I saw this question on Zhihu:

I'm a recent college graduate, and I interned at a small company not long ago, and I was dismissed by my boss after about a week of internship, on the grounds that I'm not talkative and can't mingle with people in the company. This made me quite confused, is it true that introverts are not suitable for the workplace?

I'm not really overly introverted, I have no problem with basic etiquette, communication, team interaction, etc., but I'm not much of a 'small talker', and I think that might be the point that makes me come across as a bit reticent. There's also the fact that I don't think I'm incapable of getting acquainted with people on my own, it just might take me a little longer.

Many people in the workplace are confused, as if only those who are outgoing and articulate have a chance of promotion and success, while those who are introverted and inarticulate are doomed to mediocrity and unpopularity, not to mention failure to get promoted.

Is this really the case?

There has been an American psychological survey results show that: 40% of the U.S. company executives are introverted people.

This confirms that some well-known celebrities and business leaders are indeed introverts, such as Darwin, Einstein, President Abraham Lincoln, Facebook founder Zuckerberg, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

So being born with an introverted personality doesn't entirely affect or even determine whether a person will be successful later in life.

We can always find all sorts of counter-examples to prove that extroverts are not necessarily successful, and introverts are not necessarily unsuccessful.

Before we go any further and discuss how introverts can survive and thrive in the workplace, let's take a look at some of the main manifestations and characteristics of introversion.

01 Performance of introverted character

In the stereotype, introverted character is mute, silent, and coy, a little bit of Lu Xun's Leonto's kind of feeling.

In the past, the information is closed, poor communication society, this is indeed the character of introversion to the impression, but with the growing progress of society, information communication is more and more frequent, a lot of 80, 90 after growing up living in a relatively more open environment than before, people seem to be more open than before.

So today, most of the introverted character is no longer coy, timid and afraid of the appearance, but actively choose to comply with the inner feelings, such as the following performance:

Not too fond of social activities, such as dinners, collective activities, etc. Possible reasons: and a lot of people together with a lot of pressure, the feeling of consuming the God do not like to chat with people, do not know what to say, there is no talk about the possible reasons: Not interested in topics other than work, do not enjoy the process of chatting with people less willing to take the initiative to greet people, take the initiative to recognize unfamiliar colleagues, strangers Possible reasons: either shy, or good face, think the initiative to greet and recognize strangers is not very useful, especially when you see the leader, very do not want to take the initiative to go forward Possible reasons: either afraid of the leader, feel that the leader is far away from them, or simply because they despise the leader non Possible reasons for almost no interaction and communication with coworkers during working hours: they feel that outside of working hours are all private time, and there is nothing to talk about with coworkers, and there are no colleagues who have a good relationship or a good relationship with them. Possible reasons: either convinced that "wine is not afraid of the deep alley", think that as long as you do a good job, you will be found and recognized, or feel that the initiative is too childish and unsteady behavior when speaking at meetings, less initiative to raise their hands Possibly because: must be on a certain issue or have the perfect answer to the willingness to speak, or would rather not speak less initiative to seek the help of other colleagues Possibly because: feel that you don't need to look for others, otherwise it looks like your own incapacity to help you with your own work.

They feel that interpersonal communication is very troublesome, they do not want to waste time to participate in social activities, nor do they want to look at the words and try to figure out other people, and even more do not want to flatter to please, say some words that do not mean what they say.

Besides that, in fact, introverted people, thinking about a thing will sometimes be more in depth than others, more comprehensive, so if you meet with patient and "understand" them, it will show a different performance, quality of work and results.

To understand the rich inner world of introverts, you will certainly come to the conclusion that:

Introvert ≠ withdrawn ≠ unsocialized ≠ imbecile

02 Introvert personality, the workplace PK recommendations

Bill Gates, famous for his introverted personality, was asked how to succeed in the extroverted world, and one of his comments was thought-provoking:

"In fact, introverts don't have to feel sorry for themselves. If you're smart enough, you'll realize that there are great benefits to being an introvert, like being able to be quiet and spend a few days working on a problem, and being able to read a book well, which are not things that extroverts do.

But that doesn't mean you don't need help from others. Let's say when you have a great idea and want to build a company on it, you have to have extroverts on your team, like I have Stephen? Balmer, a great assistant. You need to balance your team, and when introverts and extroverts are paired together to be successful, there's no such thing as one side being better than the other."

Of course a big man like Bill Gates, a genius endowed with awesome technology and business acumen, is naturally not to be underestimated by others, and is even more tolerant and accommodating.

But his words do let us realize that introverts really do not have to be presumptuous, feel that they can not and extroverted personality in the workplace PK.

In the "people in the world, who can not take the knife" in the workplace, if you are introverted, in the following aspects if you make a few adjustments, not only can you

Lunch is a more relaxed moment, not to talk about very serious work topics, in fact, you can also take the opportunity to relax nerves, to participate in this kind of lighthearted topic, it will not make people feel that you are rejected.

Departmental building activities are too frequent, you can selective participation, especially when the leadership, more to participate; and if the group building was very little, once organized the best to be sure to participate.

On a regular basis, if you have frequent dealings with the department, and those colleagues usually meet, you can also chat more, to strengthen the emotional contact.

Secondly, the appropriate adjustment of their own way of expression

For example, the meeting speech, even if it is not the first to raise their hands, but also try to take the initiative to speak some of the speech, you may not be too happy with their own ideas, but will be the main framework of the good, because impromptu speeches, there is no perfect.

Many introverted people, the most scratchy is to deal with the leadership, in fact, as long as the attitude is not condescending to the good, neither intentionally slipped, and do not have to deliberately dodge or disdain.

When reporting work, full of confidence, please give advice to the leadership, advice, if they do have mistakes on the work, boldly admit mistakes, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Lastly, you can play to your strengths

For example, if you think comprehensively and y, you can reflect your complete ideas and plans in the work report, so you have to learn how to fully display your good ideas.

And if you have insights and special skills in a particular area of specialization, you can share them with your colleagues in your department, which will not only help them, but will also help you gain goodwill.

Writing in the end:

There is a super coworker around, now a sales director, a typical introvert personality, he once told me:

"When I started to do Sales, I was very self-conscious, I felt that I was introverted and did not like to talk, so I couldn't get along with the customers.

But once a customer sounded criticized me a sentence but let me clear, he said: "I find you salesmen, not to make friends, but to solve the problem!"

After that, I have been strengthening my professional ability and problem-solving ability, although I have been said by the leader is a "may not be suitable" Sales, has been said to be a colleague "do not like to talk" Sales, but in the eyes of the customer is a "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good", "good". But in the eyes of the customer is a "high degree of professionalism, not much to say" Sales ......"

Everyone has a unique personality and preferences, to the world also have their own observation and thinking angle, which is the reason why our world is so diversified. This is what makes our world so diverse and rich.

Those capable introverts make themselves valuable and scarce, and they don't need to make themselves articulate and eight-faced at all in order to excel, to navigate the workplace, and to find the most comfortable and appropriate position.