In the first part of this interview, David Goldstein, author of Creative You with Otto Kroeger, offered insights about how introverts and extroverts express themselves differently, ideal work environments for introverts, and the counterintuitive logic about why introverts should speak up at meetings—even if they think their contributions are obvious. Goldstein is back to tell you how you can ace your career by finding the right collaborators to support your creativity. He will also share surprises about how introverts and extroverts relate differently to praise, and the relationship between introverts, creativity, and time. (more…)

What’s the latest thinking about introverts and creativity? What are our strengths, struggles, and blind spots—and how can we offer the world our creative best? I invited internationally recognized artist and personality-type expert, David Goldstein, to answer these questions and more. He just collaborated on a new book, Creative You: Using Your Personality Type to Thrive, with a pioneer in the field of practical applications of personality type, Otto Kroeger. (more…)

When you think of diversity and inclusion, accepting people of different races, religions, cultures, and gender orientations might come to mind. However, another important aspect of diversity is also accepting people of different personality types—and learning to work well with and manage people whose styles are different from your own. (more…)

Many of my clients fantasize about striking out on their own—saying toodles to the boss, the office politics, and the confines of company life. Of course, along with that comes kissing their coveted paychecks good-bye. For introverts, who are more detail oriented, think before taking action, and would rather spend more time listening than talking up their strengths, setting up shop for themselves can be daunting in its own ways. Yet it also comes with some advantages. Over the past couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of crossing paths with Beth Buelow, the coach, author, and popular blogger who runs The Introvert Entrepreneur. Buelow joins us today to share insights for introverts thinking of starting a business as well as those who have already gone down that path. (more…)

You’re looking for an occupation well suited to your personality and you’re not a “people person”? Don’t miss “Six Careers for People Who Don’t Like People” by Jennifer Berry for Yahoo! Education for a few ideas you can use as a springboard. Of course, you can like people perfectly well and still gravitate to certain occupations that enable you to do more thinking on your own—including accountant, technical writer, and software developer. Thrive by honoring your strengths and preferences.

Last summer, I teamed up with Laurie Helgoe, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and author of Introvert Power, to write “A Giant Step Backward for Introverts,” about the proposed inclusion of introversion in the American Psychiatric Association’s forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). The controversial inclusion of introversion in the DSM-5 would designate introversion as a contributing factor in diagnosing certain personality disorders. (more…)

“Consider what happens when an introvert comes home hoping to chill after a rough day at work – only to find his extrovert* partner waiting to recap every moment of her day,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Elizabeth Bernstein. She continues, “The introvert gets angry; the extrovert feels hurt.” (more…)