Networking for Introverts: A Leadership Framework

In this episode, you’re about to discover how introverts, just like me, can succeed in one on one meetings. Whether networking to grow your business or one on ones while you’re leading your team, you can definitely, without a doubt, learn what to ask, how to guide the conversation, and how to leave energized instead of drained. Welcome to the Eric Dingler Leadership Podcast, a show designed to help you lead better to live better.

Well, like I said at the top there, I am an introvert. Now I actually get mislabeled bold regularly by people who naturally think I’m an extrovert. I’m loud. I don’t mind being in front of a crowd. In fact, most people that I meet engage with me first through a podcast, or not so much since we’ve been traveling the last four years. But before we became digital nomads, I was a pastor and I did a lot of public speaking. I spoke at business events, I keynoted at conferences for fifteen years. I ran a summer camp and was up in front of the camp regularly, hamming it up, being a clown, being over the top, exaggerated and really performing. And that’s the key. I was performing. But when it was all said and done and everybody went away, or I got away from people, I crashed. I had to have time to recharge.

In fact, when I was pastoring, we would get home from church on Sunday and I would take a nap. It was the only day out of the whole week that I would take a nap. And honestly, Sunday I worked the fewest amount of hours of any other day of the week. The rest of the week I’d be going from one thing to the next. I’d be studying, I’d be doing message prep, I’d be practicing my message, pre-recording it for the online message area of our website, I’d be leading the team, brainstorming ideas, all of this stuff all day long. And I was fine. But, man, I would get done preaching and I would just be exhausted. Not from the preaching, but from all the interaction before church and after church with all the people. And these are people I loved and cared about and still do to this day. But it was just that one on one, constantly talking to people and checking in with people. Like, there’s a lot to me, man. People are a lot. There’s a reason this podcast doesn’t have very many guests. I don’t want to interview people. It’s exhausting. I love being a guest on podcasts. I love being interviewed. Oh, man, I love to teach. Teaching is amazing. That moment where you share something with somebody and you see it in their eyes, you see them light up, like, wow, look at this, I never noticed this before. You know that? That’s exciting. But it’s also so draining to me.

You see, introverts recharge by being alone. They need that quiet time. They need to be introspective. They need to be alone. Extroverts need to be around people to get energy. So being an introvert, being an extrovert, it’s not about your outward behavior. It’s about what fuels you. This is one of the reasons I like to paint. I can put my AirPods in and put some music on, or a podcast or a TV show or even a book, and I can get lost, lost, working on bringing a painting to life. And time flies by when I’m doing that. And when I’m done, I am rested, relaxed and energized.

And so for me to be somebody that talks a lot about the fact that, when it comes to business growth, networking is a key to successful business growth, it’s how I grew my business, it’s how I coach people to grow their businesses. Specific types of businesses, certain types of businesses, but, for pretty much any solopreneur or anybody starting their own thing, the networking is key. It’s just so important. But what do we do? What do we do?

Well, here’s the thing. I want you, if you’re listening to this, I’m going to guess that maybe you believe that you’re an introvert, maybe you know that you’re an introvert. And so maybe you’re not, but you’re a leader and you’re going to be leading people that are introverts. Maybe you’re an extrovert, but your spouse is an introvert, and so you’re hoping to learn something about them. But I have a feeling that most of you that are listening right now, because of the title and the introduction, you’re still listening because you’re an introvert and you’re like, how do you do it? How do you do networking as an introvert?

Well, you know what? Being an introvert is not a crutch. There’s nothing to overcome. There’s nothing that needs to be fixed. But I just want to say to you right now, that’s maybe allowed some of this to hold you back, because maybe in addition to being an introvert, maybe you’re shy. Now, here’s the thing. All introverts aren’t shy. I’m not shy, but I’m an introvert. And so maybe you’re an introvert and you’re shy. Well, when I’m about to go over the three part framework I’m about to go over and some specifics I’m going to unpack in this episode, they’re going to help you whether you’re shy, or an introvert, or a shy introvert.

