Extrovert Ideal—
the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is
gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the
spotlight;” by comparison, quietness and
introversion are often pathologized as
personality flaws to be overcome.

10. Extroverts, says Cain, are…
• prone to making “fast (sometimes rash)
decisions”
• “more likely to take a quick-and-dirty
approach to problem-solving, trading
accuracy for speed”

11. Introverts, according to Cain, may…
• be over-cautious, indecisive, and over-
sensitive
• work more slowly and deliberately
• exhibit “mighty powers of concentration,”
tending to “think before they act, digest
information thoroughly, stay on task longer,
give up less easily, and work more
accurately”

12. In a healthy office environment, introverts
and extroverts can complement and
counterbalance each other.

13. Many modern office structures—such as the
emphasis on open layouts and high-energy,
face-to-face meetings—are geared more
toward those on the extroverted end of the
spectrum, forcing introverts to continually
work against their natures.

14. Cain notes that between one third and one
half of Americans are introverts, which means
it’s likely you have a good number of
introverts in your midst.
If you look around and don’t see any,
your introverts are likely great—but
generally exhausted—actors.

15. 3 Introvert-Friendly
Improvements

16. Consider implementing a few practices to
support the introverts on your team, and
you’ll all see the benefits.

17. Be open to alternate ideas and
ways of thinking.

18. • Challenge employees to gather insights
and ideas in a more contemplative,
reflective way.
• Introverts are challenged to think in a
way that isn’t entirely natural to them.
• Extroverts grow by working on quieter
aspects of themselves.
• Mix up feedback sessions to balance
instant, quick-thinking brainstorms and
more deliberate, in-depth sessions to
target long-term solutions.

19. Provide options (as much as
possible), especially in the
workspace and setting.

20. • Conduct meetings electronically to
encourage all group members to
participate.
• Create a quiet space for deep thinkers to
utilize their powers of focus and
concentration.

21. Examine and expand your
definition of value.

22. • Might a quieter leader be a better fit for a
specific, particularly motivated team or in-
depth project?
• Ask yourself what engagement or
satisfaction means and looks like for
different types of employees.

23. Strength in Balance

24. In striking a healthy balance of strengths
and styles, you can create an
environment in which every team
member can step up and be the hero.

25. Most of us have some traits of both
introverts and extroverts, and the best
teams bring out the best in all of us.

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extroverts-at-work/

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