Introverts versus extroverts as strategists

Why it matters who is holding the pen

Introverts are quiet. They prefer to keep to themselves. Less social. Don't rile up.

Extroverts are loud. They prefer crowds. They're social as social gets. Sometimes, their blood boils and they get agitated.

All the above are stereotypes. They're too black-and-white for the world, because we know all too well that the world is really painted in shades of gray. The best example even comes from those colors. We call people "white," but if you held a sheet of white paper against a "white" person's pale pink pigmentation, you'd see in a flash—we describe in extremes, but the real world is much more nuanced than our extreme descriptions.

Stereotypes are shorthand. Nobody's probably a pure introvert, just as nobody's a pure extrovert. We're combinations of both, a yin and a yang entwined in ways we may or may not be able to see.

Yet, I suspect for most of us one side dominates as it pertains to strategy-making. When it comes to the act of creating an orientation towards success in some given endeavor, we all likely lean one way or the other.

When it comes time to concoct your strategy, which do you prefer: researching and thinking and writing out your path to success?

Or gathering the council of critics, seeking the counsel of others, pushing it through the process for endorsement, and then selling it to the organization to empower your team and allies to wield it as their weapon in the world?

You can't answer both.