{"id":24418,"date":"2021-01-19T15:26:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T19:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=24418"},"modified":"2021-01-29T16:52:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T20:52:53","slug":"creative-introverts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Introverts Are Critical for Your Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is creativity more common in introverts? How can your organization cultivate and benefit from creative introverts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creative introverts benefit from solitude and intense concentration. Moving away from a focus on collaborative environments can bring out the creativity that may be seen more often in introverted people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for more about creative introverts and what they offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Creative Introverts Work Best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Research has found that creativity requires 1) solitude and 2) intense concentration.<\/strong> Because these are the preferred work styles of introverts, it\u2019s not surprising that many of the most creative people are introverts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1960s, researchers at UC Berkeley compared a group of extremely creative people, including scientists, engineers, writers, and architects, to a group of less-creative types to learn what drives creativity. They found that the most creative people tended to be independent, individualistic, and shy and solitary as teenagers. Other studies have supported these findings. But what gives an edge to creative introverts? The likely explanation is that their preference for working in solitude fuels their creativity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know from the studies of psychologist Anders Ericsson that <strong>intense solitary work drives extraordinary achievement.<\/strong> When Ericsson studied violinists, he found that the best spent the most time practicing alone. Ericsson found the same was true for other kinds of high achievers\u2014for instance, for top tournament chess players, serious study alone was the strongest predictor of success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ericsson contended that <strong>the key to outstanding achievement\u2014\u201cdeliberate practice\u201d\u2014can only be undertaken alone<\/strong>. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/deliberate-practice-definition\/\">deliberate practice<\/a>, you identify what you need to learn, work on it, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/track-your-progress\/\">track your progress<\/a>. It would be harder to focus on improving in the areas most crucial to you if you practiced in a group. (Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/peak\">Read our summary of Peak by Anders Ericsson here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Groupthink and Creativity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. institutions, including our schools and workplaces, are structured to serve the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/extrovert-bias\/\">extrovert ideal<\/a>. The organizing principle is \u201cGroupthink,\u201d which prioritizes teamwork above all. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/causes-of-groupthink\/\">Groupthink<\/a> practices, such as \u201ccooperative learning\u201d in schools and open offices and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-brainstorm-effectively\/\">brainstorming<\/a> in the workplace, are based on the erroneous belief collaboration is necessary for creativity and intellectual achievement.&nbsp;<br>The Groupthink notion that creativity is the product of teamwork has influential advocates, including prominent author Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote that innovation is \u201cfundamentally social.\u201d Organizational consultant Warren Bennis claimed in <em>Organizing Genius<\/em> that the \u201cgreat group\u201d has replaced the \u201cgreat man.\u201d However, in reality, an exclusive focus on collaboration actually undercuts creativity and achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unappreciated Strengths<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet introverts have many underappreciated strengths, including empathy, a strong social conscience, persistence, concentration, creativity, and solving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/complex-problem\/\">complex problems<\/a>. A more balanced approach that takes advantage of the strengths of both personality types and offsets each one\u2019s weaknesses would serve society better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is creativity more common in introverts? How can your organization cultivate and benefit from creative introverts? Creative introverts benefit from solitude and intense concentration. Moving away from a focus on collaborative environments can bring out the creativity that may be seen more often in introverted people. Keep reading for more about creative introverts and what they offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,9,30],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-24418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-psychology","category-work","tag-quiet-the-power-of-introverts","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Creative Introverts Are Critical for Your Organization - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Introverts work well in solitude, which is also beneficial for creativity. Here&#039;s how creative introverts can help improve results.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creative Introverts Are Critical for Your Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Introverts work well in solitude, which is also beneficial for creativity. Here&#039;s how creative introverts can help improve results.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-19T19:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-29T20:52:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/pop-orange-is-the-new-black-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Creative Introverts Are Critical for Your Organization\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-19T19:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-29T20:52:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/pop-orange-is-the-new-black-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Quiet: The Power of Introverts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Management\",\"Psychology\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Introverts Are Critical for Your Organization - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-introverts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/pop-orange-is-the-new-black-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-19T19:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-29T20:52:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Introverts work well in solitude, which is also beneficial for creativity. 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