The other thing I want to let you know about is if you’re listening to this and you’re an introvert and you’re like, oh my gosh, the idea of networking like that sounds like I’m having to go in there and I have to sell myself, you know, I got to be on and I got to sell myself. That’s false. That’s a false belief, a false narrative. In fact, networking is really about building relationships. It’s about building some relationships that can become deep relationships. And a lot of introverts, they don’t mind that. They mind the shallow conversation, the surface level stuff. But if you’re really going to have a conversation with an introvert about a topic they like and they know something about, they’ll talk with you about that. They’ll go deep on that. And that’s true about you. If it’s things you don’t care about, that’s where it becomes exhausting. And a lot of introverts, a lot of people, even extroverts, the idea of selling themselves isn’t exciting sounding. And so you pull back from it and you’re holding yourself back. You’re being an introvert. It should never be a crutch, and it should never be an excuse. It’s who you are.

In fact, there are parts of being an introvert that are super strengths that extroverts don’t have. Extroverts can be overbearing. Extroverts can plow through. Extroverts can go too hard, too fast, too long. Extroverts can have trouble self-regulating their energy, and they can be like a bull in a China shop. Now, there are plenty of benefits to being an extrovert and plenty of strengths, but they don’t tend to see this as a problem. The extroverts don’t seem to believe that they have a crutch.

A lot of people, for whatever reason, there’s this stigma around, if you’re an introvert, you gotta overcome it. It’s going to hold you back. I have people tell me that. I’ll be talking with people and I’m like, listen, you need to get out and do some networking, and they’ll say, oh, I get it, I’m an introvert, I can’t do that. And I’m like, well, you’re talking to me just fine. Oh, it’s different, you know. And then they just go on. And if you’re one of these people, and I’m kind of calling you out and giving you a funny voice right now, I’m not attacking you. It’s the excuse, because eventually we’re able to get to the end of the conversation and they’re able to walk away from the conversation going, wait a minute, not only should I be doing it, I can be doing it. They had these false beliefs about what networking was and they had no plan on how to do it. So that’s what I really want to unpack with you.

So what do we do with this? Well, the first thing I want to let you know, I found this a long time ago to be encouraging. And so I’ve recreated a list that I want to share with you real quick of world leaders. I’m using world leaders because I have an international audience, and so I wanted people that most people would have heard about. So these are world leaders and creators that are introverts.

Here’s some introverts who accomplished some things. Albert Einstein, Albert Einstein was an introvert. Bill Gates, huge introvert. Warren Buffett, introvert. President Barack Obama, introvert. Elon Musk is a self-proclaimed introvert. Elon Musk is very uncomfortable with casual socializing, and he has said it has nothing to do with autism, it’s he’s an introvert, he gets charged up on his own. J.K. Rowling, introvert. Steven Spielberg. Emma Watson. Tom Hanks. Keanu Reeves. Rosa Parks, maybe a little bit more of a USA audience, but Rosa Parks, she was an introvert. She was a quiet, strong, courageous leader. So if you’re an introvert, you’re in really good company. There are introverts that have been strong leaders, phenomenal creators, amazing influencers, business builders. And so you can be an introvert and not miss out on success because of it.

So what do you do? Well, there are three things that help me before I go into a situation where I know I’m going to be drained. When I think about a situation and I am preparing myself for this, I am currently in Liverpool, England. We’re going to be here for several months, and I’ve decided that while I’m here, I can’t work. I’m on a tourist visa, so I can’t work while I’m here in Liverpool, in the United Kingdom. But one of the things that I’m allowed to do while I’m here is network. And so I have started putting together some meetings, some one on ones. I’ve got three people that I’m currently scheduled or scheduling one on ones with here over the next two weeks. And this is networking. This is me going out and sitting down with some people to have conversation. And honestly, as an introvert, the idea of it sounds draining. Like, I don’t want to do it, but I need to do it. It’s going to be good to do.

So I have learned a long time ago that there are three things I have to do.

Number one, I have to prepare. Now I do this whether I’m having a one on one coffee meeting or a one on one breakfast or lunch meeting with somebody just to network, just to build a strategic partnership, to learn from them, to see where we may be able to work together in the future. I do this before going into one on one team meetings with my team, whatever it might be, if there’s a situation, a sales meeting I have, I know that I have to prepare for all of them. If I don’t prepare ahead of time, I’m going to struggle. I’m going to leave exhausted. One exhausting networking coffee in the morning can just drain me for the rest of the day, and I haven’t got time for that. So I know that I have to go in prepared. So what do I do? I pre-plan the questions I’m going to ask. I actually pre-plan some transition statements that I know I can use if I feel like things are getting stuck, and I prepare how I’m going to close. Generally I don’t have a problem getting started, because you meet somebody and there’s, you know, how’s it going, and I’ve got a question ready to go just in case it is a little bit of an awkward start. But what really can sound scary to an introvert is knowing how to get the heck out of there. So I like having my exit planned. So I prepare. I prepare my questions to ask, I prepare a couple transition statements, and I prepare how I’m going to wrap it up and get out of there.

