Reading Susan Cain’s Quiet over the last couple weeks, I was fascinated by discussions around the introverted business leader. I think many of us think of leaders as strong presenters with a quick wit and a warm smile – someone who can work the crowd. Yet Cain reminds us that Jim Collins’ “Level 5 Leadership” (the key characteristics of the top management executives he studied for Good to Great) means being humble, understated and ferociously committed to a goal for the good of the company. Cain goes on to further explain studies have shown that pro-active, goal oriented employees – the kind of employees we call “Salaried Entrepreneurs” and are crucial to 21st century success – thrive better under the leadership of introverts than extroverts. (Passive, “follow directions only” employees perform better under the leadership of extroverts, it turns out).
If we think of the 20th century as a “Command and Control” era of leadership, and the 21st Century as more a time of a Servant Leadership, perhaps it’s time to reconsider those we’re grooming for eventual C-suite spots? Perhaps it really is time for the meek to inherit the earth.
