Welcome to the look and sound of leadership, an ongoing series of executive coaching tips designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

I'm Tom Henshaw, your executive coach, and today we're talking about how to supercharge introversion.

Matt had been an officer in the Air Force before joining a publicly held manufacturer.

He had risen steadily and was now enjoying his role as a vice president in charge of a very busy division.

His background as an engineer gave him the knowledge to understand the work

at a deep level, but his current position demanded he move quickly. Each day, he interacted

with many different people across many different projects. He found the scope of work exciting,

but by each day's end, he was exhausted. His old military voice told him,

just push through it, you know, man up, but he could not deny how depleted he was.

He petitioned for a coach, specifying he wanted to work with an extrovert. When he was asked why, he said he believed his energy was being drained because he was an introvert.

He wanted to learn from a natural.

After interviewing several coaches, he picked me.

And yes, without a doubt, I am an extrovert.

When we first met, I said,

it's interesting to me that you identify your introversion as an obstacle. Well, it's not

always, he said. I love my introversion when I can close my door and think deeply about things,

and I'm really good one-on-one. Again, that's my introversion working. So in its place, it's great. But yeah, right now it's an obstacle. In what way I asked? Well, start with visibility. I talk to so many people every day now. And I can do it. But, man, it chews me up and spits me out. By dinner, I'm toast. And I still have an hour or two of email every night. But my brain is mush. I feel stupid. I asked, have you ever done the Myers-Briggs type indicator? Yes, he said. My squadron did it a long time ago. I was off the charts on introversion. And that's where I first

heard this idea about introverts having their energy drained when they're around people.

That definition of introversion clicked with me the instant I heard it. I love people, but not

for hours and hours uninterrupted. And unfortunately at the moment, that's what the job demands.

So I've got to learn

some new skills. Great, I said. I hope I can help. Can I ask a question? I'm sure, he said.

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