The next thing I do is I practice. I just go over the questions in my head, as I’ll go on a walk and I’ll go over the questions, or I might think about them while I’m working on a painting, or when I’m cooking my breakfast in the morning. Whatever it is, I’ll find a time to go over these questions. Also, for me, I have learned that when I repeat something, it helps me remember it. So I say them out loud. I’ll share them with my wife. Not saying she’s a big fan of it, but I can share it with them in a coaching call if I’m going to do something new and I’ve got somebody I’m coaching that week. And it just cements it in me. So that’s one of the ways I practice.

And then the third and final part of the framework is I just ask questions. That’s right. I go into networking meetings ready with questions. So I prepare, I practice, and then I just ask. So what does this look like? Well, let’s break down the five questions that I use over and over and over again in networking. I used these when we were just starting the company out. Now I haven’t used them a whole lot in the last four years because we haven’t done a whole lot of networking as we’ve been traveling. But I’m gearing back up to start doing an intense amount of intentional networking, and so I’m getting these questions ready.

So these are five questions that I use. Now get ready, if you’re driving or doing something where you can’t write these down, click the save button, make sure you grab the show notes, something like that. But if you can grab something and write these down, because these five questions have never failed me. All right, here we go.

Question number one is what’s your Genesis story. And here’s what it might sound like. So this week I’m going to be meeting with somebody that owns a high end gym. He’s co-owner of a high end local gym. They don’t work with just the general public, it is their very intense personal trainers. Membership to their gym starts at like three hundred pounds, three hundred seventy five dollars a month or so right now. And so it is a private gym, and a successful one, a successful gym. And so when we sit down for our coffee meeting, have our quick pleasantries and things like that, when I’m ready for the small talk to end, because I don’t want to have a bunch of small talk, I’m going to just use the question. So, Simon, I’d love to know, how did you get into owning a gym? Is that something you always wanted to do? There you go. I’m just asking him, tell me your story. How did you get into whatever this is? How did you find this? How did you discover this? I don’t ask how long you’ve been doing it, because they’ll say, oh, I’ve been doing it about five years. Well, thanks, Billy Bob, that was no use at all. How did you get into this, and invite them to tell the story. Because you know what, a lot of people, even introverts, don’t mind sharing their story.

And I just want to be curious. I want to lead with curiosity. And I don’t have to ask, I just sit there and listen. I love this question. And here’s another thing. If you’re meeting with a leader, okay, who is being asked by a lot of people for their time, and people go to these meetings with an agenda, their agenda to get their thing, you can’t go to the networking events like this. You have to go in there and kick things off with, what’s your Genesis story? What’s your story? How did you get into this? Is it something you always thought you were going to do? Just invite them to tell their story and then just engage with their story. If something pops up, that can be a follow up question, ask it. Don’t be afraid to do that. If that sounds exhausting to you, then don’t, but ask them to open up and share their Genesis story. Now they may then ask you, and that’s okay. They’ll be like, so what about you, what is it you do again? So now it’s an opportunity for me to give my one liner of what it is I do, and answer the story of how I got here to this situation. So first question, what’s your Genesis story? What’s your story?

Second question I ask, what’s been your biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? Now again, this question varies depending on who I’m talking to and why I’m talking to them. If I’m meeting with someone and I’m talking to them as the CEO of In Transit Studios, and I’m wanting to build a strategic partnership for my agency, or potentially find out if they have a need for our services, then this question is literally just that. What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome? So I may say, what’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome as a business owner? What’s been one of the biggest challenges you’ve ever had to overcome as a pastor, as a leader, as an entrepreneur, whatever it is, I’m going to ask them what’s been the biggest challenge you’ve ever had to overcome. And a lot of times, as I’m starting to meet with people here in Liverpool, I’ll say, hey, listen, I’m just really curious, I’ve asked this question, I’ve heard I’ve answered a lot from people in the United States, but I’m just really always trying to learn business. And I really want to be the best business owner I can. So I’m curious, as a business owner, what’s been one of the biggest challenges you’ve ever had to overcome? And I just listen and I learn. I lean in with curiosity. And when they share, if they don’t share how they did it, I ask, wow, how did you do that? And sometimes it’s minor, sometimes it’s something I’ve heard before, sometimes it’s massive and out of the blue and I’m like, I did not expect that. And then I may follow up with, how did you overcome that? But I so often learn from this and I am just like, wow. And I’ll just say thank you, that really means a lot, thank you for investing in me by sharing that and letting me learn from that.

