Are you an introvert or extrovert?

[exchemist]

The worst, IMO, is the situation where you are at a social gathering (not forced). Maybe it's a friend's dinner party or something similar. All that is fine and then at some point, the more extroverted want to play a "party game" because "wouldn't that be FUN!"

Oh God how I hate party games. At any decent dinner party, with interesting people, there's always plenty of discussion. If and when it runs out, which is usually around 11pm when people are getting tired, it's time for everyone to go home.

 

[exchemist]

What Seattle posted.

I think there is an expectation of certain roles in work settings in the US, to demonstrate charisma, edginess, competitiveness, and sociability. These “styles” are chalked up to being extroverted. And extroversion is seen as positive in the work place and introversion, as negative. I think a lot of people see their chance at a promotion only coming to them if they’re outgoing, staying late to have drinks with coworkers, and so on. This tends to encourage introverts to force themselves to be extroverted, at least during work hours. I’ve seen peers burn out over this.

Moving away from this expectation that everyone should conform to extroversion allows people to flourish and be who they are. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions however over both of these labels and it’s unfortunate that introversion is seen as a negative in the workplace, which sometimes drives behaviors that are forced in the spirit of competition. Probably the greatest misconceptions are that introverted people are anti-social and come across aloof, and extroverts are the life of the party. Those descriptions are so superficial to me.

I did notice the competitive element when I worked for a couple of years in the States. More overtly energetic, which was stimulating, but somehow less collaborative, I felt. Germans are quite different. Dutch somewhere in between. I liked working with the Dutch (I was in The Hague for 3 years), because you know where you stand with a Dutchman. They are friendly but very direct and blunt, a bit like Yorkshiremen (who are just across the N. Sea from them, in fact). One of my brothers who was commercial lawyer said working with Dutch lawyers was a dream, compared to Brits or, even, worse, Americans who were always trying to beat you in some way, as if you were competing.

 

[Sarkus]

The best short description I've found to determine which label most describes you is do you tend to "recharge" with a little quiet time or do you need a group of people to recharge.

Yeah, this is what I've understood to determine whether you're introvert or extrovert. I know a number of outgoing people, very sociable, but they need to recharge by themselves.
Others I know just come alive around other people, and can't really relax if they're not around others.

Me, I'm very much an introvert. Need the "me" time to recover. I also suffer from social anxiety at times, and some people may confuse that with being introvert.

 

[wegs]

I did notice the competitive element when I worked for a couple of years in the States. More overtly energetic, which was stimulating, but somehow less collaborative, I felt. Germans are quite different. Dutch somewhere in between. I liked working with the Dutch (I was in The Hague for 3 years), because you know where you stand with a Dutchman. They are friendly but very direct and blunt, a bit like Yorkshiremen (who are just across the N. Sea from them, in fact). One of my brothers who was commercial lawyer said working with Dutch lawyers was a dream, compared to Brits or, even, worse, Americans who were always trying to beat you in some way, as if you were competing.

The US is known for workaholism and burn out unfortunately, as if it’s a badge of honor to be constantly working and exhausted from it.

All that competing is a tiresome game. lol This isn’t to say that all extroverts are working themselves to death but introverts seem to better understand, the need for down time. I enjoy my alone time; it helps me be at my best when I’m working on marketing projects with a team of people.