You Might Be Surprised: Extravert or Introvert – Part III

Rob is a reader.  You’ll almost always catch him getting in a few more pages while waiting for an airplane or waiting for the oil change on his car.  He will often (sometimes too often) respond to an idea or a question with “I was just reading about that…”.  Reading helps him think.  Often after reading in the evening Rob goes to bed with ideas about how to apply what he has just learned to his work and personal life.  Many times it will result in him rising back out of bed after 30 minutes or an hour to write down a few of the thoughts that clarified in his head.  Usually to be followed by further thoughts as soon as he hits the shower in the morning.

Rob not only reads, he takes notes.  While reading he will often highlight key points and afterward collect all of those notes into a Word document that becomes his personal “cliff notes” on what he reads.  Many of the people he works with have discovered this little treasure of book summaries and often ask Rob for a copy.  Rob averages fifty plus books a year.  Rob is a reader.

Rob is also called upon to present ideas, concepts and mental models before his colleagues on many occasions.  Teams that are exploring how to be more innovative or become more agile or face great change in their structure or market place will often use Rob’s insights to help them navigate an uncertain future.  One such team even gave Rob the title of “Explorer/guide”.

When Rob is preparing for these opportunities to share with colleagues, he’ll spend a great deal of time

• Pulling concepts together
• Reordering ideas
• Thinking through the time allocated and what concepts will provide the greatest value
• Noting a great deal of backup and background material and research but
• Summarizing and putting the best idea into a framework that’s quick to understand and easy to remember

What do you think?  Is Rob the reader an Extravert or Introvert?

Myers-Briggs would offer these quick sketches for each type:

• Extravert
• Communicate energy and enthusiasm
• Respond quickly without long pauses to think
• Focus of talk is on people and things in the external environment
• Introvert
• Keep energy and enthusiasm inside
• Like to think before responding
• Focus is on internal ideas and thoughts

So, what do you think?  Extravert or Introvert?

In our next Myers-Briggs based blog we’ll continue the story of Rob the reader.  Please join us.  You might be surprised.