Hi, and welcome back to this episode of the Awfully Quiet Podcast. I'm really excited for you to tune in today. It's a very autumnal morning. I'm just about to start my work day. I've just been out with the dog. It is freezing. It is cold. It's giving pumpkin spice latte vibes and all the feels. So I'm definitely ready for autumn.

And what it also means is that this podcast, is approaching the one year mark. So literally a year ago, I remember I've been recording the trailer, the intro, the outro, doing all the prep. I had a photo shoot mid September for the podcast launch and for the podcast cover. And it's all coming back to me at this time of the year.

And I can't believe this is my 47th. Episode, so I'm going to have to think about what I'm going to do for the one year mark. I'm going to have to celebrate this one way or another because. It's just so meaningful for me to be on this journey now. those of you who have listened to a couple of the other episodes and some of the solo episodes about how this podcast came about.

This has been a long time in the making. And by saying in the making, what I really mean is like, it's been in my head for a really long time. I was really keen to do a podcast and something that I've always had at the back of my head thinking it would be really cool to have a longer form, content outlet that I can share my personal experiences, but I can also bring on.

brilliant guests and speakers who can help educate us and who can help bring some of the topics to life that I feel less, less well positioned to, you know, give advice on frankly, networking imposter syndrome. There's a couple of them, but yeah, it's been in my head a really long time. And then once I started working on it, it took a really long time too, because injured me, wanted to make it perfect and wanted it to be really, really good prior to starting, which, part of that process was what I needed personally.

And what, you know, at the end of the day also enabled me to launch something that I was really, really happy with, felt proud of, passionate about, but then at the end of the day, you start. start recording, you start having your first guest interviews and you learn along the way. So in hindsight, I would have just said, you know, start earlier, get on with it.

Have your first couple of, interviews and episodes that you're going to feel cringy about that you're going to feel really, really uncomfortable about. And just get it over with. I am still on this journey. I'm still learning. I can't wait for it to be my 100th episode because hopefully that's going to make me feel a lot calmer, a lot less anxious about speaking into a microphone all by myself and having guests on and interviewing them and all this.

But yeah, I'm really excited for this to be you know, for us to be almost at the one year mark. And I see more and more of you tune in and listen. And that's a really good sign that, that seems to be resonating and this seems to be working. So if you do like this show, and if you like to tune in, please share it with somebody else who might benefit from it.

I would really love that. Now for today's episode, I I want to talk about something that often gets, I know often gets a lot of clicks, engagement and very, very positive feedback on socials. And that's whenever we talk about introverts and leadership position, introverts and leadership positions and executive roles.

And I'm not touching on this because I know it's going to resonate or because I know it's going to pull the right people in. But I really want to touch on this because at the bottom of my heart, this is what I started my business for. This is what I started this podcast for. It's a very shocking stat.

that persists in the corporate world. And if you think about it, if you talk about introverts, we're not talking about a minority here. Introverts are about half the population in the world. Give or take, but it's not like there's a couple of introverts and then there's, you know, the rest of us are extroverts and obviously there's a lot of nuances in between.

So we always talk about it being a spectrum between introversion, extroversion, and we're all somewhere on that spectrum. So more often than not, it's also really hard to say whether somebody is extroverted or introverted because. a lot of us will be right in that middle where, we can potentially flex towards both.

So I would always say half the population is introverted. So why is it that in the corporate world and in the workplace, a lot of it still caters towards extroverted personalities. And there is a really shocking stat from an outlet called the hustle. that has run this research a couple of years ago. And it came back saying that merely 25 to 30 percent of today's CEOs and executives are introverts.

Now, why is that? Because the corporate world still believes that introverts are not quote unquote, cut out to be great leaders and executives. There are a lot of misconceptions that paint introverts as Invisible gray mice that are too shy, too quiet, with really no intention to even go for leadership positions.

And I often, I often experience that when I look for imagery, when I create content online, you know, even the Canva options, if you, if you type in introvert into some of the pictures and into some of the graphics on Canva or on Google, wherever you look for pictures or stock imagery, it always paints that picture of somebody who is.

almost like, you know, who is like a gray mouse and who doesn't want to interact, who's just, very much by themselves. And what I also often realize is that these people always look really, really depressed. And that is just not the truth. This is a picture that we consistently paint as a society of what it means to be introverted.

