If American Culture was a personality type, what would it be?
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 10:27PM Hello all,
If you have ever visited a country that is not where you were been born and raised you probably noticed that the people there had different attitudes and customs than where you are from. It's interesting to ponder on why this may be and I personally find that it's an enlightening experience to travel because you can see the negative and positives about a new place and maybe add some of the positives into your own life. Plus, usually there is a plehtora of hot women in a new country, ;). I recently discovered a place that offers in depth profiles of various nations and their cultures. Below I am posting the review of American Culture.
Now keep in mind, this was mainly written from a business perspective but I think it speaks about the country in general and can shed light on the attitude of the people, the way they conduct life and their group personality. Of course each individual in the culture will have differences, but this gives insight into how the U.S. is perceived from the outside world.
Environment - Control / Harmony / Constraint
Control
U.S. Americans tend to have the attitude that they can control and manage their environment to meet their needs. They often see problems and look for solutions, rather than focusing on the obstacles that may inhibit them from overcoming challenges.
Examples and Variances:
U.S. managers usually try to control outcomes through project planning. Numerous contingencies may be taken into account in the planning process as managers attempt to control all possible outcomes, with the attitude of making the plan work “no matter what the world throws our way.”
Some younger generations of employees tend towards more harmony and constraint orientations as compared to their predecessors at work. Some managers have seen this phenomenon among younger employees through less interest in spearheading new initiatives with significant obstacles (a desire not to “rock the boat” or upset the norm), a greater reliance on government to care for their needs such as retirement and health, or in less of a sense of empowerment when working on tasks.
There is some influence from other cultures, with so much immigration in the United States. Harmony and constraint orientations are prevalent among many immigrant populations, but primarily among the first generations, with some residual influence on the generations that follow. Once immigrants adapt to the U.S. culture, they tend to take on more of a control orientation.
Time - Single-Focus / Multi-Focus
Single-Focus
U.S. Americans tend to be single-focused, with a desire to concentrate on one task at a time without interruptions. Although most U.S. American businesspeople face the need to multi-task and, in many jobs, perform multiple tasks simultaneously more often than focusing on one item, most U.S. Americans have a higher comfort level focusing on one item at a time.
Examples and Variances:
Most U.S. Americans prefer to focus on a task during a meeting without interruptions from cell phones or people outside the meeting. However, it is common to manage multiple projects simultaneously in different situations and industries.
Some managers see a shift towards multi-focus orientations among some of their constituents. In software development, people who have been processing multiple tasks on a regular basis for their entire careers have often adapted to and begin to thrive on multiple requirements running in parallel.
There also appears to be a transition from mere multitasking to a more multi-focus perspective with the younger generations. The emphasis on social networking with Web 2.0 technologies in U.S. society and keeping in touch with friends on a regular basis throughout the day, often on a minute-by-minute basis, has some among the younger generations thriving on these constant “interruptions,” which are perceived not as annoyances, but as welcome additions to their work.
Time - Fixed / Fluid
Fixed
U.S. Americans tend to expect meetings to start and stop at the time specified for the meeting. This fixed-time orientation can often be seen in time allocation for agenda items, dedicating time to items for a meeting. The pressure to be on time is often strong.
Examples and Variances:
When a project is due, it typically means that one will stay until late at night to finish the project to meet the deadline, rather than pushing the timeline back. U.S. Americans tend to find that it is important to clarify this point with international colleagues and establish an understanding or what expectations different cultures have. U.S. Americans will often put extensive efforts into defining the components of a project plan and may do anything possible to stay within the deadline, even if this means modifying the plan.
When discussing time allocation, U.S. Americans might even break time down into smaller increments than seen in a fluid culture (for example: 6 – 7 minutes versus 5 – 10 minutes).
There is some influence from fluid cultures that have immigrated to the United States, though these may be manifested more commonly at lower levels of organizations. Once people move up the corporate ladder, there is a tendency to adapt to the fixed time orientation prevalent in U.S. society at large.
