Be conscious of the balance between immersing yourself in your work behind the scenes and getting the recognition you deserve. For five of my tips on using your quiet strengths to your advantage, check out “Work Skills for Introverts” by Patricia Rivera for Jobs (powered by Philly.com and Monster).

If you’re a small business owner, you probably need to spend a fair amount of time pitching your ideas and selling your wares. If you’re an introvert, you’d probably rather provide value to your customers than talk about the value you provide them. While you may not be programmed to toot your own horn, you can use your quiet strengths to build your business. Check out the tips for introverts I share during my interview with Karen E. Klein on the Bloomberg BusinessWeek – Smart Answers Small Business Tips and Advice podcast.

I love playing with words and just coined one to describe 70% to 80% of the doctors who care for our four-legged friends: “introvets.” Here’s a snippet from a new article, titled “In Praise of ‘Introvets,'” I wrote for the Exceptional Veterinary Team magazine: “You’re confident in your ability to talk to the animals—a turn of phrase immortalized by the classic film Dr. Dolittle. Yet, speaking ‘elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle, alligator, guinea pig, and flea’ will only get you so far in your veterinary practice. To succeed, you’ll also need to be fluent in chatty client, crabby client, irresponsible client, and inconsolable client. Not to mention all stripes of associates and colleagues.” I interviewed four veterinarians from around the United States who share their secrets to success as practice owners who are introverts. You can glean useful insights whether or not you’re an introvet. Whynotamous?

Please join me for this 90-minute webinar:

How to Project Confidence with Demanding People
Thursday, October 11, 2012 @ 1:00-2:30 p.m. (Eastern)
American Management Association
Speaker: Nancy Ancowitz
US$149
Register online (more…)

I conduct a fun exercise during my Self-Promotion for Introverts® workshops at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The participants are from many walks of life, including computer programmers, doctors, architects, advertising executives, lawyers, bankers, artists, and entrepreneurs.

The point of the exercise is to demonstrate the differences between bragging and effective self-promotion. We brainstorm and the participants say things like: bragging means talking at your conversation partner, carrying on a monologue about yourself, and even namedropping for good measure. Boo hiss. We all agree that bragging—both performing the nasty and being on the receiving end of it—is distasteful.
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It can increase your attention span, sharpen your brain, and improve your performance at just about anything. It’s also free. Still not sure about meditation? The latest research credits it with “measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress,” according to a recent chart-topping article in the New York Times. What’s the rage about meditation and how can the benefits of this age-old practice include bolstering your professional profile? (more…)

I just wrote a manifesto(!) on Self-Promotion for Introverts® for ChangeThis, a new kind of media geared to “spread important ideas and change minds.” The folks at ChangeThis believe that “smart people will embrace being talked to with respect and will spread the word.” Every month they e-mail manifestos by diverse authors on diverse topics to their subscribers for free; the manifestos are also available at ChangeThis.com. Here’s a glimpse of mine:
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La Presse in Montreal just interviewed me about the French translation of mon livre, Self-Promotion for Introverts®, called Se vendre quand on est introverti. I admit that I love being called l’auteure. And how could I not enjoy an interview with anyone named Martine Letarte? Check out her article. Just for fun, I Googled the article and clicked on the “translate this page” tool to see the English version of the French article about my book in English translated into French. Take a look if you’re curieux.

Need a boost in the self-promotion department? In this highly competitive job environment, you can’t rely on your accomplishments to speak for themselves. So guess who needs to speak about them? I was just interviewed by Aaron Gouveia and Wendy Ryan on Salary.com about how you can get the visibility you deserve in your career as an introvert; extroverts can benefit from this gentle approach too. Remember: self-promotion is just a skill and anyone can learn it. Tune in and learn how.

It’s quiet here in New York right now. As an introvert, I enjoy the eves of major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s—and even the eves of the eves, which have crept into our collective consciousness as unofficial semi-slacker days too.
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