Being an Introverted Leader

One of the stereotypes of librarians is that we’re all introverts. The assumption is that we were attracted to this profession because we’re quiet, bookish types for whom social interaction requires an unusual expenditure of energy, energy that is replenished for us as we do solitary, cerebral work by ourselves – ideally in our offices, while wearing headphones and listening to classical music. Then we go home and knit sweaters while holding cats in our laps.

And, like many stereotypes, this one does have some basis in reality. Sure, all of us know extroverted librarians. But I’ve worked in four libraries over the course of my career and have interacted with hundreds (if not thousands) of librarians from other organizations, and I think I can safely say that my experience suggests the presence of a disproportionate number of colleagues who are at least somewhere on the “introversion” side of the extro/introversion scale. Maybe your experience has been different, but that’s been mine. 

In any case, even with a statistically normal distribution of extroverts and introverts in librarianship, the law of large numbers would still suggest that a good number of library leaders will be more introverted than extroverted. And that’s going to lead to particular challenges.

Of course, either extroversion or introversion will produce challenges for a leader. But as someone who measures on the fairly extreme end of the introversion spectrum myself, I’m not in a great position to talk about the challenges that extroverts face. I can speak with some authority only about the challenges faced by introverts in leadership, and I can also offer some tips for dealing with them.