Make this the decade you sharpen your edge

As I read Mark Jaffe's bnet.com column today, I was both inspired and intrigued.  He asks "so what was that decade about anyway?" http://www.bnet.com/blog/executive-recruiting/so-what-was-that-decade-about-anyway/400, adding,

"To a certain degree, individuals and cultures are defined by what they rebel against, hide from or try to avoid. Maybe creativity itself goes through a hibernation period, notably characterized by bad haircuts and lame music."

Like silicone hair products and synthetic music, the job market has become a highly contrived and science based system.  More than ever before, certainly moreso now than say, in 1998,  job seekers need to be tech-savvy AND they need to have the so-called soft skills.  It's not enough to be 'nice and likeable' in this competitive job market.  Employers and hiring managers are demanding that candidates possess formidable social skills.  They want to be influenced by the candidate's social skills -- their ability to represent the company whether they are answering the phone or answering a client's query.   

I've written about the tendency of extroverts/extrovert-biased people to project extrovert norms onto introvert actions -- to subscribe motivation where there may be none and to mistake silence for a lack of confidence, ability and talent. 

I often wonder, why do we as a culture hide from and try to avoid introverted-ness to such a degree? 

The fact that North American culture doesn't generally reward introverts for being introverted, nor do we as a culture celebrate introvert norms isn't unique to this decade.  I'm not going to go so far as to claim that it's uniquely a bias in this particular job market either.  What IS unique and specific to this decade, is the extent to which extrovert bias dominates professional culture and the job market.  It's a competitive world out there and any edge you can give yourself makes you more competitive.

I've been reading and re-reading a few good books that I'll recommend as definite edge-sharpeners:

Book List: Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, Sian Beilock's, Choke, John Lucht's, Rites of Passage and Jonathan Mooney's Learning Outside the Lines.