How did we give people this impression?

Today I was a guest at a BNI meeting - Business Networking International. My membership expired in my own chapter and I decided not to rejoin for a third year. Suddenly now I am being invited to other chapters as a guest. I must have been getting too comfortable with my own chapter because I either never noticed this or somehow the misperception about introverts continues!

A Mary Kay director asked me, "what kind of work do you do?" I told her I help introverts, shy and reluctant who sell so they can boost their confidence, their prospects and their business. While HER first reaction was, "Wow. How do you do that?" a man standing by put his arm around a friend of his, with his eyes cast down and a monotone voice he quipped, "Oh then please help me." Then he giggled like a school boy.

It may have been a misinterpretation but to me clearly, he was portraying a withdrawn and likely boring person.

Do you get the connection of what I saw?

How do you react to something like that? I'm asking before I tell you how I responded. Read more!

An Introvert’s Communiqué in the Workplace

Here are some top perceptions of introverts in the workplace and the corresponding truth to them:

I don’t always speak immediately in meetings.
TRUTH I usually think before I respond or speak.

Brainstorming or bouncing ideas around aloud does not excite me.
TRUTH I prefer to use analysis and thinking to come up with solutions.

I don’t share personal information easily.
TRUTH I prefer to share private thoughts with friends.

I seem unfriendly or quiet.
TRUTH I communicate best one-to-one and listen easily.

I appear uneasy meeting new people, and making friends.
TRUTH I can be very self-confident in front of an audience.

I prefer to work on my own rather than do group work.
TRUTH I work well with others, especially one-to-one relationships.

“It is actually healthy to be an introvert. The only unhealthy part of it is denying your true self and trying to disguise yourself as an extrovert.” psychologist Linda K. Silverman, 2001 Read more!