{"id":25218,"date":"2019-05-24T10:03:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T14:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smps.org\/?p=25218"},"modified":"2023-06-20T12:09:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T12:09:28","slug":"can-an-introvert-succeed-at-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smps.org\/2019\/05\/24\/can-an-introvert-succeed-at-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an Introvert Succeed at BD?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-25221 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/SMP311-MQLIntrovertSucceed-1280x570-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"570\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve heard me speak or have read my previous articles, you know that I\u2019m a strong proponent of building a firmwide culture of business development (BD) by having everyone contribute in ways that are consistent with their career juncture, functional role, and BD acumen. It\u2019s been my experience over my 27 years in the A\/E\/C and environmental consulting industries that growing your BD skills means growing your career\u2014and your firm.<\/p>\n<p>Yet one of the most common questions that comes up is: \u201cThat sounds good, but what if you\u2019re an introvert?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that many A\/E\/C professionals, especially engineers and environmental scientists, are introverts by nature. At a recent class I taught for the Massachusetts chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), 66 percent of the room identified themselves as such. While this group was there to learn BD skills, many introverted professionals feel reluctant or uncomfortable about taking on this role.<\/p>\n<p>Firm leaders can be just as reluctant to put introverts into this role, focusing their efforts on more extroverted staff. In a <em>USA<\/em> <em>Today <\/em>poll, 65 percent of executives across all industries viewed introversion as a barrier to moving up the ladder.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a view that can limit their firm\u2019s growth, limit the professional growth of their employees, and quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n<p>Introverts (and those who manage them), take heart. You really can learn to be more comfortable with\u2014and even enjoy\u2014BD activities. And you can become proficient without the pressure to be someone you\u2019re not. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Can-an-Introvert-Succeed-at-BD_Marketer-October-2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25220 noopener noreferrer\">Download<\/a> the full article to read more.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This article, written by Rich Friedman, first appeared in the October 2018 issue of Marketer. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve heard me speak or have read my previous articles, you know that I\u2019m a strong proponent of building a firmwide culture of business development (BD) by having everyone contribute in ways that are consistent with their career juncture, functional role, and BD acumen. It\u2019s been my experience over my 27 years in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,35],"tags":[109,86,110,111,112],"class_list":["post-25218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-development","category-marketer","tag-bd","tag-business-development","tag-friedman","tag-introvert","tag-succeed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42629,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25218\/revisions\/42629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}