Thanks for your contribution to the post and moving this conversation forward.

As I read your reply, my reaction was “wow”, finally instead of introverts being overlooked, your team (which seems is made up of bunch of extroverts) clearly has come to recognize and appreciate your introverted nature . What a great place to be. What a blessing.

Just by the fact that after everyone has spoken they then turn to you conveys to me they have come to realize your thoughtfulness and the immense value you provide. I have too often seen, as well as have personally experienced, the complete opposite where extroverted meeting participants simply overlook the introverts, and sometimes unfairly passing judgements such as “he doen’t seem to be with the program”, “has he checked out?”, “he just doesn’t have the energy”, and so on.

As for your feeling put on the spot and feeling the pressure to respond, perhaps you can respond as follows:

“Thanks gang for asking for my input. While I would like some add’l time to process what all I heard, I am happy to share my initial reactions & thoughts. And then once I have processed the information fully, I’ll then send out an email providing a more thoughtout reply.

By this type of a response, you would have given them some initial suggestions & thougths as well as have set the stage where they will be expecting your more thoughtout response. Perhaps this will take the pressure off that you feel by having to respond quickly, knowing you’ll be sending a follow-up email to the group.

As for being “harsh on extroverts”, curious what you mean here, i.e. what do you feel, think and how does this show up for you? Hoping you’ll share. Thanks in advance E.B.

As much thought as I have given to my introversion, though, I also start to wonder if we are too harsh on extroverts sometimes.