Browsing: Work and Career
“When to Take My Name Off the Door”
“When you lose your respect for the lonely man, the man at his typewriter, or his drawing board, or behind his camera, or just scribbling notes with one of our big black pencils, or working all night on a media plan…. When you forget that the lonely man—and thank God for him—has made the […]

When Is Collaboration Constructive and Happy-Making — Even for Those Who Mostly Prefer to Fly Solo?
Wow. The last post on group work drew a huge number of thoughtful and passionate comments, most of them critical of the process. But within the criticism, some of you mentioned situations where you do enjoy collaborating, and feel it’s constructive. I thought it would be useful to pinpoint the scenarios when group work works […]

What Do You Think of Group Work?
The photo above — which shows students working on one of the “group projects” that have become so ubiquitous in American education — makes me feel very lucky that I am not in school today. Having to work in so large and close a huddle would make life not worth learning. And it takes a […]

Steve Jobs and Tim Cook: Introvert-Extrovert Partnership?
I just came across this article by Ian Heller on introvert-extrovert partnerships in business and would love to know your opinon. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about these partnerships — I’m convinced they are the way of the future (and to some extent, of the past, as the article points out). Have you been […]

To Find Work You Love, Ask Yourself These Four Questions
In my book research, I noticed that introverts often spend so much of their lives conforming to extroverted norms that by the time they choose a career, it feels perfectly normal to ignore their own preferences. So here are four questions to help you find work you love: 1. What or whom do you envy? […]

Three Steps to a Rich Inner Life — at Work
Would you like to read a business book that focuses on the inner life? Then take a look at THE PROGRESS PRINCIPLE: Using Small Wins To Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, by Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile, who is herself an introvert, and known for her pathbreaking work on creativity. Amabile and […]

Do Introverts and Extroverts See Reality Differently? (And What Does This Question Have to Do With Your Relationships?)
“Are Extroverts Ruining Psychologists’ Surveys?” So read the LiveScience headline, in an article describing research findings that extroverts answer survey questions with more extreme responses than introverts do. It doesn’t matter what type of question it is. Whether asked to rate how much they liked a photo of a nature scene, or how disgusted they’d […]
