Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Extroverted vs Introverted Leaders

If you had to guess, which do you think would on average make a better leader? Here's the interesting answer:
although extraverted leadership enhances group performance when employees are passive, this effect reverses when employees are proactive, because extraverted leaders are less receptive to proactivity.
So as my wife put it, "high school teachers should be extroverts".

2 comments:

  1. Patty2:23 PM

    I'm thinking about whether a teacher would better be described as a leader, or as a manager, or as a motivator. Or perhaps teacher is the best word. A principal is a leader. I'm not sure a teacher is a leader in the classic sense of the word. I do think extroverted teachers are usually more effective than introverted ones, though.

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  2. Interesting distinction Patty. I think the main way teachers aren't leaders is that they don't have control over who they lead. But I still think leading is an important part of my job. Here's an example:

    I was asked my students to write down anonymously whether they did the reading that night and why. One student wrote that they often base their decision to do extra work if they feel like the teacher would be doing extra work for them. They work hard if they think you are working hard. Leading by example.

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.