And it's not true. And this is, you know, half of the reason why. I'm doing this podcast and why I am putting myself out there personally, because I don't see myself as that. I don't resonate with a picture of a gray mouse. and I want that to be out there in the world. I want to showcase different examples of what it means to be introverted.

And I believe you've seen a lot of really great. speakers and guests on this podcast who aren't that either. So that's the first thing that we need to get rid of that we, that we need to dispel. But then the other thing is this, this misconception that introverts have no intention to even go for senior leadership roles, to even go for executive positions.

And I feel like at this point in, in this podcast journey, it's needless to say. That this is just not true. And frankly, it is quite the opposite.

I am the last person to say introverts have to go for it for leadership positions. I feel like nobody should be pressured into leadership positions or executives roles. There are a number of really good options. For all of us in the corporate world, in the workplace to advance our careers without going into leadership, without going into executive roles, there are a lot of expert level roles.

There are a lot of roles where you can go really, really deep where you can have a great career, great progression. and me personally, I am not a people leader. I am not somebody who's, who strives for, you know, to lead like a 10, 20, person team one day that is just not me. and that's absolutely fine.

But I know for a fact that there are a lot of introverts who are really keen to go into leadership, to go into senior level positions, to go into executive positions. And. I also know they're cut out for it. I know that they have skills that are desperately needed in the corporate world, in the business world, and they're held back because they don't see themselves in current leadership positions.

They don't see themselves reflected in the current CEOs and then the current, sea level. People that they, that they see out in the world and so that's the, that's the dilemma that we're in. I believe that introverts have brilliant leadership skills and there are a couple of really brilliant, but unfortunately somewhat outdated studies that show that introverts even outperform some of their extroverted counterparts in crucial areas of team leadership.

And I wish them was more research. I wish that that was something that we had more of in terms of numbers and stats that would show that introverts. Have, in fact, some really brilliant leadership skills that lend themselves that are going to position them to be brilliant executives in the future. What is different though, is that introverts need to approach their career progression slightly differently than their extroverted counterparts would.

In order to be seen and considered for executive positions, and I often believe that that is the gap that we have. I often believe that that's the thing we're missing at the moment is because in the corporate world, the career advice. Is tailored for extroverts is really, is, is really going to help extroverts achieve these positions and get into these roles.

And the, the, the vision of the type of leader that we're looking for in the corporate world is still very much extroverted. So there is a lot to be done here. There is a lot to be done in the corporate world and from a perspective of the current leadership in order to change that, in order to change the kind of profiles that we're looking for, and in order to change the kind of skills that we're looking for.

But that is something that we have very little influence on, or I have very little influence on right now. It's something that I'm really passionate about, and it's something that I indeed want to drive with this podcast and what I want to drive with my businesses, but where I really have an influence is with you is telling you if you are an introvert and this resonates with you, if you feel like, yes, I'm an introvert, I have something in me that screams more.

I want to go for a leadership position. I see myself as a CEO one day or, you know, somewhere as an executive somewhere, you know, running the ship. And if that's something that intrigues you, this is where I can make a difference. This is where I can tell you, look, These are the things that I believe you should be doing.

These are the things that I believe stand out about you. This is where you have an advantage as an introvert that you need to freaking start to leverage in order to get to these positions in the future. So I feel like this is the lever I can pull. This is the impact I can have. And therefore I really wanted to dive into this with a little bit more detail.

Now, when I talk about this on socials. And when I, you know, when I, yeah, when I talk about this on socials, there are, I said already, this resonates really well. And there were a lot of comments and I've had a lot of people get back to me and I want to read you two or three of them just to kind of show you the kind of conversations that this triggers.

And I feel like these are really, really meaningful. So one of them said, I absolutely love this. I moved from the corporate space to a small business owner. As an introvert, I couldn't win in corporate because I was quote unquote, too quiet, shy introverted. Now I am on fire. I'm able to be my introverted self while doing exactly what this post says.

