Humour, Introversion and Leadership

I heard it like this “to be a great leader you need to have humor”. I disagree! Let me jump into what I want to say rather wander around an introduction of what I’m going to say. The Problem with the statement is that when an introvert hears it. He or she would feel leadership is a farfetched dream. They might even loose the interest of becoming one. Why do I say it? There is typecasting of quieter people as some who isn’t capable of leading let alone making humor. This is reiterated by the societal expectations and definition of the “quiet population”.  

There is a leading NEWS channel in India who described a murderer as introvertish. See, I have never heard any news channel describing a criminal as “he/she was an extrovert and committed a crime.” If we are sitting quietly in a room doesn’t mean, we are speculating crime. Why does the negative connotation of ‘introversion’ and positive of attribution of ‘extroversion’ exist? The question to the world is “why we create a world of expectation from a minority people who tend to be quiet?” Yes, why do we have to add noise to cacophony of disoriented clatters?  I have had this question being thrown at me many times “why you are so quiet?” The immediate reaction to it in my mind would be “why you are so loud?” To avoid hurting the questioner I would battle it out in my mind and find peace.  

We are created to be different, let’s celebrate difference. There are people who would like “a large tv, with WIFI in a lone island” Let’s not mock it. We don’t insult the people who would say the more the merrier. For some of us it is not merrier, that doesn’t mean that we are averse of people. Like any human being we love, honor and respect others. We are perfectly fine when we are with people and when we don’t want to be among the people. We are not going through depression when we are silent. It just we are running things in our mind and if we would need help we will find someone to sort it out.

Can an introvert become leader? Ask yourself “do you have these?” I believe to be a great leader you need two things 1. Compassion 2. Vision. Compassion would make you get deep into the problems people face. When you understand their issues and challenges, you make it a vision in your life to find solution to it. There is a part in the Holy Bible which describes what Jesus felt when He found people. “When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  We need leaders like this. Am I eliminating the need of humor in life? No! we need humor. Do we stop becoming a leader if we can’t crack a joke? No! When you are compassionate, you would crack up some joke to make someone smile.