Then I’ll ask them, and I contextualize it, this is the question, what’s your current biggest, fill in the blank, struggle you’re trying to overcome? So if I’m meeting with somebody for my agency, I’m going to say, so what’s your current biggest marketing struggle? What’s your current biggest, if I’m meeting with somebody about leadership, what’s your biggest current leadership struggle, what’s the biggest struggle you have right now with your team? So I’ve asked them generally just what’s been the biggest challenge you’ve ever had to overcome, now I want to pivot a little bit into my lane specifically to why I’m there talking to them. So what’s been the biggest fill in the blank struggle you’re facing right now?

Now, here’s the thing, here’s the thing. You may be thinking, oh, but this is where the sales start, this is where I gotta come up with a solution. No, I never, ever, ever give any direction or ideas. I just listen and I go, okay, all right, I can definitely see how that would be a challenge here. Now I may ask some follow up questions, I may ask, is there anything you’ve tried that hasn’t worked, or anything you’re thinking about trying? Because I just want to know, like, where are they with this? Are they in the testing, are they maybe about to wrap things up? But I’m really just kind of curious. And a lot of times I’ll find an open opportunity there. Now I remember their answer to that, okay, that’s an important question to ask, and then you want to remember the answer.

Then the fourth question I ask, because I want to start wrapping up, is I just want to say, hey, thanks, I really have appreciated our time together. And I’m just, you know, I’d like to know, can I add you to my email list? And then again, if I’m there for my agency, I would say, we send out a weekly email newsletter with some marketing tips in it, can I add you to my email list, would that be something you or somebody on your team, can I add you and some people on your team? And then they’ll say, yeah, absolutely. Okay, great. And if I don’t have their email I get their email, I write it down, and I get the permission to add them to my list, because I want to stay in connection with them. If I’m meeting with somebody under the leadership coaching and speaking stuff that I’m building up and doing, then I’m going to say, hey, can I add you to my email list, I put out a podcast on leadership, and I’d love to email you the next time the next episode comes out. And nobody’s ever told me no, that I can’t do this. And so I always walk away with one more person on my list, one person that I’ve invited, not somebody that I’ve had to convince or coerce, not somebody that I’ve brought through a funnel, but somebody I’ve met with, somebody that knows me. When they see the next email, they’ve just had coffee with me, they’ve had lunch with me, they know me. What a valuable contact to have on your email list.

Then I end with this question, who do you know that I should know? Who do you know that I should know? And so, as I’m meeting this week with that gym owner, I’m going in under my digital marketing agency, so I’m going to sit down and say, so I’m just kind of curious, is owning a gym something you always wanted to do, how’d you get into this, what’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome as a business owner here in England, because that’s a new context for me, so I’m going to ask that. What’s your biggest struggle you guys are facing right now when it comes to marketing the gym? And again, I’m not going to have an answer, I’m just like, cool, all right, thanks for sharing that. Hey, listen, would you mind, I send out a weekly email newsletter with my agency that has a marketing tip in it, is that something you’d find valuable, can I add you to my email list? Great. And I’ll say, hey, as we’re wrapping up, I am really trying to connect with as many business owners as I can here, just trying to learn, and I’m just trying to connect with people and just start to put a network of people together here that I know and that I can refer people to. Who do you know that you think I should be connected to, who do you think I should meet with? And they’re going, oh, well, you know, have you talked to so and so. And I have had meetings open up to me this way, I’ve never met with. And then I just go, wow, yeah, I’d love to meet with them. I’ll totally own the responsibility, but can you just send a message to them and let them know you’re going to be sharing my information, or their information, to reach out, is that something you can text, email, and then give me the information, I’d love to just connect. I just ask them to do it right then, right there, on the spot. And people do, now some will say, well, I’ll do that as soon as I get back to the office. Hey, absolutely, no worries, I’ll follow up with a reminder. So thanks. And then I thank them and I’m like, man, I just really appreciate this, if there’s ever anything I can do for you, please let me know, I really appreciate it. And then that’s it, we leave. That’s the networking meeting.

