Why being shy, introverted and quiet could help you to be more successful. Take inspiration from those who have blazed a trail.
Not all CEOs and successful business people are extroverts. In fact, it’s often the opposite, with many of the biggest CEOs in the world actually preferring to keep things a little more subdued. A new infographic from Your Trade Base has detailed how some of the world’s most successful people use their introverted nature to their advantage. And by using them as inspiration, you too could use your naturally introverted nature to make it to the top. Here’s how to do it.
1. Leverage your introvert skills and benefit from time alone.
Your inspiration: Bill Gates uses time on his own to do some deep thinking about problems and decisions.
2. Don’t stay alone – team up with extroverts to create good business balance.
Your inspiration: Steve Jobs teamed up with Steve Wozniak to create Apple.
3. Think long term – introverts can stay cool when others don’t, this gives them ability to think with long time perspective in mind.
Your inspiration: Warren Buffet has been consistently mega-successful over decades.
4. Change the rules to fit your needs – after all, it’s your company.
Your inspiration: Jeff Bezos holds meetings in written form, which helps him better focus on ideas.
5. Push yourself out of your comfort zone – challenge yourself.
Your inspiration: Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and taught himself Mandarin in his spare time.
6. Listen to people around you – introverts make great listeners and that’s why they seem to prefer non-hierarchy, democratic way of guiding their companies.
Your inspiration: Larry Page is known for his democratic leadership and promoting the ideas of employees.
7. Learn to visualise – spend time imagining your product, company or success and the work towards your vision.
Your inspiration: Elon Musk is pioneering space travel, electric cars and battery storage all at the same time.
8. Take some time to reflect – it’s not always about going forward. Take time to stop and look at what you’ve done and get feedback.
Your inspiration: Jack Dorsey spends every Sunday analysing the previous week’s decisions, then uses this feedback to plan ahead.
9. Don’t show off – you never know who you’ll meet or need in the future. Stay humble and learn to value your own mistakes.
Your inspiration: Tony Hsieh considers being humble as a core business value and runs his company in a deliberately leaderless way.
10. Keep business and pleasure separate – remember to take some time to do some things just for yourself as it helps you to refocus.
Your inspiration: Tim Cook the Apple CEO loves to spend time on his own following his private passions.
11. Always learn new skills – if something scares you, learn how to develop the skills to cope and ultimately succeed.
Your inspiration: Guy Kawasaki found being in the spotlight exhausting but worked on developing his speaking skills on order to cope and thrive.
12. Be comfortable working alone – if a camel is a horse designed by committee then sometimes it’s best if you do things yourself.
Your inspiration: Steve Wozniak, the Apple legend, always works by himself and makes the big decisions based on his own experience.
13. Don’t forget that feelings matter – even when you’re making billions, you’re still a regular person like everyone else.
Your inspiration: Douglas Conant from Campbell’s still gets nervous before speeches but that helps him deliver.