I make meaningful connections. And don't do fake. And oh my gosh, am I thriving in my leadership role? First of all, I love you all. This is, this is so, so good. I'm loving this. I'm loving that, you know, this person wrote this under my post. I'm like, oh my gosh, I make attracting exactly the right people. It gives me goosebumps to be reading something like this and to be in conversation with.

rock stars like this. So, yeah, this is great. And, I want to react to this because

even I love this. So I love that this person just kind of took their career and went somewhere where they felt powerful and where they felt they could thrive. And what I'm seeing more and more often that for a lot of introverts, this means. Leaving the corporate world and starting their own thing. And we, we've seen this happen so many times.

And I believe that a lot of those people who are really, really, successful on socials who have built successful online businesses are in fact introverted and are just not cut, cut out to be in the corporate space. Because being in the corporate space, it requires a lot of, I wouldn't say extroverting, but it requires a lot of intention and, you know, just kind of playing the game to a point where, where you're being seen and considered.

And,I hate the fact that this is what a lot of people have to do, because I do believe that. Introverts can thrive in corporate and that there is a way to succeed in corporate, that there is a way to be, to stay true to yourself, but also thrive and make it and be seen and be considered. So while I'm, and obviously I deeply resonate with wanting to do your own thing, wanting to, you know, have that creative outlet, wanting to be your own boss.

And I, I love that for you. I love that for everyone who goes down that road. But I'm also here to say, I would really love for you to change that mindset and just kind of give it another shot. Give it another shot in corporate. If you're in this position and you're currently feeling like you can't possibly succeed, you can't possibly win.

And there is no way for you to. To change your trajectory for the better because you're running into these obstacles, you're running into these situations where it feels like you have to be extroverted in order to, be seen, be considered and get ahead. And, that's just not true. And that's what we're going to touch on in this episode.

There is another comment that. I really, really liked and that also had a question that I want to answer so that here it goes. Unfortunately, when introverts go to middle management, top management always pushes us to do immediate actions and immediate results. Introvert goals are bigger than that. More of long term consistent results, which some older generations who sit at top management are unable to see.

I have decided to not pursue any middle management positions due to this mindset. Is that bad? I love this. Okay. So yeah, it's really bad. you know, I'm, I'm not one to give like a sandwich or to like sugarcoat what I'm going to say. I'm very direct person. So I'm going to say, yes, that's bad. Why is it bad?

Because What this person is describing is exactly why we need more introverts in middle management and top management positions. What they said is that introverted goals are bigger. They are more long term. They go for consistent results. Now, if you were a business owner, if you were at the very top of the of a corporate operation of a corporate company.

What do you care about most? You care about long term consistent results. And you care about things that are bigger than What the business is at, at the moment, you want to build a business. You want to prepare it for the future. You want people there who think long term. Now there's a lot of reasons why middle management and top management don't think that long term because they're always in their positions for two or three years.

That's when the results need to be there. They need to be imminent. They need to be. Um, you know, they, they just, they just need to be a lot more short term to, in order for them to succeed in their roles, in order for them to have a success story, in order for them to get ahead in their careers. Now that is not in the interest of the company or of the business, but that is often what ends up happening and is the structure that unfortunately these corporations have built.

So what are we going to do? I think we're going to have to change something about this. So what I'd say is yes, it's bad for this person who has bigger picture vision, who thinks long term, who is looking to drive consistent results to lean back and say, I have decided to not pursue middle management positions.

It's bad because who else? is going to change corporate and who else is going to change the workplace? Who else is going to change businesses for the better? If all the introverts with these exceptional skills lean back in their chair and say, well, it is not for me. Now I'm even going to go as far as to say, you have a role to play here.

You're doing your business and your company a disservice by not going in. by leaning back. You could do so much good. You could really shake things up. You could really make a difference there, but you're choosing not to. And that is something that we have to change. This is not corporations, you know, needing to invite us to, you know, get a seat on the table.

