Rise of the Introverts
The great English professor Alan Jacobs (currently at Wheaton, but headed to Baylor University's Honors College) blogs at The American Conservative. A couple of days ago, he noted a "very thoroughly researched and well-argued scholarly article" published in 2005 that shows group productivity is an illusion. He notes:
All those brainstorming sessions and group projects you’ve been made to do at school and work? Useless. Everybody would have been better off working on their own...
Has the puncturing of that “illusion of group productivity” had any effect? Of course not. Groupthink is as powerful as ever. Why is that?
I’ll tell you. It’s because the world is run by extraverts. (And FYI, that’s the proper spelling: extrovert is common but wrong, because extra- is the proper Latin prefix.) Extraverts love meetings — any possible excuse for a meeting, they’ll seize on it. They might hear others complain about meetings, but the complaints never sink in: extraverts can’t seem to imagine that the people who say they hate meetings really mean it. “Maybe they hate other meetings, but I know they’ll enjoy mine, because I make them fun! Besides, we’ll get so much done!” (Let me pause here to acknowledge that the meeting-caller is only one brand of extravert: some of the most pronouncedly outgoing people I know hate meetings as much as I do.)
The problem with extraverts — not all of them, I grant you, but many, so many — is a lack of imagination. They simply assume that everyone will feel about things as they do. “The more the merrier, right? It’s a proverb, you know.” Yes it is: a proverb coined by an extravert. So people I do not know will regularly send me emails: “Hey, I’ll be in your town soon and I’d love to have lunch or coffee. Just let me know which you’d prefer!” Notice the missing option: not being forced to have a meal and make conversation with a stranger. (Once a highly extraverted friend of mine was trying to get me involved in some project and said, cheerily, “You’ll get to meet lots of new people!” I turned to him and replied, “You realize, don’t you, that you’ve just ensured my refusal to participate?”)
According to my Myers-Briggs testing, I'm on the border between extrovert, er, extravert and introvert. I would have assumed I was an extravert as I'm a social creature engaged in public activities.
But I do find the whole thing quite draining. I think this means I'm in the worst of both worlds. If extraverts recharge their batteries by being around other people and introverts recharge by being alone, I find both useful and yet have a love-hate relationship with them. I actually do enjoy, in large measure, going to events and interacting with others. But then I hit a point where I really need to be alone. I am also extremely anxious about being with other people, even though most would probably say I "do well" in social situations.
Of course, as my friend Jerry Brito points out, there are quite a few myths about introverts.
Jacobs' cri de coeur ends with asking extraverts to refrain from organizing stuff for the New Year. At least we should avoid too many brainstorming sessions!
But it leads me to wonder about the Ricochet community. Are we mostly extraverts or introverts? Do we prefer this online interaction in part because we can regulate our level of activity with others? Do any of us run to the extremes in either the extravert or introvert direction?
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Thanks for that link to Jerry Brito - those points are right on the money!
I'm so far over on the introvert scale they almost need to extend it.
Apr '11
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Deeply introverted - and as Matthew says above, your friend Jerry's list is spot on.
Jun '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Long joke short:
A teacher goes to heaven and finds that members of his profession have been awarded prime real estate in paradise. He remarks to Saint Peter, "this is all very nice, but where are all my colleagues?" It turns out they're in hell for the day having a faculty meeting.
My sentiments exactly.
May '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
I am alone at a computer, responding to the question, "Are you an introvert?" with only a cat, asleep in a box atop my bookshelves (with something on the order of 200 - 300 books that include works of Herodotus, Bede & Hayek in the house).
What does that make me?
Dec '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
I, too, am close to the E/I border.
I have taken MBTI twice - once, in my early 30s, and again just after my 49th birthday. Fascinatingly, the only indicator which changed was the E/I. The individual who scored and interpreted the second knew of my results from the first, and commented that 'one of these is your true nature; the other represents a hard-won skill.'
I now know that the E was the learned skill. God, it's exhausting.
Dec '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Edward Smith: I am alone at a computer, responding to the question, "Are you an introvert?" with only a cat, asleep in a box atop my bookshelves (with something on the order of 200 - 300 books that include works of Herodotus, Bede & Hayek in the house).
