3 essential steps for being a brilliant leader as an introvert

introverts at work

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Careers


3 essential steps for being a brilliant leader as an introvert

By Ellen Scott

9 days ago

5 min read

It’s natural to assume that leadership requires being loud, super-sociable and able to deliver rallying speeches. But that’s not the case! Introversion doesn’t preclude you from being a great leader. You just need to recognise the skills you have and learn how to use them. 


If we say ‘picture a leader’, what do you imagine? If your first thought is some variation of a man in a suit shouting about returns on investment, that’s no surprise – that’s very much the image we’ve been sold of what it means to be a boss. 

But the reality, as we know, is very different. A great leader isn’t a corporate dictator, but someone who can actually lead a team to success. That means supporting the people you work with, enabling and empowering them to do their best. And these are skills that don’t require being the loudest, most attention-commanding person in every room – great news for those of us who are more introverted. 

In fact, being entirely unlike that shouty, suited big boss can work in your favour. The key is in leaning into what makes you different to that image (introversion included) and knowing how to use your skills to your advantage. This is exactly what Sissel Heiberg hopes to help you do in her new book, Quiet Leader: What You Can Learn From The Power Of Introverts.

“Research shows us that the best leaders are those we feel to be authentically themselves, which allows others to also be themselves,” Heiberg tells Stylist. “It’s therefore never a good idea for an introvert to pretend to be something they’re not.”

Ahead, Heiberg shares her three essential steps to embracing the power of introversion to benefit your leadership skills. 

Consider your leadership style

“We don’t usually think about which skills are needed to be a good leader in the first place,” says Heiberg. “When building your leadership skills, it’s important to understand what kind of leader you want to be, compare this to the skills you already have and understand where your strengths are. To be the best we can be, we should all go through a journey of discovering our unique qualities and how this can become part of our leadership style. What a good leader looks like depends on the environment you’re in and the challenges your organisation faces – but that doesn’t mean you should change who you are or fundamentally change your leadership style. Instead, as an introvert, identify the leadership skills you’re more able to naturally access.”

Think about the leaders you admire who aren’t necessarily super-extroverted. These might be fictional characters or people in popular culture, or they might be someone that you’ve worked with previously. Note down what it is about the way they lead that makes them brilliant. Often, it’ll be things like listening and taking the time for solo reflection rather than being the person who loves to give grand speeches. 

Identify your skills and strengths

Introverts tend to have certain skills that make them excellent leaders, such as an ability to deeply listen, being a great observer, empathy and emotional intelligence, and the quiet confidence to step back and reflect rather than making knee-jerk decisions. Plus, because we’re not always the first to speak, we’re more likely to leave room for diverse perspectives in discussions. “This means that introverts get better results in organisations where team members are highly skilled and proactive, because they allow individuals to shine and are humble enough to listen to what their teams are saying,” notes Heiberg.

Try writing down the skills and traits that you hold that could make you a brilliant leader. Challenge any preconceived notions about leadership: being a great listener is a skill that’s hugely helpful in leadership positions. 

woman progressing at work career leadership

Credit: Adobe

“Take talking as an example: extroverts tend to talk as a way to process their thoughts, whereas an introvert will think before speaking,” says Heiberg. “That means there’s more room for introverts to listen and observe, which allows for much greater insight into the views and positions of those around you – and this enables you to adjust what you’re saying to those arguments, making you more persuasive when you do speak.

“Similarly, an introvert who reflects on a decision doesn’t necessarily lack decisiveness; rather, they make considered and defendable decisions instead of rash ones. And holding that pause to reflect takes confidence. This quiet confidence that an introvert has is a different kind of confidence to the energy the extrovert brings to the table; we can think of it as certainty – the extrovert tends to make statements they’re certain about, even if they’re not actually correct, whereas an introvert will reflect more on the statement before making it, which allows time to consider complexity to a greater extent.”

Embrace your strengths

Once you’ve got a list of the skills you have, challenge yourself to think of ways you can lean into them. It’s essential us introverts don’t try to force ourselves to fit the mould of a gregarious, ultra-assertive boss. Instead, it’s about recognising that we can be great leaders just as we are. As Heiberg says: “Know that introverts already have a large majority of the skills that a modern leader needs – perhaps not the in-your-face loudness that some mistakenly equate to leadership, but the type of skills an organisation needs to bring out the best in others and which in turn drives higher performance. Own those skills and let them shine – they’re not less than the skills an extrovert brings, just different.”

Perhaps you could timeblock your calendar for individual thinking time, encourage people to leave meetings and consider ideas before coming back together (rather than valorising in-the-moment bouncing around of thoughts out loud) or send around a recap of what you’ve achieved that week rather than having the pressure to do an office-wide presentation that may fill you with dread. Look at your skills and consider what tweaks you could make to use them to the max. 

Sissel Heiberg is the author of Quiet Leader: What You Can Learn From The Power of Introverts published by Pearson and out now.

Images: Adobe

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