Time - Past / Present / Future
Present
U.S. Americans tend to focus on short-term results and the demands of the current situation at hand.
Examples and Variances:
Most U.S. Americans tend to do what is necessary today, with the understanding that today's success, when added to previous short-term successes and supporting subsequent short-term successes, will define longer-term success. In the financial realm, this orientation is seen in a focus on quarterly earnings and short-term results to please stockholders.
Most U.S. managers in the corporate world may be acutely aware of their 401K retirement plans and saving for their children’s college education. The youngest generations also tend to be the most present-focused U.S. Americans, relying much less on past precedence to guide their behavior. Conversely, there are a small but increasing number of young workers focused on the environmental sustainability movement, which by nature is a future-oriented mindset.
Some research suggests that U.S. Americans acknowledge their present time orientation, yet would actually prefer to be more future oriented than they are.1
1 House, Robert J., Hanges, Paul J., Javidan, Mansour, Dorfman, Peter W., and Gupta, Vipin, Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage Publications, 2004. Despite the fact that U.S. Americans would prefer to be more future oriented, this desire is not as strong as in other countries. Most country managers surveyed in this study desired even greater levels of future orientation than did the U.S. managers surveyed. It should also be noted that this study polled only 188 middle to upper-middle level managers who were mostly white males working in three industries.
Action - Being / Doing
Doing
U.S. businesspeople tend to focus on tasks and outcomes. Though business relationships are essential among U.S. companies, they often are secondary to the task at hand.
Examples and Variances:
U.S. executives prefer to drive outcomes and tasks in a short period of time when conducting business in parts of the world. Business objectives may not specify establishing a strong relationship with counterparts, and desired outcomes may consequently fail in cultures that require a strong relationship as the foundation of trust to conduct business.
While the East Coast, and to a lesser extent the West Coast, might exhibit a strong doing orientation, one may see a mix of being and doing in the rest of the country. Introductory greetings in the South tend to reflect a more being orientation, with more discussion before getting down to business and a greater emphasis on establishing relationships up front than is seen in other parts of the country. To a much lesser extent, a stronger focus on relationships may also be seen in the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest. One also may see more of a focus on establishing relationships among many immigrant populations on both coasts and in the Southwest.
Social networking and Web 2.0 technologies have increased U.S. Americans’ focus on relationships through establishing and reinforcing their social and business networks. This heightened awareness seems to have a task-centered motivation for many U.S. Americans (i.e., networking for employment or business opportunities), but nevertheless may add an increased focus on relationships to the overall doing orientation. Multiple generations have been embracing this technology (28 percent of Facebook users are aged 35-54, with 25 percent between 24 and 34)2.
2 Kopytoff, Verne, Don’t Look Now Kids—your Folks are Facebook’s Biggest Fans, San Francisco Chronicle, July 8, 2009, p.1.
Communication - High Context / Low Context
Low Context
U.S. Americans tend to pay close attention to words, and focus less on the context of the situation and non-verbal behavior. They display a tendency for making their instructions and demands precise, possibly ignoring subtleties in communication that might imply a concept without clearly stating it.
Examples and Variances:
A manager in a U.S. business will give explicit expectations and instructions to her/his employees to highly detailed descriptions of a product or offer during a sales presentation. Similar examples can be seen in the detailed policies and procedures used in a company’s human resources or legal department.
High context orientations may be displayed in certain multiethnic communities, though the extent of this behavior tends to diminish with each subsequent generation born in the United States. Regionally, the South tends to exhibit more of a high context communication than other parts of the country.
Communication - Direct / Indirect
Direct
U.S. Americans are accustomed to facing conflict directly and are not as focused on saving face as they are on communicating clearly, directly, and addressing a problem or conflict “head on”. Strong discussions with conflicting sides are not typically taken personally.
