Continuing the Quiet Revolution: Developing Introverted Leaders in Academic Psychiatry

• Published in: Academic psychiatry Vol. 43; no. 5; pp. 516 - 520
• Main Authors: Lebin, Lindsay G., Riddle, Megan, Chang, Stephanie, Soeprono, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-10-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adult; Career Development; Education, Medical; Educational Strategies; Emotional Intelligence; Emotional Response; Extraversion Introversion; Focus Groups; Group Dynamics; Humans; In Depth Article: Commentary; Introversion, Psychological; Job Performance; Latin; Leaders; Leadership; Leadership Effectiveness; Leadership Role; Leadership Styles; Medical Education; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mentors; Meta Analysis; Opportunities; Perceptions; Professional Identity; Psychiatry; Psychological Patterns; Schools, Medical; Social capital; Success; Teaching Methods; Teams
• ISSN: 1042-9670; 1545-7230
• DOI: 10.1007/s40596-019-01052-8

Focus groups of introverted medical students reveal the following themes: feeling like misfits, struggling to get a word into conversation, questioning a need to change their identity to achieve success in school, and being judged as underperformers [4]. Because of these challenges, introverts are more likely to experience stress and burnout during medical school than their extroverted counterparts [5]. Because introverts tend to process information internally, only sharing when they have fully formulated their ideas, they may be seen as participating less or not communicating with others [1, 10]. [...]introverts may struggle with creating adequate social capital to attain and sustain leadership positions [12]. High sensitivity contributes to well-developed emotional intelligence, a critical aspect of leadership success [1]. Because of their tendency to observe and listen intently, they elicit ideas from others that help to enrich the group process [1]. [...]research shows that groups who work on problems separately and then pool their ideas do better than those who brainstorm in groups [15].