How to Leverage Being an Introvert

How to Leverage Being an Introvert I love to confess that Im an introvert.   People dont believe me, but seriously, I am. I grew up in a home with an extremely extroverted father and an introverted mother.   I watched and learned from both.   Each had flaws and each had benefits and what I have tried to do is lift the best parts of both to work for me.   While we are always a work in progress and I am regularly tweaking my behavior and actions, Ive learned that adapting my style to situations and people is a survival skill, not an option.   While I am sure professionals on the science of this topic might challenge some of what Ive said, I am using myself as the litmus test, first-hand experience is my witness. Here are some things to think about: Introverts are great listeners.   Develop open-ended questions to stimulate the conversation. Use that to your advantage to gather information to build rapport! You know you need to network more, so make it easier by inviting a friend to go with you to a networking event.   Just make sure you split up and meet more people. Meeting one on one isnt as difficult, so line up more of these types of meetings. Being other-centric is something were really good at, use that to your advantage by following up with folks and showing interest in what they are doing. Jump into social media.   I think this was invented by and for introverts. It is an easy way to listen to what others are saying in your network and you can reply one on one! Expand your breadth of relationships. I know, quality of relationships is important, but we all need to know more people. Who knows, there might be more posts on the topic of introverts.