The Introverted Manager‘s Guide to Small Talk

Don’t cringe. You can do it.

It was the kind of question introverts hate answering.

We were on vacation with a couple of other families, and the six of us adults were hanging out by the pool, chatting and doing our best to keep our boys from drowning each other.

Chatting. Ugh.

My wife had already warned me weeks before. “You know, this won’t be a normal vacation. We’re not going to be able to do what we normally do.”

As introverts, for us:
“Normal vacation” = Quiet time on a secluded beach.
“What we normally do” = Read. Take quiet walks. Spend time alone.

She was right, of course. Even though she has a preference for introversion, she still has some social intelligence. More than me, anyway. Hence the warning. We were going to need to interact. Either that, or come across in a way that wouldn’t get us invited back. Our kids were going to love this trip with their friends, and would hope for more.

And that’s when it happened. The topic of conversation was music. David, probably the biggest extrovert in the group, turned to me.

“So what kind of music do you like?”