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Hiding in the Bathroom
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Hiding in the Bathroom

An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home)

Morra Aarons-Mele
Dey Street, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Gary Vaynerchuk’s fun, educational Internet posts featuring exuberant online presentations turned his family’s wine store into a huge commercial success. But is his extreme extroversion the only viable blueprint for entrepreneurial success? Extreme introvert and business owner Morra Aarons-Mele says no. She teaches introverts how to transform their anxiety into a powerful business asset. She offers strategies that can help an introvert work through a business day successfully. She refers to these techniques under the rubric of “hiding in the bathroom,” and advises that a little hiding can help introverts engage with the world and interact without anxiety. getAbstract recommends Aarons-Mele’s thoughtful approach to introverts hiding in bathrooms everywhere. You can come out now.

Summary

Superstar Extroverts

Common wisdom says business success requires getting out in public and staying there. You must do deals. You must network and press the flesh. You must eat lunch every day with someone important. You must speak at seminars and conferences. The same common wisdom says that the people who get ahead have brilliant personalities and megawatt smiles. As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg famously advised, they “lean in.” They seldom sleep. They exhibit admirable “grit.” They are extroversion superstars.

But the common wisdom is wrong. Interviews with successful corporate leaders and entrepreneurs indicate something considerably different. They say there’s another way to go and that many of the activities supposedly required for business success aren’t essential at all. 

The Introvert Challenge

The founder of a biotech firm that benefited from Series A financing says that when she attends conferences, she goes off by herself because she’s so uneasy and “usually…crying.” Another tech firm leader, a former Wall Street banker, has to “take beta-blockers for public speaking.”

Author and entrepreneur Morra...

About the Author

Morra Aarons-Mele founded and leads Women Online, an award-winning digital marketing agency focusing on mobilizing women.

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