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The Best Talkers May Not Be Your Best Performers

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Do you believe that extroverts make better CEOs? Salespeople? Marketers?

If so, you have a lot of company. Most people feel that an outgoing personality is essential for leadership positions and jobs requiring great communication skills.

Sixty-five percent of senior managers reported that introversion is an impediment to climbing the career ladder in corporate America, according to a survey by theladders.com.

But be careful.

Biases aside, if you hire people, here’s what you should know: when stacked against each other in a wide range of positions, introverts perform just as well–if not better–than extroverts.

Look at Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Elon Musk, and Steve Wozniak. All hugely successful leaders. All introverts.

A ten-year study to determine the differentiating attributes of high-performing CEOs revealed that introversion and extroversion played little role in executive performance. Discussing their research in the Harvard Business Review, the authors wrote:

“Our findings challenged many widely-held assumptions. For example, our analysis revealed that while Boards often gravitate toward charismatic extroverts, introverts are slightly more likely to surpass the expectations of their boards and investors.”

The qualities that distinguish top CEOs, the study revealed, include decisiveness in the face of competing viewpoints; unrelenting focus on creating value; adaptability in the face of new information and setbacks; and reliability in producing results.

Importantly, traits associated with introversion–such as good listening skills and the willingness to stand alone and make an unpopular decision–correspond better to the demands of leadership than some traits associated with extroversion: such as the need to be liked or spontaneously expressing emotions.

Of course, there are plenty of successful extroverts.  And introverted executives sometimes need to learn new skills and behaviors to excel in leadership positions.

Early in his management career, a CEO that I worked with would go off on his own to analyze an issue and find a solution, without engaging others in the organization–a classic introvert behavior. When he presented his work, he was surprised that his careful analysis and perfect solution generated little enthusiasm among his colleagues.

The CEO-to-be learned that he needed to engage people early on and hear their ideas before presenting a solution or strategy to a wider group. By generating engagement at the outset, he discovered he could build more support and improve implementation on the back end.

source: freeopenpix

Introverted Salespeople

As an executive recruiter who frequently places salespeople, I can attest that the myth that salespeople must be highly outgoing and gregarious continues to persist–despite compelling evidence that it simply isn’t true.

An analysis of 35 studies, encompassing nearly 4,000 salespeople, determined that there is virtually no correlation between extroversion and sales success.

A separate study, aptly titled Rethinking the Extraverted Sales Ideal, ranked software salespeople on a scale of 1-to-7, with 7 being most extroverted. Extreme introverts and extreme extroverts performed relatively poorly, while the best performers were right in the middle of the range–meaning they displayed a combination of extroverted and introverted behaviors.

The problem with extreme extroverts, according to the study’s author, Adam Grant, is that they don’t listen carefully to customers and they often dominate conversations with their own perspectives and ideas–leaving customers wary and cautious about being manipulated.

Sound familiar?

In contrast, Grant continued, sales reps who strike a balance between introversion and extroversion are better at understanding their customers’ needs and are assertive and enthusiastic enough to persuade and close.

Technological trends continue to move us further away from the backslapping, joke telling salesman stereotype that many of us grew up with.

Years ago, sales reps had to do more cold calling than today, a requirement that favored extroverts because they thrived on social interaction and coped better with rejection. Today, with call blocking and no-call lists making it harder to reach decision makers, sales reps often must rely on well-researched and well-crafted messages to engage customers.

Moreover, in a wide range of markets, customers increasingly want customized products and services to meet their precise needs–again, a development that favors sales reps who listen, research effectively and take a more consultative approach.

The good news to all this is you need not exclude half the population when you’re hiring–whether it’s a sales rep, a CEO or any other position.

Quiet people often produce the loudest performance.

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