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Introverts make great leaders
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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But given the choice, I'm doing the project alone.
"By the time I explain how it needs to be done, I could have just done it"
This is why I so frequently get overwhelmed at work. I would always rather do things that talk about doing things, so I just do the things, and end up owning everything
That's a big part of it for me, too. The other part is that I document things pretty thoroughly, but no one wants to read that. I'd much rather they read the docs I wrote and ask specific questions than expect me to just explain everything from scratch.
Similarly, teaching someone how to do something (that of course I taught myself, as my preferred means of knowledge attainment) is 10x more difficult that doing that something. The frequent lack of desire for people to experiment and learn anything on their own is very off-putting. Of course this makes me curmudgeon.
The frequent lack of desire for people to experiment and learn anything on their own is very off-putting.
Any time I hear someone say "I didn't think about that" when dealing with a very simple problem, I just want to pull out "How long did you piss on the toilet seat before someone told you to lift it when you go?"
Seriously, I shouldn't have to describe how to remove the ball bearings from this part, because I explained how to do an identical one 2 minutes ago.
I love taking things apart to know what makes them work. Electronics and mechanical devices are fascinating.
And I don't understand how someone can look at things and go "yeah no need to look any deeper, I know enough already"
I don't understand how someone can look at things and go "yeah no need to look any deeper, I know enough already
I swear some people never grow out of the "I'm a big kid now!" mindset. Just like how little kids always seem to think is the age where now they suddenly deserve respect, lots of adults go "well now I'm an adult, so that means I know everything. It'd be embarrassing if I didn't!"
Pride is a hell of a drug.
I am also extremely introverted but grew up playing team sports so while I am very much like you in that I taught myself and get frustrated when people don't want to experiment on their own, I enjoy getting in the trenches with other people and hopefully teaching along the way as we do the thing together. Doesn't work for all learning styles, though
I try to write good documentation, but when introducing someone for the first time I try to talk them through the documentation. Turns out my documentation could always use some improvements and it helps them feel comfortable with the documentation so they can reference back to it more easily.
Yeah this is a long-standing problem for me as well that grew out of necessity, originally. Previous organization I worked at went through some serious money problems due to negligence and I had many years of doing what I could with peanuts. Now that I'm with a place that has plenty of funding and staffing, I have a hard time delegating or asking for help, as well as asking for any paid products.
Yeah. We have a decent budget and aren't opposed to buying software (or, shudder, contracting a vendor), but we always try to seek out an open source solution first.
I find that there is usually a big problem with understanding a topic to get to a point where someone can ask a question. I've dealt with people a lot in my line of work who don't understand that certain items are linked.
The question they should ask is "what should I have questions about?"
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And now you're the only one who can do it. Enjoy those 3am phone calls.
The odds of 3am phone calls increase explosively if I let other people touch it. And they will still not know how to do it, so after they get the call they'll call me anyway.
But well, not all "other people" are alike. That's valid only for some of them.
Ah the joys of being an hourly employee. They can try calling me at 3am. I won't be answering though.
That's okay, I'm also unfirable and the highest paid person in the building.
Do you know how much effort it takes us to explain stuff, let alone talk to people?
This is one of the hardest things to let go of when I was a people leader. It's a lesson I've had to teach myself that if I do it, I deprive other people from learning and growing, even if it takes twice as long.
I'm there to help and guide, and not do the work because I am only one person.
It's an uncomfortable position but it's something every leader needs to be okay with.
Rubber duck debugging. If you're stuck on a problem, explain it to a rubber duck. Before you're done explaining it, you'll probably figure out the solution. That's why it's beneficial to let people explain things without being judgemental or interjecting, they'll figure it out by saying it out loud. That's also why it's important to say things out loud, so you can undertand them better yourself.
There is enough social psychology research to suggest that most of the time people are more efficient alone than in a group, although some tasks take more than one person. Process gain vs process loss, social loafing, groupthink, etc., if you put four people on a team you might get 200%, not 400% return, or worse.
Interesting, for complex tasks that require thought, the most efficient grouping tends to involve groups with diverse backgrounds and a work culture that values disagreement... which is basically the opposite of what's going on in American government right now, lol.
Interesting, for complex tasks that require thought, the most efficient grouping tends to involve groups with diverse backgrounds and a work culture that values disagreement
Not surprising. Complex tasks involve learning and learning requires some form of information exchange. People of different background pooled together have a much larger spectrum of different information so each one can act as a piece of the puzzle to fulfill the complex task. The disagreement, I imagine, largely comes from having to break your own routine which is irritating.
which is basically the opposite of what’s going on in American government right now, lol.
Also not surprising lol
Yup. It gets even more complex depending on the tasks qualities, like if it's a one-answer solution (e g. math) or a more open ended one (e.g. policy). Also, other disciplines argue you should also have a diverse group to better represent stakeholders, an especially important part of business and politics.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
This seems true only on short time scales, and in corporate work structures. On long time scales and with more collaborative, voluntary work structures, a group of people working together and supporting each other will almost certainly outperform a disorganized collection of non-communicative individuals. We can see this is true because, yaknow, society exists.
There have definitely been a lot of studies that show adding people reduces average efficiency, but there is still the problem of needing more work done without burning people out. A lot of times, the split of work to add additional people needs to happen sooner than when burnout is exhibited.
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They wouldn't do it right anyway
I work alone, i make my own hours mostly, I see my supervisor once a week and my boss maybe once a year, it’s glorious as an introvert
Same here, I have to do a team meeting everyday but that's audio only. Other than that, I do a waste day (office day) once a month and half the time my supervisor cuts that by half. I haven't seen my manager since December and the department head since September.
It's been six years and my supervisor learned a long time ago that if you just tell me what to do and then leave me alone, it will get done. If I run into an issue I'll reach out, but otherwise you won't hear from me until I'm done.
What field do you work in?
International shipping
Look how content the introvert is.
Yeah, it's the exact same expression as of all the others, but I'm feeling that one so much more. Possibly, because I am an introvert, too...
Solace at last
Sometimes I force myself to accept help despite my nature, because reciprocity builds relationships
Introverts make great leaders.
I lead a team of mostly useless lazy assholes that cannot be fired because gov + union so I work. Those who have any decency work too but some are too lazy and lacking in integrity to make any effort. They will just sit and stare when asked to work. They take 20 minute toilet breaks every 2 hours, they refuse jobs they don't like, they move in slow motion deliberately, they encourage others to do nothing because 'noone can ask you to work'. It's a safety issue. It's my job to get these people to work and I have no fucking clue. They make more than 80k per year for one of the easiest jobs on the planet and they refuse to make any effort at all. Im embarassed for them because they cant do the most basic things. Any advice would be appreciated. Im a lazy person myself but these prople are on another level. I work when im getting paid and we get decent pay.
No additional reward for working, lose nothing being a bum.
I don't think there's much to be done except enjoy it, for your own mental sanity.
Many loads are lighter if not divided.
my ass going through a whole blender course to learn how to change a tiny thing instead of asking the person who made it for help
And then there's me going the introvert route plus not using a vehicle for moving a boat trailer "it will take longer if I have to find the keys so I'll just push the atv instead"
then there's me. sitting in the cart with a stick pushing myself along.
completely unaware that the track abruptly ends in 300 feet and I have zero brakes.
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