This is not for corporations to change their mindset and what they, how they perceive introverts and what they believe introverts can and can't do. This is you. This is me. This is all of us having to change our mindsets and our behaviors to whenever we see situations like this, Whenever we see there's friction, whenever we see something is not really cut out for us or something is wrong in that space is to not lean back, but to go into the fire,

to not lean back, but to really go in and shake things up and to make ourselves a little uncomfortable for the greater good, because there is something that we can bring. There is perspective that we have that is currently not existing. That bigger picture view, that long term vision, driving consistent results, going inward to really tap into what are the options here?

What are the ideas? What are the perspectives that we haven't considered yet? And, you know, getting quiet for a minute, just to tap into that inner wisdom. and then going out there and shaking things up a little. I think this is really what we're here to do. And this is what we need to do in order to drive that transformation.

So I'm loving this question and I'm so glad that you asked it because at the end of the day, this is really what it is. And now I'm not going to leave you hanging. I have a little bit of a playbook for you in terms of how you're going to get there. What are you going to do? How are introverts going to become executives?

What are the kind of steps and behaviors that are going to help you on the way? How is your introversion actually preparing you and giving you an advantage, a benefit? to achieve that. And I have five steps for you today that I want to run through and leave you with and talk a little bit more about. Now, step number one is the first thing that you're going to need on your road to, you know, career progression, but especially if you want to go into those C level positions and into executive roles is you need to have a clear vision.

You need to know what you want and where you want to go in your career. And this is something that I often find introverts inherently do have. I know that a lot of you will think that, you know what? I don't really want to know. I don't really know where I'm going in my career. I don't really know what I want.

But I'm saying you deep down, you know what you want, you know exactly what you want. You're very attuned to your vision. You spend a lot of time thinking about and reflecting where you see yourself, what the kind of career is that you'd really, really like. And so I call bullshit when you say you don't really know what you want.

Now, what I believe is true is you might not. Be able to articulate what you want as good as the extroverts do. That's the same for me. It never comes out in that beautiful way that I have it in my head, but that doesn't matter for now. What matters in that first step is that, you know, you know, where you see yourself and that doesn't have to be like a concrete job or a job title or, you know, whatever these.

material things are. It just has to be a vision of where do you see yourself? Where are you going? What is that direction that you're going in? And that's step number one. Step number two is, you know, your unique strengths. And that is very similar in that I will often hear introverts say, you know what?

I'm not really sure what I'm good at. I'm not really sure what my strengths are. And. what makes me different and stand out. But again, I feel like that knowledge that wisdom is already inside of you. And more often than not, that uniqueness, that unique strength that you have is in your introversion and your approach to work, to leadership, to interactions with others.

And that introspection has so much magic to offer that. We often forget, we often as introverts, we think that this is something that we need to hide. I think that this is something that we need to dial back in order to succeed in the corporate world. You know, that's often this kind of calm. intentional, like thinking things through, spending time in our peace and quiet, making up our minds, thinking before we speak, listening more than we speak.

All of these types of things are what makes us really unique, what makes us different. And ultimately, these are strengths And these are advantages that we need to leverage. So this is what I want you to think about is like, what is it in your introversion that makes you different from the others at work?

And that could potentially lend themselves to creating this whole new approach to leadership styles, to interacting with others, to communicating. If I'm going to give you an example, I. often find that I'm a lot calmer than some of my extroverted counterparts. You will feel that calm in my voice, in my demeanor, in the way I approach crises.

And for the longest time, I always thought that that calm was what helped me back from thriving in my career because I was a lot less outgoing. It felt like I was a lot less charismatic than the others because I was just calmer, a little quieter. And now I realize that this is my, this is my secret sauce.

It's my, it's my flavor. It's what makes something me. It's my approach to giving presentations. It's my approach to speaking, to interacting, to leading. It always comes from a place of calm. And It's part of my personal brand. It's part of who I am. So I'm leaning into it rather than trying to hide it. And this is exactly what you need to do to find what it is that makes you, you, that makes you, that makes your introverted personality and make it a superpower.

Number three is you're going to have to build a network. And we talk a lot about networking here because. Is not ultimately not my strength, but what I can talk to is building a meaningful network and being really intentional about it. Now, you and me were probably less likely to win at big networking events and work a room.

