Many of you no doubt follow the
Socratean philosophy that an ‘unexamined life is not worth living’. That is
perhaps one reason why you read articles like this. It is likely that, like me,
you have already experienced many personality assessment tools and have a fair
idea of who you are and your impact on others.
It was with some surprise then when I
came across another distinction. This
for me seemed to be a missing link. It
is the term ambivert. Ambiverts are
between extreme introverts and extroverts, their personality traits include the
qualities of both introversion and extroversion.
In business this distinction is
becoming more important. Initially, it
was thought that extroverted people do best in sales. The assumption was that extremely introverted
people can’t sell anything. The impact
on extrovert/introvert in business has become quite an area of interest. Very recently, emphasis has been on introverts
and their success in business.
Introverts tend to think before they speak, pay more attention, get the
facts first and are less likely to embellish or gloss over the details.
Research is coming up with the importance
of having both traits of extroversion and introversion. In purely economic terms, the University of
Pennsylvania found that ambiverts made 24% more sales than introverts and 32%
more sales than extroverts.
The examined life allows one to consider what is missing or where balance needs to be created. You probably already know your particular personality trait and how to introduce alternative ways of doing things. The question to consider is or not you are aware of the impact and if your choices are made consciously.
If you would like a quick assessment
of whether you are an ambivert take Dan Pink’s online assessment http://www.danpink.com/assessment
