性格内向也能做领导

    迈尔斯-布里格斯测试（Myers-Briggs）不会说谎。道格•康纳特很肯定，自己生性内向，特别是做了六七次测试之后。对于一个宁愿躲在幕后的人来说，经营一家拥有近2万名雇员的企业并非易事。康纳特说，他需要诚实、纪律和必要的独处时间来做好领导。如今，作为雅芳（Avon）的董事，在他不忙于保卫雅芳免于被收购之时，他有一份或许最不“内向”的工作：他常常要站在一屋子人面前，告诉他们，你们也可以成为领导。他的建议是：

不要改变你自己

    所有我们这些内向的人都渴望更加外向一些，但这不是我们的天性。当我快50岁时，我发现，最好的做法就是告诉和我工作的每个人，我只是有些腼腆。不是所有人都能读懂别人——你需要告诉他们。慢慢地，我形成了自己的方式如何告诉别人我是谁，或者我想做什么。我会一开始就把这些告诉新员工。这样的话我身边的每个人都会知道：我是谁，我来自哪里，我希望每个人做些什么来取得成功。我这么做已经有20年了，这的确有助于建立强烈的信任感，超越了所有的那些表面文章。

说出你心中所想

    在我职业生涯中的某个时候，纳贝斯克（Nabisco）首席执行官邀请我出任其销售业务总裁。“别拿我开涮了，”我说，“首先，我是个内向的人。其次，我不会打高尔夫。”但是，我还是被放到了那个位置上。从情感上讲，这是我迄今做过的最具挑战性的工作，但我必须把它做好。我遇到过很多管理者，他们都发现把你心中所想告诉同事会让事情变得更容易。有时，事情并不像我们想的那么严重。

了解和你工作的人

    大多数人认为管理者应该性格外向、引人注目并魅力非凡，我认为这种想法非常狭隘。如今，经理人遇到的关键挑战是不要将目光局限于同事层面。你或许看到公司里有些内向者也是天生的领导者。外向者或许能早一点坐上领导岗位，但内向者大可按自己的节奏前行，终有一天做到最好。

找出独处时间

    我在金宝汤（Campbell Soup）工作时上下班单程就需要两小时，很多时候是一位司机开车送我上下班。我可以坐下来思考。当我在纳贝斯克工作时，上班只需10分钟车程，因此，我每天很早起床，在家中花园里喝上一杯咖啡。内向者通过静静呆上一段时间获得更多能量，而外向者通过与他人在一起获得能量。

    译者：老榆木

    The Myers-Briggs test doesn't lie. Doug Conant is sure he's a born introvert, especially after taking the personality test half a dozen times. Running an organization of nearly 20,000 employees wasn't easy for someone who would rather stay behind the scenes. Conant says it takes honesty, discipline, and necessary alone time for him to lead. Now, when he's not busy fending off takeover bids on Avon's (AVP) board of directors, Conant has perhaps the least-introverted job out there: He often stands in front of a roomful of people and tells them how they, too, can be leaders. His advice:

Don't change who you are

    All of us introverts aspire to be more outgoing, but it's not in our nature. When I was nearly 50, I discovered that the best thing to do was to tell everyone I worked with that I'm just shy. People are not mind readers -- you need to let them know. Eventually, I developed this little talk that became an orientation to who I was and what I was trying to do. I'd tell it to new employees right off the bat. I do this so that everyone around me knows who I am, where I come from, and what I expect everyone to do in order to succeed. I have been doing it now for 20 years, and it really does build a strong sense of trust and get beyond all of the little superficial dances people do.

Say what's on your mind

    At one point in my career, the CEO of Nabisco wanted me to be president of the sales organization. "You have got to be kidding me," I said: "(a) I'm an introvert, and (b) I can't play golf." Still, I was put in that position. Emotionally, it was by far the most challenging job I've ever had, but I had to get it done. I've met so many leaders who realize that telling your colleagues something that is on your mind is so much easier than keeping it in. Sometimes the things we make up in our heads are not nearly as big a deal as we think.

Know who you work with

    Most people think of leaders as being these outgoing, very visible, and charismatic people, which I find to be a very narrow perception. The key challenge for managers today is to get beyond the surface of your colleagues. You might just find that you have introverts embedded within your organization who are natural-born leaders. Extroverts may get places faster, but for introverts it's all about working at the pace you need and, at the end of the day, performing at your best.

Find alone time

    For the better part of my career at Campbell Soup (CPB), I had a driver for my two-hour commute each way to work. I could sit and think. When I worked at Nabisco, I had a 10-minute commute, so I got up very early in the morning and had a cup of coffee at home in my garden. Introverts get more energy by having quiet time, compared with extroverts, who find energy by being around people.