Ep94 Show Notes
About Jennifer Kahnweiler
Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., Certified Speaking Professional, is a best-selling author and global keynote speaker who is known as the “Champion of Introverts.” In addition to her latest book, The Genius of Opposites, she has written two best-selling books about introverts (Quiet Influence and The Introverted Leader), which have been translated into 14 languages. Jennifer has worked with hundreds of organizations including GE, CNN, NASA and the CDC. She is a highly regarded faculty member of the American Management Association and has been featured in Forbes, Time Magazine, Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. Jennifer’s commitment to introverts started the day she married one. Since then, she’s helped organizations value the introverts on their teams and coached introverted individuals to step confidently into leadership positions.
Key Conversation Points
- Encouraging introverts and extroverts to work together in a healthy manner
- Being confident in your strengths as an introvert
- Assessing yourself and others to make the best decisions
- Recognizing how powerful opposite pairings can be
- Understanding the role of passion in your personal and professional life
- Considering “the walking meeting” as a means of easing tension
- Acknowledging that it is okay to address conflict
- Setting up battles for win-win success
- Speaking your truth
Detailed Conversation Highlights
Jennifer Kahnweiler considered herself a “flaming extrovert”, but focused on introverts in her career. She became saddened seeing talented introverts constantly passed over for promotions and opportunities. Her latest book has advice on how extroverts can achieve professional harmony with introverts and vice versa. She also highlights the skills that introverts bring to the table, such as preparation. For tense opposite partnerships, or even ones that just need a bit of guidance, she has created a quiz to help opposite pairs identify key issues. It is particularly valuable to metric-minded individuals. The quiz also serves to take some of the burden off of the introvert, who may be wrestling with how to communicate their concerns.
Introverts find many times that their workplace culture is difficult to navigate, due to their strengths being encouraged during hiring, but ignored in the job. Jennifer’s solutions come from the observations that she used to write her books. She mentions how the most successful pairs make a point to get along, share the credit, and complement each other. She mentions her five main concepts for getting the best out of an opposite partnership. She also mentions the importance that conflict has in an opposite pairing and how it can cause it to thrive. Being too polite can destroy the opposite pairing dynamic that’s so important. Jennifer’s body of work proves that you can thrive in an opposite pairing by staying true to who you are.
Resources Mentioned in the Podcast*
The Genius of Opposites: How Introverts and Extroverts Achieve Extraordinary Results Together – Jennifer Kahnweiler
Quiet Influence – Jennifer Kahnweiler
The Introverted Leader – Jennifer Kahnweiler
Shaping Your HR Role – William and Jennifer Kahnweiler
JenniferKahnweiler.com
Jennifer’s Introvert Island Book Selections*
“The Summer Day” from New and Selected Poems 1992– Mary Oliver (scroll down for the poem)
Purity – Johnathan Franzen
A blank journal
Sharing is Caring!
Introverts and Extroverts can work in harmony! #Podcast via @IntrovertCoach @JennKahnweiler | 
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Without conflict, we don’t have progress. #Podcast via @IntrovertCoach @JennKahnweiler | Tweet This
Learn how a meeting out in the sun can boost your #business. #Podcast via @IntrovertCoach @JennKahnweiler | Tweet This
There are many extroverts that appreciate what introverts bring to the table #Podcast via @IntrovertCoach @JennKahnweiler | Tweet This
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The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
The whole podcast was well worth listening to, but I have to say that the highlight for me was the tip at the end. The tetris image was so apt! I often feel like this when I am with my more talkative friends and acquaintances. You helped me understand why I get so exhausted trying to keep up, or worse, trying to slow down the onslaught to my pace.
Here’s my own image, inspired by your tip. You may remember many years ago when one of the top finishers in the NYC marathon turned out to have used the subway for part of the route — horrible cheating, right? But I’m going to give myself permission to “cheat” in conversation — to not try to keep up with the marathon talker, but simply drop out of the race, and take the easy route to intercept him or her at some point, without worrying so much about what happens along the way. The truth is, I will never be able to run that particular marathon, and I should stop trying!
I love your image of a marathon and taking breaks. Many extroverts actually don’t expect introverts to listen to all their words intently so solution and Beth’s work for all concerned! Thanks for sharing.