Summary of Hiding in the Bathroom

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...