Online brainstorming is the only kind that does really work – introverts get to stay behind their screens – while email, unlike the phone, is “serial communication”: you can revise before hitting send. What’s needed most, though, is mutual understanding, and here another problem rears its head: “Extroverts,” Rauch observes, “are easy for introverts to understand, because extroverts spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluble, frequently inescapable, interaction with other people.” He thinks the opposite’s not true: extroverts can’t imagine wanting to be alone, and introverts don’t help by preferring not to talk about it. If you’re an extrovert who manages introverts, you have to start from the assumption that you haven’t a clue. And that a brainstorming session in the conference room might not be the best way to find answers.
This column will change your life: introverts | Life and style | The Guardian