Examples and Variances:
U.S. Americans tend to address issues openly and face-to-face to reach resolution, but they often do so in a way that minimizes the surface appearance of conflict and criticism by using polite language and qualifiers. This approach may allow them to seem slightly more indirect in their approach. In meetings, for example, debates are quite common as people disagree and challenge each other. This is usually done with a somewhat polite and reserved approach, but directly confronting an issue.
Some of this indirectness in the workplace stems from the human resource compliance laws found in the United States, forcing managers to approach conflict more cautiously due to the highly regulated environment in which they operate. This is especially evident between managers and employees, and more and more of this type of workplace consciousness is being seen across the United States. With an increasing focus on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, many U.S. business people have become quite cautious in their communication regarding minority and gender-related issues, leading to an indirect style of communication around this topic in many organizations.
With such a large immigrant population in the United States, there may also be a significant portion of the population that is more indirect. Many first generation immigrants may be less likely to offer their opinions, likes and dislikes, criticism, etc., as compared to people born in this country.
From a functional perspective, this predominantly direct orientation is also commonly adapted for certain business contexts, such as in customer relationships, where a more indirect approach to conflict is often used to maintain positive customer relations.
Communication - Expressive / Instrumental
Instrumental
U.S. Americans tend to use precise language, with more of a focus on what is to be communicated in a dispassionate, detailed, and factual way. With the exception of anger, emotions are infrequently expressed in the U.S. business context, and even anger may be veiled or filtered.
Examples and Variances:
Most U.S. businesspeople prefer data-driven and concise, bulleted presentations. The key goal for presentations but also in general is to communicate the points clearly and concisely, without too great a reliance on expressive language (such as the use of metaphors or other literary devices).
Regionally, the East Coast, and to a lesser extent the West Coast, tend to be more instrumental in their communication, whereas the South and Southwest tend to be more expressive communicators.3
From a business function perspective, marketing and sales people tend more towards expressive communication depending on their audience.
3 Andersen, Peter A., Lustig, Myron W., and Andersen, Janis F., Regional Patterns of Communication in the United States: A Theoretical Perspective, Communication Monographs, V. 54, June 1987, p.140-2.
Communication - Formal / Informal
Informal
In the majority of the United States, the population uses an informal communication style, dispensing with formal etiquette, protocol and language. This level of informality is not only expected, but tends to be encouraged in U.S. businesses at all levels of an organization.
Examples and Variances:
Though degrees and titles are often listed on business cards and email signatures, they are not heavily emphasized because it is believed that they create distance and can even impede the communication process.
There is less formality on West Coast, but higher levels of formality and protocol tend to be present on the East Coast. To an even larger extent, the South can have a quite formal communication style in certain situations and contexts.
Certain industries, such as financial and legal services tend to be more formal, whereas high technology centers in places like Silicon Valley in northern California or the Research Triangle in the South are much more informal.
Email communications also tend to be very informal regardless of the geographical location or industry.
Formality can be segmented along generational lines as well, with the traditionalists and baby boomers using more formal communication in both spoken and especially written language, as compared to the younger generations that use more slang and abbreviated speech. Older, more established companies with formal roots may put on a façade of informality to match the national norm.
Space - Private / Public
Private
U.S. Americans tend to display a private orientation to space, preferring less touching and greater distance when standing and conversing (typically an arm’s length), as well as greater privacy in sharing intimate details about oneself.
Examples and Variances:
Though most white-collar U.S. Americans in the country are subdivided into semi-private cubicles, and open work spaces and collaboration are often encouraged, most would gladly take a solitary office whenever they become available. Similarly, when seating themselves in meetings, participants will often choose to sit next to open seats, rather than adjacent to occupied seats.
This distance can even be accentuated between genders, as there is heightened sensitivity to gender-based concerns. U.S. Americans may ask for permission to touch colleagues of different genders to demonstrate something that they think requires physical contact.
U.S. Americans also knock on doors before going in, though this is often tied to levels of hierarchy within an organization. However, managers very often have an “open door policy” where employees can feel free to enter and discuss without knocking.
