How extraverted must you be to be seen as passionate? — The Story of Emmanuel Tchatat

Hi there! ?? How extraverted must you be to be seen as passionate? I've been thinking about this question a lot over the past couple of years—especially since I moved to the US, where everyone around me seemed super extraverted, and I often felt like the only one who was not.

Being introverted is a topic that is not often discussed on LinkedIn. However, Emmanuel Wandji Tchatat is one of the few people on LinkedIn who do tackle this topic from time to time, and every time he does, his posts go viral.

I was one of the people coming across his posts on this topic a while ago and I started following him after that. A recent post from Manu was very familiar to me though —?it turned out he had quoted our recent Harvard Business Review article on passion and extraversion in his new post!

This made me so happy to see that I had to reach out to him afterwards, and we scheduled a coffee chat.

Here’s what I learned from our conversation:

Working at Zeam

Manu is on the executive team as the Head of Operations at ZEAM. If you spend any time on LinkedIn, you’ve likely heard of ZEAM before. They have a brilliant presence on this platform.

So, what exactly do they do? On one hand, they help companies become attractive employers for young people through leadership and employer branding. On the other hand, they assist these companies in reaching a young target audience with specific products or services.

Manu and his team are responsible for the company's finances, human resources, contractual matters, and other day-to-day business tasks.

(When I asked him about his age, it turned out he was only two years older than me — super impressive! But then, he also laughed and said he's one of the oldest people in the company.)

Navigating Multiple Passions

My first question for people is often about what they feel passionate about—and usually, they are not just passionate about one particular thing but have several passions.

Manu is passionate about his environment (friends and family), his job at Zeam, producing videos for the TikTok channel of Delay Sports, and his hobbies (especially soccer!).

Passions, according to him, are not just something that you find, but something that you develop (see also this article on this topic). While he "grew into" his passions for his environment and hobbies, his job was a more conscious choice.

After studying in Switzerland, he decided not to base his career decisions on money but on passion. For Manu, this meant choosing a job at a startup (back then with about six employees) over a job in auditing at a big corporation.

So far, he doesn't regret following his passion. Of course, he invests a lot of time in all his passions—playing soccer, spending as much time as possible with his loved ones, and developing himself professionally.

With many passions also come challenges. Sometimes, he struggles with wanting to do too many things at once, a feeling that many of us likely know. It often reminds me of my favorite movie, "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

The Misconceptions of Being Introverted

Having read many of his posts, I also asked him about his introversion. And indeed, he would describe himself as more of an introvert.

While the concept of introversion and extraversion can sometimes be abstract, he often notices his introverted tendencies in groups, especially larger ones, where he tends to be the one who remains quieter than others.

However, he emphasized that this greatly depends on the group. For instance, with his closest friends, he tends to be the most talkative one.

This is a common experience. Right? Of course, we all have our tendencies or "niches" where we feel most comfortable, but we all exhibit both introverted and extraverted behaviors every day.

In 2001, Will Fleeson published a highly influential paper on this topic, showing that people not only differ in their personality from others (i.e., inter-individual differences) but also vary significantly in their personality from day to day (i.e., intra-individual differences).

To illustrate this: Imagine three people with different average levels of extraversion (that is, some are more extraverted than others). Nonetheless, each individual also varies in their extraversion from day to day, depending on their mood, specific situations, their interaction partners, and so on.

Indeed, most people express a full range of extraverted behaviors over relatively short periods. Here's an example illustration of this:

Being introverted or extroverted isn't inherently good or bad, it's just different. However, what has made it problematic over the last decades is that one is more highly valued than the other in our society. (You can guess which one it is.)

Susan Cain, in her bestselling book "Quiet," went so far as to label our society an "extrovert's world."

As a result, Manu often argues in his posts that introverts are misunderstood or not heard at all in the workplace.

As an example: In group discussions, he only speaks when he has something meaningful to contribute. Similarly, he's not a fan of small talk and he's not really good at it either.

This can have real consequences. In the workplace, extraverted behaviors can lead to evaluations and recognition that reflect not actual performance, but how loud a person is.

What are some advantages of being introverted?

Not only that, but we also miss out on the valuable strengths and skills that introverted people bring to the workplace.

Being quiet doesn't necessarily mean someone is uninterested or shy. Silence is often mistaken for a lack of interest, which can be very frustrating.

According to Manu, the greatest strength of introverts is their ability to listen. They may not speak because they have nothing to add at the moment, but they are still engaged. (In fact, they may be more engaged than the extrovert next to them, who is looking for the perfect moment to interrupt the current speaker. ??)

