No one can do everything (not even any of us in this conversation) we all have our weaknesses and need other people to collaborate with. Team composition matters a lot. I don’t need a team full of extroverted prima donnas, I need the right combination of skills and personalities to tackle the best estimation of our challenges ahead.
I’ve been thinking about this introvert comment a lot. I initially agreed with the sentiment but the more I thought about it the more something didn’t quite fit. I spoke with a few people, including some people in mental health, and it seems their professional definition of introvert/extrovert is not black and white. It is a continuum and you are not at a static point on that continuum, you shift with the situation. IE some situations you feel absolutely confident in, some you have more trouble with. Someone who is completely introverted is probably going to struggle just getting through school, and wouldn’t function, but for the majority of us who live in the middle I think some good coaching and mentoring can help. I try to put people in situations where it is safe to fail, where I can save it if need be. A few of these and they start to figure it out on their own and find their own style.
I do think in general you have to learn to be more extroverted to go into leadership, but it is more than just that trait that makes a good leader. The desire for accountability and responsibility, the ability to work harder than anyone else and lead by example, the inert nature to mentor and coach…
Anyway, big tangent, but these things on my mind a lot lately as I try to build a sustainable organization. Ideally the goal of a design leader is to create a team so strong that he can take a vacation and know everything will run smoothly for a bit 