3 Things Every Socially Shy Gaming Introvert Needs to do to Continuously Create Rich Opportunities
What I'm Up To (My Own Rituals), What I Reflected On (Introvert Advice), and What's Occupying My Mind (Auditors)- all part of Allen's Friday Flights
Hello Professionally Curious One!
Happy SVB SILICON SIGNATURE PI ST PATTY Friday!
Cheers,
Allen
Past Publications
What I’m Up To
TL;DR: My Own Rituals
The Things:
As of today, I ran 2023 miles.
Over 4000 followers on LinkedIn! And 400 subscribers of this newsletter! Thank you all, I promise to give you world class content.
I survived The Triple S Bank Collapse of 2023 (Silver, Silicon, & Signature). What did I do? Nothing.
Also shoutout to Mercury Bank. Thanks Mark!
Speaking of banks, one of my other banks accidentally increased my interest rate on my loan; annoying but a call fixed that.
…and 30 days later, overdrafted an inactive account that’s no longer used. I’d extinguish said loan if it wasn’t such a ridiculously low interest to begin with.
Mezcal + TJ’s Sparkling Apple Cider Vinegar = Easiest cocktail for a Monday
The Last of Us HBO Series ended and I honestly think the finale was too damn short.
…but a rebinge of Andor, and watching the current season of the Mandolorian and the Bad Batch and soon Ted Lasso can keep me going.
I hosted a talk for introverts. Yes it was some extrovert’s idea.
If I could create an investable stock fund, I would focus on investing in distressed companies that appoint women to lead them out of crisis.
Yellow Chili is some unexpectedly great Indian food.
I waited forever for Taro Paste Boba from CHICHA San Chen in San Gabriel and it was solid.
The Most Magical Album On Earth (Thanks Mike!)
What I Reflected On
TL;DR: Change the conditions, contribute to others, and take care of yourself.
3 Things Every Socially Shy Gaming Introvert Needs to do to Continuously Create Rich Opportunities
A lot of professional development advice given around how to “grow my network” doesn’t work for me.
It was usually about “just show up to big social events” and “ask better questions” and “go network at the big career fair”.
I low-key think it’s because an extrovert tries to make introverts into extroverts, and sends them to extrovert events.
So here are my 3 things every socially shy gaming introvert needs to do to continuously create rich opportunities
Change the Conditions
Contribute to Others
Take Care of Yourself
Change the Conditions
Under what conditions does the best professional you come out? Mines not at career fairs, thats for sure. If you are finding that people can’t see the best in you, it might be because the environment prohibits them from having clarity in seeing you.
Change the Environment - I’m terrible at big conference like events and career fairs such as Meet the Firms. Having a stack of business cards? Don’t know what do with it. But you know what I’m decent at? Coffee chats, workshops, and interactive events.
Example: Don’t go asking for in-person 1 on 1s with people. Instead of a face to face, send LinkedIn DMs or Emails about a specific problem you have and you want their advice on it. Then layer in harder ones, even more complicated ones - theres potential to convert the email conversation into a 1 on 1 dialogue because it’s easier to communicate. Congratulations, you changed the environment (actually it changed twice in this one)Change the Context - Finding it hard to engage people at a career fair? Instead of the angle of looking for a job, try to approach it from the angle of collaboration and partnership.
Example: It’s an alumni of your school - find ways to get feedback from them on what they think could be better about XYZ, and how and why they would do things differently. Volley your thoughts and concerns, or even find ways to joint collaborate with them. Congratulations context changed.
Fun fact, I got rejected 7 times by employers in my junior semester from career fair events; However the following year, through deep collaboration & partnership with alumni, I received 2 full time offers with companies that didn’t have a presence on campus.
Post college, I got my current income making opportunities not through interviews, but because of how much I post on LinkedIn and through my newsletter.
Contribute to Others
Find ways to solve the human pain points, one small group at a time.
Your Style - When you suggest ways to help, or think of how you would make the world a better place, from what angle do you normally suggest things from?
There are 4 ways to contribute to others - whether its an individual, a group, or company: People, Process, Policy, and Technology (Platform for you 4P purists). Do we think of ways to optimizing things? Streamline processes? Engage and build trust with people? Big strokes of the pen? Know your style.Your Groupings - You can’t help everyone all at once. You need to group people into their most granular niche, and help each niche one at a time. Whether you are a leader, or an individual, you have to focus on people as individual niches. Just make sure to rotate through the niches.
Example: In the context of my old college…"Should you prioritize your focus in Community College 1st Year Transfers who have a far commute, or should you focus on first generation college students from blue collar families?”
Sidenote: Are you an individualist, or collectivist?Your Blindspots - Remember your style, and your groupings above? Get feedback on it with others and see where your blindspots are. You may communicate in process, but they may communicate in policy. You both are not wrong; you simply are miscommunication. Once you figure that part out (hint: figure out their context), you’ll then see what your blindspots are.
But what if I’m shy? You can be shy, but if your goal is to help someone else, help someone avoid hardship, pain, or your mistakes, you’ll stop being shy for the moment.
Take Care of Yourself
Your Energy is the most important thing, and it’s not something you can contain to a 24 hour calendar. Instead, think of it this way: When do you have your best thinking energy? Best conquer the world energy? Best party/social energy? What do you do to trigger it?
When do you seek solitude? How do you recharge? What drains you so much that the next thing can’t keep your focus?
Bonus: On your hardest days, what rituals do you normally do, or normally give up, to make the day happen? Do you give up exercising on your hard days, even though exercising is like your coffee and helps you get through it?Identity Capital - above all else, a lot of advice out there may come off as “you need to change who you are” and “Grow out of you”. I have found that line of thinking, whether implicit or explicit, isn’t doing me favors. So instead I approach it this way:
Every experience or identity you pick up is an addition to who you are, not an erasure. This includes video games. I don’t hide my video game identity, I ride that. And yesterday, I was in a business call with several gentlemen in the crypto space, CEOs and dev leaders of their companies, and half of us played video games - and it is because we play video games we thought blockchain is easier for us to understand.
Recap
Change the Conditions
Contribute to Others
Take Care of Yourself
If these don’t work and you give up, you can always have an extrovert adopt you. That’s what I did.
Happy Friday!
What’s On My Mind
TL;DR: The Audit Profession
Both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank closed this past weekend, triggering 2008 let collapse fears. I won’t get into the details of those banks.
Those banks were audited by KPMG, whom issued clean opinions to those two banks.
There was some twitter chatter and enough negativity publicity against KPMG that KPMG had to issue a statement that they stood behind their audits.
I find the backlash against KPMG to be unfounded, especially considering how market driven the events were.
And you know what?
As an auditor,
if you do everything right,
people are going to be really pissed anyway.
If you hire an auditor, and you know your company needs improvement or you don’t feel its transparent enough, and your auditor doesn’t find anything - are they a good auditor?
I suppose, it depends on what your goal is.
I really liked this post. My son, the introvert, is mid carreer change. I'm going to share this with him.
Great stuff here, as always, but this one especially hit nicely for me!