Now, what do I do afterwards? Well, the first thing I do, when I get back to it used to be my car, I always said when I get back to my car, it used to be my car in the United States, now here it will be the bus stop. Now, let’s say they get up and leave, and I might say, hey, I’m going to sit here and work for a while, I brought my laptop, because normally I have my laptop with me or my iPad. Well, when they leave, I will immediately get my phone out, or my laptop or iPad, whatever I have, and I will add them to my email list. Now if I leave the same time they do, then here in Liverpool when I get on the bus, or the moment I get home, I mean it’s literally the very first opportunity possible, I don’t wait for the next day, I do it right away. I add them to my email list.

And then, if I don’t have any suggestions for their problem, I research it real quick. I ask ChatGPT, I brainstorm an idea, and I’m an ideas guy, now this is something that for me comes very, very easily. The problem is I have to stop myself in the meeting from saying anything, because I’ve never met a problem that didn’t have a solution. And now, because of the fact I also struggle with pride, I also believe every idea, every solution I have is perfect and excellent. That’s not always the case, but I have still never met a problem that didn’t have a solution. And it’s when people ask sometimes, what’s your superpower, problem solving, like coming up with solutions to what others perceive as a problem. I can just naturally see multiple solutions to these things.

So if I don’t have a solution, I’ll research it. At this point in time in my career, it’s going to be rare that somebody suggests a marketing issue I don’t have experience with. So I’m going to then craft an email response, and I’m going to say, hey Simon, thanks for the coffee meeting yesterday, I really enjoyed it. And then I might add something personal from it, just kind of depends. Thanks for letting me add you to my email list, you’ve been added, I’ve already connected with so and so, or I’m looking forward to connecting with so and so. Also, I was thinking about what you shared with your current struggle, and I had a thought for you, have you looked into, how about a thought for you, and I apologize if this is something you’ve been there, done that, but I just got to thinking about it and I wondered, have you looked at, or if it’s appropriate depending on how the meeting goes, I may say, I’ve got a tool that lets us do this thing and I think this assessment would help you out, could I create this for you, would you like me to create a report, would you like to have somebody on my team create this thing, and I’d be more than happy to share it with you. I’m not charging them, I’m not selling, I’m trying to add value, I’m trying to find something I can give to them.

I believe there’s a guy, Kirby Hoffman, that I know, a mentor of mine, and Kirby says regularly, we are in a give first economy. And this is one of those things I believe he means by this. I want to add value to them. I’ve learned something from them from question two, what’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome. So I’ve already learned something from them. Normally I’m inspired by their Genesis story, and they’ve connected me with somebody, they’re going to let me email them and nurture them, and now I want to give them something. And I’m telling you something right now, over and over and over again, even if they don’t become my customer, so many times I get referrals from these people, these become referral machines. But many times these conversations lead to these people becoming customers. It is, without a doubt, I believe, the fastest way to get a bootstrapped startup business to twenty five thousand dollars a month in recurring revenue. Now, if you’re a startup business and you go out and raise sixteen million dollars in venture capital, you’re sailing in a different ocean than me, my friend, and that’s okay. But if you’re a bootstrapped startup, the fastest way to twenty five thousand dollars a month in recurring revenue is networking. And it is powerful, powerful, powerful.

But for introverts it can be scary. It can be exhausting. We can dread it because we know it’s going to drain us. But I’m telling you something, when I finally put these questions to paper and I learned them and I started using them, I left these meetings energized and ready to go, because I wasn’t having to create on the spot, I didn’t have to perform, I was just asking questions.

Now this same framework works in leadership check ins, my weekly one on ones. I have a framework of questions that I use every week when I meet with anybody on my team. The very first question, again, after some pleasantries and celebrating a win or something like that, when I’m ready to get into things, the first question I ask is, so what’s on your mind? I’ve asked, there have been people on my team that have been asked that question, depending on how frequently we meet, probably forty times a year for the last five years. So that’s two hundred times. What’s on your mind? So what’s on your mind today? That’s my first question. And then after they go through the list and I write them down, then I say, okay, here are the things I’m bringing to our meeting today that I have on my mind. And I stop, and then, are there any of these that you want to get started with? All right, if not, then let’s do this, or we can start with that one. And we get right into it.