U.S. Americans can be quite open to talking about themselves even in the beginning of a relationship, but may only get to the more intimate parts of themselves with close personal friends and family. Similarly, it might take quite some time before one is invited into someone’s home for dinner. This makes sense given the transient nature of the population. The average U.S. American will have moved 11.7 times during their lifetime.4
In most areas, a greeting typically entails a hand shake, rather than a hug or a kiss. The South is an exception to this private orientation. Touching is more common in the South, with men and women hugging and kissing much more frequently than is seen in other parts of the country. Among men, a hand on the shoulder and a pat on the back are very commonly seen in the South.
4 US Census, http://www.census.gov/population/www/pop-profile/geomob.html.
Power - Hierarchy / Equality
Equality
U.S. Americans display an equality orientation toward power. Founded on ideals around equality, the United States has several businesses with flat structures and little micromanaging.
Examples and Variances:
As a country largely comprised of immigrants, many leaving undesirable conditions from social stratification in their own countries, the United States was founded on the ideal of equality for its citizens, though the application of this value has not been consistent for all groups over time. This value of equality may not have been reflected in the initial business structures in this country. Indeed, the first large U.S. businesses were highly hierarchical, as they were modeled after the military, the only large organization at the onset of the industrial revolution. Eventually, however, this core value of equality led business leaders to adapt a flatter structure to their organizations, converting into greater and greater equality. This trajectory is still evolving as U.S. managers desire much more equality than is actually seen in practice in their organizations, which may lead towards even flatter organizations over time.5
Employees tend to have great latitude to disagree with their manager, or even their manager’s boss, as open debate tends to be accepted and even encouraged in many organizations. In many U.S. companies, people at all levels of the organization can talk with senior level managers all the way up to the CEO, and senior executives often invite such dialog on a first name basis. Though there are very wide disparities in the compensation that different levels receive within U.S. companies, people tend to treat each other as social equals, and it is not common for people to make reference to their economic status or position.
Hierarchy is experienced in different ways at various levels in an organization. Manual laborers often feel great distance between themselves and people higher up in the hierarchical chain of command. Some middle managers have observed that some senior level executives exhibit a sense of superiority, even refusing to meet with those in lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. However, the overall norm in this country is for less hierarchy in the workplace relative to other parts of the world.
From a geographical perspective, the East Coast tends to be more class conscious in general, and this translates into greater levels of organizational hierarchy than is found in other parts of the country. It has often been surmised that the “laid-back” atmosphere of the West Coast tends towards less hierarchy, but this is not the experience of people doing business there, who find the hierarchy to be just as evident as on the East Coast. Some managers find that a very strong “old boys” network (i.e., where much of the power resides among men at the top and it requires close relationships with them to break into a position) still exists in some organizations in the South, and that this network is stronger in the South than in other parts of the country. Others, however, report that this same phenomenon exists throughout the United States and is not significantly different from the South. This situation has diminished over time.
5 Chhokar, Jagdeep S., Brodbeck, Felix C., and House, Robert J., eds., Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates Publishers, 2007, p.499.
Individualism - Individualistic / Collectivistic
Individualistic
U.S. businesses tend to value and reward individual accomplishments over collective, or group behavior. Even though work is conducted extensively in teams in this country, the expectations and rewards are geared towards the performance of individuals in these teams, rather than the collective accomplishments.
Examples and Variances:
Product teams work very closely, with largely overlapping assignments, but divisions of labor among team participants are consciously allocated and assessed through post-program evaluations. Individuals often rate their own performance on a team, and receive 360° feedback from others on the team. On sales teams, compensation and promotion are often tied to these individual evaluations from team members.
