"It's as if extroverts are seeing 'what is,' while their introverted peers are asking 'what if.'" (1) I reread the sentence again and then again, trying to decide if I like what the article is implying. I'm an introvert in every sense of the word (apparently, so is the author), and if there is a spectrum, I will tilt toward the high side. So I'm trying to decide whether I ask "what if" more regularly than my peers.
I'm in sales, so I exist within a company predominately made up of and controlled by Type A personalities, the majority of which are extroverts. Our company is also widely distributed; therefore, even my immediate leadership team runs their own separate and dispersed offices.
Because of this decentralized nature, I and my fellow introverts have been able to thrive in an environment dominated by extroverts. However, on the question of "what is," my extroverted friends don't appear to have any better handle on our current environment than my introverted friends unless the author claims the “single-minded” purpose that I associate with most extroverts. “What is my role? My goal?” And then (to this introvert) it is their single focus.
Once during a meeting, I watched a panel of my peers discussing "balance in their lives," Frankly, I couldn't figure out why three of the four panelists were extreme extroverts. Top regional producers, to be sure; however, only one (the introvert) had given much thought to the queries beforehand, while the three were "winging it." Finally, out of sear frustration at the questions asked, the largest producer of the three said, "you can forget all this other fluff (balance) if you are not producing you shouldn't have the time to do anything else." Her "what is" clearly held a more rigid definition than everyone else in the room.
I once won an award for being someone who was "Willing to Ask The Hard Questions." I've reflected on that award over the years, and as best I can recall, all I ever asked was Why? Why are we giving money to that cause? Why are we doing something outside our charter? Etc. Perhaps the "Why" question is the superlative "What if" question, i.e., What if we give money to that cause? What if we do something outside our charter?
It takes a village to be sure, to raise a child, to complete projects, and create respected companies. Yet, both are needed, and as I read the remainder of the article, I decided I'm glad that author Friederike Fabritius, introvert and neuroscientist, shared her "what is" on the subject.
Written February 15, 2023
Footnotes:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/neuroscientist-shares-coveted-skills-that-set-introverts-apart-their-brains-work-differently.html