What Do You Do with an Introverted Designer?

"It's amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly, and authoritatively demand it." -Maryl Streep

Just this morning I presented to professors and colleages the design project that had owned my life for the past year. I don't want to gush over myself too much, but I amazed myself with what I have managed to accomplish, in such little amount of time. If you have read any previous blogs, you know that yes, I did manage to work full time outside of this huge design endeavor. Maybe manage is the wrong word, maybe the word drag would be better. Yes, I did drag myself though a full time job while working even harder in the evenings to push out that creativity and show the design world what is inside my brain.

I returned to school for a master's degree in interior design because I have a design brain, and I can't ignore it. A design brain has powerful abilities to solve human problems, and that is right up my alley, solving real problems for real people. A design brain can come in many different shapes and sizes, and function in many different ways.

I am drawing closer to my 30th trip around the sun, and while many of my colleagues in their 24th trip seem to know themselves well, there are still discoveries to be made, and those discoveries will come quickly when they start their careers. Me, on the other hand, with the various type of professional work environments I have been in so far, I feel like I've gotten a good feel for my strengths and weaknesses, not to say I won't continue learning more about myself. And with that, one day I came to the realization that I am what you call an introvert, of the quiet variety, and I here I was pursuing a career in interior design, a world that heavily values A-type personalities, the salesman, the go-getter, the award winner, the Miss Congeniality. ...Dang it.

I did not pursue interior design to chase awards, to make the big bucks, I simply think I can help others. While those designers with the suits and the fancy hair may be among the best designers, let us not forget that the most innovative and creative people that have made the world a better place, fall into the introverted category, such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Eleanor Rossevelt, and Rosa Parks to name a few. A while ago I read an interesting book by Susan Cain titled "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won't Stop Talking" that brought up some interesting points and helped me except a personality trait that is often seen as a weakness, as my strength.

In our culture, assertiveness is a sign of being right, quietness is a sign of uncertainty. You could be very sure of yourself, have a commanding voice, but still be very, very wrong.

Remember, a very critical skill for designers to have, more important that knowing how to use the latest version of Revit, is knowing how to listen, really listen. This is an expert level skill that comes natural for introverts. Having an introvert in your office makes for a better team environment, they typically work better in a group than extroverts do, because they can naturally take to the sideline and assess the best solution for the design problem and bring out better ideas in others instead of pushing hard on their own ideas. Good creative synergy will happen when both introverts and extroverts work together. You can't have a group of hungry lions out to solve a puzzle without a few mice to mediate and look at all the small detials. A potential employer may "shy" away from hiring an introverted employee, with worries that they are too shy to handle big projects and big clients. Simply not true. Shyness has nothing to do with being introverted. Shy means you are afraid of something, introverted means that you need a quiet space to think deeply about what you have observed in the world while everyone else was too busy running their mouths.

So back to this morning's presentation. This whole subject was brought to light in my mind upon finishing my presentation, (my design child), when the first thing out of a professors mouth when opening to questions, was that I was not speaking loud and commanding enough. Yes, that was good criticism, I agree. But I felt bad about it, they had no idea that what could have been a helpful comment could make me so frustrated. I can't tell you how many times growing up that I have been told to "just speak up." So, my entire design success rides upon whether or not I was blessed with good vocal cords? The truth is, no, the volume of my voice does not go above a certain decibel level, I can't change that, believe me, I've tried different vocal exercises from high school drama class, and the whole "use your diaphram" thing, it just won't change. Despite that, I have spent many years giving successful tours to large groups of school children and adult groups while working in the museum field. The secret is being passionate about what you are talking about, and others will lean in to hear what you have to say. I am sorry that the professor in my presentation this morning was not feeling the passion I have for my project. I feel bad that all of the research and design I did was lost on a tired voice. There has to be a different way to show your client your design solutions without having to shout at them from in front of a projector screen. Is it time to re-think the design presentation format and experience?

So, what do you do with an introverted designer? Just let them sleep, feed them pizza from time to time, and LISTEN to them. You won't regret it.

#introvert #interiordesign #assertiveness #listening #designbrain