Among international managers polled, the U.S. managers had among the strongest desires for greater individualism. These managers felt their institutions are overly collectivistic. Conversely, they would actually prefer to have more collectivism in their communities and social groups.6
Certain regions in the United States have greater levels of affiliation with their community and work groups. New England tends to have more closed, tightly knit communities than other parts of the country, stronger ties to their inner circle, and higher collectivism with their close group, but this is not as evident in big cities like Boston, or technology centers where major businesses operate. Conversely, the mid-Atlantic region just south of New England has the lowest levels of affiliation in the country. Collectivism is more apparent in the South and in the Midwest. In contrast, the Pacific Coast has the highest level of isolation of any of the regions, citing the least familiarity with neighbors and the least contact with close confidants.7
6 House, Robert J., Hanges, Paul J., Javidan, Mansour, Dorfman, Peter W., and Gupta, Vipin, Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage Publications, 2004.
7 Andersen, p.140-2, and confirmed with several of the primary interviews conducted.
Individualism - Universalistic / Particularistic
Universalistic
In general, U.S. businesses emphasize an equal application of policies and rules, regardless of one’s position, performance or other factors.
Examples and Variances:
People in the U.S. business world feel that the expression “nobody is above the law” applies to corporate human resources policies as well. Historically, the United States was founded on the concept that all are created equal, and that laws should apply evenly to everyone, a universalistic attribute that translates to U.S. business values as well.
Very close attention is paid to policies and laws such as Equal Employment Opportunity and other hiring practices that ensure everyone is granted the same opportunities for employment.
Different treatment and application of rules occurs in certain organizations. In more hierarchical companies, senior executives might opt for particular treatment based on their status, but this type of practice is the exception rather than the rule.
Competitiveness - Competitive / Cooperative
Competitive
At work, U.S. Americans often compete to show who is best at what they do, not only for personal gratification, but also for organizational rewards including acknowledgment, remuneration and promotion.
Examples and Variances:
The culture of the United States reinforces and rewards the notion of success through superlative performance and achievement, and material acquisition for one’s efforts. This competitive spirit can be seen in the reward structure established for the highest performing individuals in an organization. Companies have incentive programs for the top achievers who stand out from the rest of the organization due to their high performance. Individuals compete for these rewards with great efforts. Business units in the same company will often compete fiercely with each other to prove their superiority.
There is extensive cooperation in the team culture that drives U.S. business. Yet teams in themselves tend to compete against other teams, and even the team members will often strive to stand out and shine as compared to their team members.
Structure - Order / Flexibility
Flexibility
U.S. Americans are used to a well-structured environment, but they prefer to have the ability to deviate from a plan or approach, based on changing business needs. A core value in the United States is flexibility with the freedom to innovate, and change, and not be overly constrained by rigid structures.
Examples and Variances:
Quality systems in United States corporations have historically been implemented to provide structure, rules and ordered processes to enable scalability and quick responses to business demands. Yet these systems are created to allow for flexibility and deviations, emphasizing the benefits of experimentation in one’s work processes. That flexibility changes existing systems and is documented to become part of the new, ordered process that will likely get improved upon with later iterations. This culture of continuous improvement based on flexibility permeates much of the United States.
Flexible work arrangements have been desired and offered for several years, showing a true desire for greater flexibility. Many U.S. businesspeople have found that these programs show flexibility in spirit, but not necessarily in practice.
Some have seen more flexibility in smaller companies where people need to be nimble to meet dynamic customer demands and versatile work requirements. Once companies grow, however, more order is found throughout an organization according to many corporate managers. There is also greater flexibility in technology industries as the rapidly changing market and environment demand greater flexibility and innovation.
Some research suggests that U.S. managers rely on order to alleviate uncertainty at work. Yet of the many countries in this research, the U.S. managers were in the top quartile of those polled who sought “fewer rules, regulations and restrictions.”8
8 House, Robert J., Hanges, Paul J., Javidan, Mansour, Dorfman, Peter W., and Gupta, Vipin, Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage Publications, 2004.