So I have this same thing, I prepare, I practice, and then I ask. And again, I have some transitional statements that I can say in between, if I’m ready to move from one thing to the next, and these can be very, very simple things, just, wow, thanks for sharing that, I actually have another question because of that, that’s a good one, thanks for sharing that, I have another question that’s come to mind, thanks for sharing that, I got another question that is totally unrelated. These are just some very common statements that I use that I’ve practiced, so I don’t have to stumble around in a meeting looking for them, I just have them and I’m ready to go.

So meeting with one on ones with my team and leadership team meetings, whatever it is, whatever kind of networking thing it’s going to be, if I’m going to be going to a networking event and I know I’m going to introduce myself to the crowd, I plan what I’m going to say and I practice it. Now generally it’s not a question, but it’s a one line statement, and I try to never talk about what, or how, but I try to connect with why. And so I come up with a statement, I practice it so it doesn’t sound corny, and I go in prepared, so it doesn’t matter what the situation is, the framework works. Prepare, practice and ask. Obviously it breaks right there if you’re not asking a question, like introducing yourself, but hey, let’s not be picky, okay. All of this works together to help you build trust by actually being curious, not nosy, but curious, interested in them, and it creates connection.

Now, additionally, in my one on ones that I have with my teams, I actually have a list of eleven questions that I rotate through. I only ask one, sometimes maybe two in a week, but generally just one, ninety nine percent of the time. I just ask one of them and I cycle through the list. And so when I’m preparing for a teammate’s one on one, I look at the notes from the last week, I see what question I asked, and I go to the next question on the list, and I copy and paste that into this week’s meeting agenda. And so I just rotate myself through these eleven questions. And they’re questions designed to help my team grow, develop, upskill, lead better. They’re questions that help open the door for me to mentor them and coach them.

And I’ve made these available to you. So if you’ve already downloaded the five leadership habits, then you already have access to the resource page. So you have the link, and I’ll be sending you an email with this as a reminder after this podcast. Now, if you have not ever downloaded five leadership habits, here’s what you need to do. Go to EricDingler.com, super simple. You’re going to go down until you see the big button, the big blurb about the five leadership habits to keep you and your team on track. You’re going to click on that, you’re simply going to fill in your information, and you’re going to get the guide on the five leadership habits.

Now, after you confirm your subscription, you are going to get an email with a link to a bonus page. And on this bonus page is a page where I add different resources relevant to different podcasts. And everybody that has signed up, I just let them know, even if you miss the podcast episode, you’re still going to get, hey, another guide, another resource, another step by step guide, another checklist, another whatever it is that I’ve created specifically for that episode, it’s on the resource page. But everybody gets the resource page the same way, and that’s by starting with the five leadership habits. Because you’re not going to create anything great with one swing, it’s going to be doing the small, consistent habits over and over and over again that creates big things. So I want to make sure that everybody starts with this. For this next season of the podcast, as people are coming into my world and signing up to be on my email list, I want to make sure everybody’s starting with the same thing, and that’s these five leadership habits. So if you haven’t got it, go download the five habits. And then after you confirm, you’re going to get a link to the bonus page, and one of the resources is the eleven questions that I ask my team. So you can get that, make a copy of it, and then you have, even if you’re not leading a team yet, if you’re like, man, I like this idea of having questions, it’s going to make things so much easier ahead of time. Get it now. Save it for later.

So what’s this week’s leadership tip of the week? If you’re new to the podcast, I like to wrap up, even though the whole podcast has been about leadership, I’m still ending each episode with a leadership tip of the week because I keep thinking of them, I got a long list of them here. And so this week’s leadership tip of the week is lead with curiosity. There’s a lot of things we want to lead with as leaders. Leaders need to be bold, leaders need to be creative, courageous leaders need to often go first, leaders need to lead with humility. But leaders also need to lead with curiosity, especially introvert leaders. If you’re a leader and you’re introverted, leading with curiosity shifts the pressure off of you. It shifts all the pressure off of you, and it becomes all about discovering the other person. And it’s very freeing and rewarding. So that’s this week’s leadership tip of the week.

So a few takeaways to recap. Being introverted isn’t a weakness. It’s also not an excuse, and it’s not a crutch. You can do networking, you can do leadership, you need to do these things. So develop a plan, and if you don’t like mine, come up with your own. I’m just telling you, it’s been tried and tested, proven by me and many, many others, especially those five networking questions. The second takeaway I’ve got for you is, with a plan, some simple questions, and a little bit of curiosity, even introverts can thrive in one on one meetings, whether it’s networking or leadership.

So until next time, pick one action and do it to help you lead better to live better.