Isn’t introversion something that we need to cure people of by sending them to the Dale Carnegie course?

People hear “extrovert”, and they think: outgoing, friendly, social, capable, productive, NORMAL. People hear “introvert”, and they think: shy, withdrawn, anti-social, illusive, dysfunctional, wall-flower.

The problem with these labels is that neither is particularly accurate, and it infers that people are capable of only one set of behaviours exclusively. There is also a connotation that Extroverts are more likely to excel in business.

You might be surprised who may be a closet introvert: High-profile leaders, television personalities, sports stars, maybe even one of your friends, neighbours, or family are introverted. They’re everywhere, so beware – you never know when they’ll want to slink into the back corner of a meeting room, and silently wish everyone would stop talking at once. Or perhaps pray that someone will listen to them for 20 seconds before interrupting them. Worse yet, they may think about something before responding to a question creating that awkward few seconds silence.

As someone who spends a lot of time talking to groups of people, and a person who worked in television (for a short and spectacularly unsuccessful period of time), I am rarely accused of being an Introvert, even though that’s what my MBTI indicates.

I prefer to label myself as a Recovering-Extrovert.

Mistakes are remarkably underrated, and very few organizations are actually good at making them. When it comes to making mistakes, there are typically two types of organizations:

1. Those with little or no tolerance for mistakes, so in order to avoid making them, they either don’t make decisions, or they analyze decisions to such a degree that they become paralyzed. I would include most public sector organizations and other big bureaucracies in this category.
2. Those organizations where mistakes get made, and the most important thing is to assign blame. Of course, people in such organizations would not self-identify as being blame-seekers, but it is often cloaked in “holding people accountable”. Accountability is about people delivering on pre-agreed upon requirements. Making mistakes is about taking risks and doing something new.

There is a third type of organization that encourages people to take risks in certain areas of the business. Many times those risks do not pan out, but from the ashes of failure a phoenix of innovation and performance rises. This type of organization is exceptionally rare. The best examples are well known: Apple, Virgin. There are others as well, but they are as difficult to find as a trace of dignity in a reality TV star.

I always know I’m in a well run and innovative business when I hear, “Here’s a stupid idea”. A high level of confidence is required is say such a thing, and a high level of trust in your peers to take such risks.

The moral of the story: make awesome mistakes.

I’m continually amazed by the willingness of businesses to pay speakers and consultants to tell them how different the new generation of workers is. The money might be better spent by setting it on fire to light cigars, or better yet, send it to me.

I recently re-read a well written article from a major trade publication advising me that the new generation of workers are a lot of entitled whiners with a poor work ethic and no sense of loyalty.

I was then advised that I’d better figure out how to harness the immense potential of this group by providing a cake and parade every time they managed to get to work without wetting the bed, and help them self-actualize if I was to remain competitive in the war for talent. This new generation is completely different than anything the world has ever seen come before.

Common advice — to be sure. However, the publish date for this article was April 1994.

Yep, that’s right. The middle-aged managers that are tearing (what’s left of) their hair out over managing the Millennial generation were once that sad lot themselves.

What happened to this disruptive generation of 20 years ago that was going to revolutionize the way we work?

Two things: Kids and mortgages.

The radical kids of the 90s were assimilated by the big industrial machine. Resistance was futile. Their own distinctiveness was added to our own.

We shouldn’t be surprised. About 2500 years ago, some guy named Socrates lamented the work ethic of the new generation, and how different their values were than anything that came before it.

This is not to imply that a very real generation gap doesn’t exist. Nor do I dispute that the nature of work isn’t evolving as society and technology changes. I just don’t see the value in paying $5000 for a keynote speech about how “kids today” are so much different.

In a few years, one of these Millennials is going to hire a speaker to come in sort out the issues she has with this new generation (called 21ers – for those born in the 21^st century), who she perceives as a lot of entitled whiners with a poor work ethic and no sense of loyalty, because it’s completely different than anything we’ve seen before, and will completely change the way we work.

Remember… you heard it here first.