And, and do, you know, do this out in the world and like, you know, do the quantity. What I'm saying is quality over quantity. We are really intentional with our social batteries. We know when we've just had enough and we know how to spend it wisely. We know how to be very selective and intentional with people.

And that means. Building one to one connections over speaking to, you know, many to many at a networking event. Building one to one connections means reaching out to people and establishing a network of people that you are genuinely interested in. You are so interested in them that a conversation that you're going to have is going to be a win win.

You are interested, you have questions, you have something. That you're really, really interested in. And the other person is going to feel so valued, so appreciated that. It creates, you know, that beautiful, that beautiful, win win situation. this is the kind of one to one connections I want you to have.

This is how I want you to approach these things in going and leaning into what you're interested in. Number four is You're gonna need strong advocates, and by advocates I mean people who support your growth. And mention your name in a room full of opportunities. Now these, this could be your boss, this could be senior leadership.

This could be anyone you have previously worked with and who have seen you perform, who have seen you at your best. These are usually the people that you will have been close to at one point or another in your career. You know how. It always is with introverts. It's like, you're doing really well. You're performing and you are likely getting really good performance.

Reviews and results at work with the people who are closest with you, but you are less visible to the wider organizations. You are less visible to people in teams that, have nothing to do with you. And those people might often question, you know, whether you're any good. I have had that happen. So what you want to do is you want others to speak for you.

You want others to be equipped with the knowledge. To understand, you know, when they should raise your name and when they should put your name in the hat somewhere, you know, that your boss and senior leadership that knows you are more likely to be in those rooms where there are going to be conversations about talents and about development and about, talent pipelines and who is looking to do what in the future.

When they have experienced you and when they know that you're doing a really, really good job, they are more likely to speak up and say, look, this person in my team is really eager to do this and that. But what you're seeing in there is that what is so, so important is for them to know what you want to do is for you to share that first step, that clear vision.

where you want to go, where you headed, the direction is that is to share that with these people, with your advocates so that they can know what are the kind of opportunities that you'd want to pursue so that when they see something that matches your vision, they can jump on it and they can, put your head in the ring, put your name in the head, I think is what it is.

All right. Number five. You own your introversion. You do not hide it. You do not go out pretending to be someone you're not. You win people over by role modeling your introspective behaviors and by speaking your truth. Now, this is a make or break. This is going to make all the difference. I truly believe that you will never be able to really thrive.

in your career, in corporate, or ever achieve an executive role if you're not leaning into your introversion.

If you always pretend to be someone you're not, you could obviously get into a position like that, but you wouldn't be thriving. Now, what is my mission is for you to get into these roles and also be thriving, to enjoy yourself, to still be yourself. And you can only ever do that When you stay true to who you are.

So what I want you to do and be at work right now is more of yourself is, you know, your full personality. Bring it out. Don't hide it. I know that there is so much flavor. I know that there is so much magic, so much that Others may not see because quite frankly, we are quieter. You don't often see everything that's going on inside our heads from the outside.

And that is a shame. Yes. And they don't need to know everything. Yes. But give them some of that flavor. Be more of who you truly are. And you're going to see that opportunities are going to open. Doors are going to open. I know this for a fact, and I would love that for you. And I think if you follow these five steps, the clear vision, knowing your unique strengths, leaning into your superpowers, building a network, building up strong advocates, having them advocate for you, speak for you, mention your name in rooms full of opportunities and owning your introversion, leaning into your personality, bringing your personality.

I think if you follow these steps, that's your roadmap. That's how you're going to get ahead in your career. And that's how you're ultimately going to become that CEO, that executive, that senior, leader that you're striving for. Now, I hope that you're taking something away from today in that. you feel proud of yourself.

You feel like you are able to embrace who you are, who you're looking to become. It is not about, you know, being anything that you are not. It's about being more of what you already are and who you already are. And if you feel like this episode could also resonate with somebody in your life that you know, somebody who is introverted, but ambitious and, you know, wants to go places in their career, but.

currently feels like their quiet demeanor might hold them back. I would love for you to share this episode with them. I would love for you to share the love, share this super power and this knowledge and let me know how you liked it. Let me know if you've got any questions and see you next time.