Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Erika Andersen and featured by the Forbes blog. To read the complete article, check out other resources, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

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Just yesterday a colleague sent me a very insightful article from the NYT, written by Susan Cain, the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. She talks about Obama and Clinton (among others) as examples of introverted and extroverted leaders, and notes that while we tend to associate an outgoing, social personality with good leadership – the two aren’t actually correlated.  My favorite line in the article is a quote from Peter Drucker (a perennial favorite of mine): “The one and only personality trait the effective [leaders] I have encountered did have in common was something they did not have: they had little or no ‘charisma’ and little use either for the term or what it signifies.”

I’ve noticed the same thing.  In fact, when you look at what makes leaders ‘followable’ – what makes people fully commit to and rely on someones’ leadership – a big personality is nowhere in the list. The traits people look for, as I note in Leading So People Will Follow, are far-sighted, passionate, courageous, wise, generous and trustworthy.  And passionate, the attribute that people most associate with extroversion, is actually about depth of commitment:  you can be quietly, deeply passionate.  It’s not that it hurts you to be extroverted as a leader…it’s just not that important.

So why do we think it’s such a big deal? I suspect it starts in childhood, when the kid who yells the loudest, or the one who loves to go on stage and be cute, get lots of attention.  And then it continues into adolescence, when we’re all so awkward and uncomfortable that the few who have a modicum of social ease and grace seem like the princes and princesses of cool.

And even in college and grad school, we give (and get) points for extroversion. In her NYT article, Cain says, “At Harvard Business School, an institution that one graduate described to me as “the spiritual capital of extroversion,” grades are based half on class participation, and first years do most of their studying in mandatory groups called learning teams. Students are expected to be relentlessly social outside of class, too. “I go out at night like it’s my job,” one student told me.”

So, as an introvert, how can you let people know that you have leadership capabilities and not get overshadowed by your louder, more gregarious colleagues?

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To read the rest of the article during which Erika offers rock-solid suggestions, please click here.

Look for Erika’s new book, Leading So People Will Follow, available everywhere on October 9th. Her earlier and quite excellent books are Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers (2007) and  Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Out-think Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change (2009). Follow Erika on Twitter @erikaandersen.