What does that make me? · 1 minute ago
Save the location of the cat (mine is on the long arm of the desk), it could make you me.
Sep '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
I guess I am an introvert, but I would rather not talk about it.
Nov '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
If you love Ricochet but are mostly a lurker and don't comment often, does that make you an introvert? Also, if the thought of going to a big Ricochet meet up sounds both fascinating and terrifying.
Jun '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
I am most definitely an introvert.
Aug '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
I am on the extreme introvert end of the introvert scale. Married to one such. Adult daughter has been one all of her life. Son-in-law is an extreme extrovert. He makes our daughter laugh. She especially laughs at our cringing at our son-in-law. He has finally figured it out and goes from one to the other of us talking. No higher love does the introvert have for the extrovert than to try to listen?
May '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
ENTJ here.
And I do NOT lack imagination. That is where my N comes into play.
Really, meetings can be productive if they are conducted correctly. They just usually are not.
But, if you think all meetings are useless, then I want you in charge of the otherside in a war. I'll have my staff meetings, and your guys can just go it on their own, based on your memos.
Jun '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Introvert.
Here's a link to one of the few TED talks I found worthwhile:
http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html
Mar '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Count me in on the introvert gang.
I can fake the extravert thing for short periods of time, but prefer one on one communication.
Feb '11
Re: Rise of the Introverts
"Group productivity" and "brainstorming" are not synonyms, and many kinds of productivity can *only* be achieved by a group.
Consider an aircraft company (Boeing, let's say, since they're a Ricochet advertiser) creating a major new model of airplane such as the Dreamliner. There is creativity required in the aerodynamic design and the structural design and the controls design AND in the design of the overall manufacturing process to make it AND in the execution of the specific details of that process...all these aspects highly interactive with one another, and the whole thing entirely beyond the mental capabilities of any one individual in any one lifetime.
If group productivity is impossible, how did the Dreamliner ever get made?
Feb '11
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Bryan Stephens..."if you think all meetings are useless, then I want you in charge of the otherside in a war. I'll have my staff meetings, and your guys can just go it on their own, based on your memos."
Agree that meetings need not be useless; they are essential and can be of great value if properly run. But I can't resist what a Soviet officer (supposedly) said to a NATO officer after the Cold War ended and they were talking about what would have happened had the balloon really ever gone up:
"While you were making your presentation slides, we would have been killing you"
Dec '12
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Bryan G. Stephens: ENTJ here.
....Really, meetings can be productive if they are conducted correctly. They just usually are not....
Exactly, on both counts. What you need is a ruthless TJ to run them (ISTJ here.) At the risk of sounding boastful, the brevity and efficacy of my team meetings are legend in my former* workplace.
Go in, outline the issues, make a decision, meeting adjourned.
*currently on a well-deserved sabbatical.
Mar '11
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Bryan G. Stephens: ENTJ here.
...
Really, meetings can be productive if they are conducted correctly. They just usually are not.
INTJ.
Are coffee and doughnuts being provided?
Jean-Paul Sarte and I would never have agreed on much, but "hell is other people" is as profound a four word combination as anything short of "In God We Trust."
May '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Miles
Bryan G. Stephens: ENTJ here.
....Really, meetings can be productive if they are conducted correctly. They just usually are not....
Exactly, on both counts. What you need is a ruthless TJ to run them (ISTJ here.) At the risk of sounding boastful, the brevity and efficacy of my team meetings are legend in my former* workplace.
Go in, outline the issues, make a decision, meeting adjourned.
*currently on a well-deserved sabbatical. · 23 minutes ago
NT's (the Rationals) are a mere 6% of the population. ENTJ are 2% and INTJ (Masterminds!) are 1%.
I agree, a TJ will crush a meeting if given the chance.
Jun '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Introvert, and I hate meetings. You don't want me at one of yours, because I'm the person who will keep asking, "So, what is the point?"
Jun '10
Re: Rise of the Introverts
Extrovert - Random House Webster's Unabridged 1st choice; -avert 2nd
Extravert - Some snooty English Collich Perfesser - and this window underlines it as misspelled. The tyranny of demands for "proper Latin."