Sandra Younan

I work in advertising—a highly creative, collaborative, and extroverted environment that puts my introversion center stage every single day.

I get invited to creative brainstorming sessions all the time with many strong and loud personalities. Once, I was in such a session with 15 other people, who pitched awesome ideas with such confidence and ease that I couldn’t keep up. My energy started to drop, and I couldn’t focus on my own thoughts. As an introvert, I don’t shine in these situations, nor do I say things for the sake of saying things. I like to participate with purpose.

Too overwhelmed and self-conscious to say anything, I sat there and took notes while listening to everyone else. On my way out of that meeting, my lack of participation was made painfully obvious when someone turned around and said to me, “Oh, hey Sandra! You were in that meeting? I didn’t see you; I didn’t even notice you were there.”

That comment stuck with me, and I replayed it over and over again in my head. It made me question my place in a creative industry. Was this the wrong career choice for my personality type? Do I belong here? Am I even creative enough to work here?

When the going gets tough, the introvert gets thoughtful. I interviewed industry leaders, creative writers, and designers in the very place I work—and they also happen to be introverts. These are the introverts I like to call A Perfectly Calculated Creative Force.

I learned a lot and gained valuable feedback from them, which has helped me throughout my career. I’ve turned that feedback and insight into nine tools to help other introverts bring their own perfectly calculated creative force to the mix. My hope is that if you’re in a similar situation, you’ll find some of these tools helpful as well.

1. Express your work style. Share what you need, what happens behind the scenes, and the value of working autonomously. If big group meetings or brainstorms freak you out, offer to moderate or structure the meeting so you can be actively engaged in the process.

2. Ask open-ended questions. In a brainstorm, you don’t always have to speak up with an original idea, but you can start asking open-ended questions that generate discussion and guide the conversation.

3. Follow up. Take time to process and send a follow up. If big meetings are overwhelming and you need time to process, take that time. Just make sure you follow up with an email or one-on-one meeting to share your valuable thoughts.

4. Allow yourself to pause. Take a minute (or two) when someone puts you on the spot. Pausing before you speak allows you to collect your thoughts and provide an informed answer. This will also help you separate emotion and impulse and present a voice of reason.

5. Actively listen. Show you’re actively engaged and listening with non-verbal signals such as eye contact, posture, nodding, and mirroring others. Since you’re always thinking, you need to show people you’re listening and engaged.

6. Connect the dots. Take the pressure off yourself and summarize what others are saying in a different way. Focus on the commonalities between two opposing camps rather than the differences. Be intentional when focusing on others’ ideas, and be a connector of ideas.

7. Prepare and research. Information will help with confidence, so be proactive with meeting invites. Ask why you’re invited or ask for objectives. Don’t aim to be right, but, rather, aim to provide your unique point of view.

8. Build a trust circle. Find an extrovert you can connect with and make him/her your ally. Form a strategic alliance so you can help each other be successful. Create stronger relationships by setting up one-on-one conversations and follow-up meetings.

9. Be yourself, and own it. Learn more about yourself as an introvert, your inclinations, and your preferences at work. Don’t apologize for being an introvert, but seek a mutual understanding of your ways of working with others.

While we may live in an extroverted world, you don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to have the most impactful voice.

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