Q: What do Audrey Hepburn, Bill Gates, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mahatma Gandhi have in common?
A: They’re each extremely successful in their chosen field—and famously introverted.
Guiding introverted students toward their own paths of professional accomplishment is part of why N. Aaron Deskins, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, created the class Success for Introverts, offered annually in B-Term since 2021. The course fulfills a wellness and physical education credit, which students need in order to graduate. But it also equips students with important practical skills, a sense of community, and so much more.
Long mischaracterized as a synonym for shyness, introversion is a basic personality type marked by the need to turn inward to regain energy. Extroverts, on the other hand, get energy from external social interactions.
Professor N. Aaron Deskins
Almost all of the students who have taken the class have identified somewhere on the introvert end of the personality spectrum, according to Deskins, who says he is also an introvert. “It’s an opportunity for them to realize they’re not alone and that it’s okay to be an introvert.”
Deskins’s co-teacher Kristin Boudreau, professor in the Department of Humanities and Arts, adds, “The goal is for students to learn something about introversion, about the chemistry and biology behind it, and how it shows up in social life and how it can hamper somebody. But we also really want them to understand that there are real strengths to introversion and that it’s another form of diversity.”
All of that is helpful for introverted students preparing for careers in the modern workplace because often physical office layouts, as well as reward and promotion systems, are designed for those who gravitate toward social interactions and frequent collaboration.
Before they even get that first job, though, WPI students must navigate the university’s signature group projects, which can prove especially challenging for introverts.
“There’s evidence of people being marginalized on teams because of gender, because of race. It’s also because of personality styles,” says Boudreau, who identifies as an introvert. “Extroverts tend to take control, and if introverts don’t speak for a while, people stop looking to them to speak. Then they get marginalized and feel discouraged, and there’s a cascading effect because the introverts don’t learn—and in turn don’t teach their peers.”
