The Advocate Animated: Rise of the Introverts
Personal Leadership Application Story - Kim Lee G.
“The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity,
or power, but self-rejection”.
These are the words of
Henri J.M. Nouwen (Goodreads Inc., 2016), which define the scenario I
encountered all my life, until my undergraduate Leadership class, when I
embarked on the journey to finding my true self.
Cain (2012), in a BBC
interview, exclaimed what many were too afraid to voice out – that this world
is “bias towards extraverts”, favouring their exuberance over the
contemplative, quiet introverts (The Guardian, 2012). Growing up, I was taught
the opposite – introverts are smarter due to deeper thinking, and I should “be
careful of the quiet ones”.
However, I still found
myself surrounded by many, including my family, who were convinced that I was
an extravert. Actually, as the MBTI[1]
has shown, I am an introvert – INFJ, known as “The Advocate”, which is rare,
only comprising of less than one percent of the population. According to the
Myers-Briggs study in 1943, which was later refined in the early 2000s, a
common mistake was to classify INFJs as extraverts due to their ability to
connect with people on human terms, enabling them to fluently articulate their
thoughts and insights about people and situations (NERIS Analytics Limited,
2016). This is something I have always embraced - a very articulate nature,
which I hope to be able to use to share my ideas and visions with others in
future.
Furthermore, as an
Upholder (Rubin, 2015), I tended to meet the expectations of being somewhat
extravert. I stuck to the habits I was taught growing up, mostly of the typical
extravert – to be sociable, outspoken, and proactive in social activities,
making me the “typical extravert child in the family”. However, now that I am
more self-aware, I intend to still stick to my habits, but to change the habits
that cause burnout, and to ensure my “me-time rest” is always planned into the
daily schedule of my busy life, which leads me to my next point – recharging.
Few personality types
tap into the highest levels of sensitivity as INFJs, leaving us susceptible to
“burnout”. Not only does our introversion mean we long to be away with
ourselves, but combined with the sensitivity of the INFJ personality type, the
need to recharge and stop being in “helicopter mode”[2]
becomes ever more apparent. Thus, as one of my lecturers said, “What fills your
bucket?”, in other words, “How do you recharge?”.
At 21 years of age, I
have had to learn from scratch how to recharge as an introvert. I never really
knew how to voluntarily re-energise myself. Life was more like a burst of
energy followed by random, involuntary, momentary withdrawal periods where my
mind and body were forced to recharge. So, now that I have discovered more
about recharging and tips on how to recharge, especially through the help of my
friends and introvert lecturers, I have come to love the method called “the
artificial intelligence life form downloading data”, which essentially means
that you don’t think about anything particular, and possibly, just sleep, but
most importantly, hide away somewhere by yourself and be at one with yourself
and your thoughts. I also like to listen to music to recharge. Some might just
describe it as “mindfulness”. Yes, “mindful”, not “mind full”.
So, my next challenge is
believing in and converting my self-knowledge into action, as the Greeks would
say, “metanoia”, meaning “beyond the mind” (Daszko and Shienberg, 2005). Hence,
in my journey, I have needed time to accept my true INFJ nature after 21 years
of fighting it.
“The only way out
is IN and THROUGH”. – Parker J. Palmer (2000)
Hence, in finding my
vocation, the strengths of an INFJ, creativity, insight and turning my ideals
into the very reality before me, must come alive. In being the introvert team
leader among a team of extraverts, I have learned that it is my strengths that
bring me in and through situations, and that this is the real way “out” of them
when challenges arise. Communication on human terms to encourage my team was
key to unite us, while creatively throwing ideas at my team to inspire them
enabled them to feel more energised as we talked through what each member was
thinking. Thus, in true INFJ spirit, I turned my ideal team into a concrete
reality, and it is these kinds of activities that energise me, through the
internal world of my thoughts, especially when put into action.
“Help Me Help
You” (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2016)
This is the motto of an
INFJ personality type, typically representative of those who wish to guide the
people around them with a great, but quiet kind of caring. This desire to guide
and care, coupled with the love for creative writing, has led me to a dream,
which as the typical idealist who loves to turn dreams into reality, has meant
that my chosen career choice now lies somewhere in the field of research, or
where I can use my writing skills to communicate with others the ideas that can
change the world, or even cause a Leadership Identity Revolution.
My Call to Action
– Finding a Sense of Direction
Thus, while at
university, I intend to strengthen my writing and research skills in order to
communicate better across borders, so that those around me and those I can
reach out to through online media and other means, may be inspired to know
themselves better in the way I have discovered my true self. This is my vision,
and from that stems my mission – to make this world a better place by helping
people to gain a better sense of themselves, and hence, their leadership
identity.
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