In business contexts, people often talk a lot without saying much. The solution, Manu believes, cannot be to force introverts to speak up more even if they have nothing to add. Instead, why don't we all speak up only when our contributions will be valuable to the entire group?

Our Research on Passion And Extraversion

Many parts of what Manu has touched upon perfectly aligns with research that I have recently published with Anabel Büchner and Jon M. Jachimowicz .

We found that introverts are not more or less passionate than extraverts, they just live out their passion differently.

"Living out your passion" —?we wanted to zoom in on this a little bit more, so we developed a scale that measures how employees express their passion for work. And we identified seven factors in total:

Extraverts express their passion more frequently and more visibly than introverts, making it easier for others to notice, and allowing extroverts to gain the benefits that passionate people receive in our society.

As a result, supervisors often see extraverts on their teams as more passionate than introverts because their passion is louder, more emotional, and simply more noticeable.

I loved Manu's conclusion of our research in his post:

Loudness is not the same as passion, and calmness is not the same as disinterest.

What can you do as an introvert?

If you're an introvert, it's tempting to resign yourself to that fact. And that's totally fine. But could it be that you're taking the easy way out? Manu and I strongly believe that it's your responsibility to make yourself visible at work:

1?? Know your strengths: Focus on what you're good at—it's more effective and enjoyable.

2?? Show your work: Regularly update your supervisor on what you're accomplishing to ensure they recognize your efforts.

3?? Step out of your comfort zone: Each time you do, you'll build self-confidence, which is valuable in any role.

4?? Network strategically: Prioritize quality over quantity in networking by connecting with those who share your interests and passions.

5?? Embrace one-on-one interactions: Seek out meaningful individual connections, which can be more comfortable than group settings at times.

6?? Set boundaries: Protect your energy by communicating your needs and scheduling time for focused work or breaks.

7?? Celebrate achievements: Don't downplay your successes—acknowledge and share them to boost your confidence and visibility.

8?? Stay authentic: And last but not least: Keep being true to yourself in your interactions and actions—don't pretend to be someone you're not.

What can you do as a supervisor?

However, the responsibility doesn't solely fall on introverts; it's also incumbent upon their managers to recognize and appreciate their employees—irrespective of their volume.

Manu tries to implement these principles into his own leadership style. He also sought guidance from his superior, Jo Dietrich , on ways leaders can tap into the potential of quieter team members (+ some bonus strategies from myself):

1?? Understand how each person in the team operates: Everyone expresses their passion and expertise differently.

2?? Create a space where quiet people can share their input: The best idea should prevail, not the loudest.

3?? Evaluate the quality, not the quantity, of contributions: Find objective criteria to assess the quality of input.

4?? Offer private feedback sessions: Introverts may prefer one-on-one settings to discuss progress and areas for growth.

5?? Embrace written communication: Integrate emails and messaging platforms to ensure all team members can express themselves thoughtfully.

6?? Provide meeting agendas in advance: Give introverts time to prepare for discussions (and yourself and your extraverts in the team as well!)

7?? Rotate leadership roles: Offer introverted employees opportunities to lead projects—trust me, they are capable of it (see, for instance, this paper).

8?? Respect personal space: Allow introverts time to recharge by avoiding pressure to engage in constant social activities outside of work hours.

So what can we learn from Manu?

Introversion is not a flaw. It took Manu a while to realize that being introverted isn't negative; in fact, his calmness allows him the clarity to find the right solutions at the right times.

In the past, when asked about his weaknesses, he would mention his quietness.

Now, when asked about his strengths, he highlights his listening ability.

I admire that. Introversion can indeed be a strength.

Maybe: Become a flextravert?! :)

And yet, in a world that highly values extraverted behaviors, it is also important to learn when to be more extraverted, especially for introverts, for whom behaving in extraverted ways over longer periods of time is often more exhausting.

Instead of asking "if" I should be more extroverted, the question may become "when."

This is what I'm currently exploring in my research on "flextraversion": What are the situations when it is optimal to be more extraverted? And what are situations where it is optimal to be more introverted?

To me, personality is not just something that is able to change; it's also a skill that we can learn!

Thank you for taking the time to read my fifth newsletter! If you would like to explore more of my ideas and thoughts, here is a summary of my posts and podcast episodes from this May:

New LinkedIn posts:

St. Gallen Symposium +++ Sustainable Passion in Academia +++ Pint of Science +++ Podcast Interview +++ My Favorite Class at Harvard +++ 20k followers +++ My first year as a PhD student

New podcast episodes:

Anxious about statistics? Not necessary! +++ The need for belonging

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