Thinking - Deductive / Inductive
Inductive
U.S. Americans prefer a practical, “hands-on” approach to learning and processing information. Theoretical frameworks and intellectual concepts that are not grounded in practical application are often questioned.
Examples and Variances:
A common way to present a project is to base an explanation on one’s own experience in the development process. This explanation focuses on the way that someone took to arrive at an end result, rather than presenting the theoretical underpinnings of that development. Similarly, it is very common in presentations for someone in the audience to request an example if one is not given. Most people in the United States will typically make better sense of the concept through an understanding of its practical application.
There are functional exceptions to this inductive orientation. Many U.S. American scientists and theorists are highly deductive thinkers, which facilitates the work that they do.
Thinking - Linear / Systemic
Linear
U.S. Americans tend to process information in a linear fashion. There is a general tendency in the country to favor a focus on individual components, rather than the interrelationships of these components and the larger picture perspective.
Examples and Variances:
In meetings, U.S. Americans tend to follow an agenda point by point, with little deviation from the order on the agenda if possible. This is also seen in the way presentations are organized, starting with the main topic, and moving on to sub-topics in a step by step fashion, minimizing deviations from the structure. Similar approaches are seen with the implementation of tasks.
In the USA, the tendency is to specialize in specific areas, indicative of this linear mindset, rather than a systemic degree that focuses on a specific field of study.
High-level positions in the United States require a broad perspective of an organization and the ability to see interdependencies of multiple business units, functional areas and stakeholders. These types of jobs often attract senior executives who are systemic thinkers. A similar need for systemic thinking can be found in project management. As many people in this country are linear thinkers, there is a risk that projects may not take the whole system impact and component dependencies into consideration, so project managers are often employed to plan and run projects with a more systemic perspective.
SUMMARY: In my own experience I believe the U.S. culture most closely resembles an ENTJ. It is time oriented and control oriented, which seems to match a J. It is loud and values extroversion, see Hollywood. It is direct and confrontational(T) compared to a lot of the world, think Asia. Finally, it is very technologically and innovation driven which are more Intuitive hemispheres in my opinion.
On a side note, as one who has lived in Latin America, I believe Latin American Culture would be most closely aligned to an ESFP personality. Very passionate, warm, fun loving, free spirted and in the moment.
Ok, now back to the summary of the review of American Culture. The above personality profile of the U.S. certaintly gives contradicting messages about what personalty type would best fit the U.S. While it states the U.S. culture(to be specific business culture) is very precise in regards to time and that American Managers like to control all aspects of a project(seemingly J) then it later states that the U.S. has an orientation to flexibility and being able to deviate from plan which seems totally P.
Additionally, it is mentioned that American culture is focused on short term results which makes sense given our government's current financial condition. Then it goes on to state that instructions should be given in a literal manner in the business environment. The above two mentioned facts seem to point to an S, sensing orientation. But going back to the flexibilty description given, it stated how America is encouraged to exploring systems and trying out new methods to encourage innovation. Additionally, the ability to disagree with authority is encouraged, typically N are types more likely to go againt the tried and true method or the authorities for that matter.
I do think it's fairly clear that American culture is portrayed as more T focused as it is direct in communication style. More focus is placed on facts than the emotion behind what is being said. Also, the business environment focus is more on competition than cooperation.
Finally, I do think this profile tends to portray American culture as more introverted with individualism being high and space being more private than public. I personally however believe American culture more accurately reflects an E tendency as our culture and television programs glorify the extrovert and I often notice the general volume of the people being more extroverted.
What do you all think? Please chime in.
Reader Comments (3)
Such as, US culture being Introverted and individualistic, and yet mainstream pop culture glorifies Extraverts and a more socialistic mindset. Etc.
One thing I have to remark right off though is that you nailed Latin America - very ESFP "overall", although it differs between the city and the rural areas, and I think even more in the war-torn areas like in Guatemala or Nicaragua. You get a lot more Introversion in that respect I think. But still very _SFP.
It'll be interesting to read this again more in depth and look at the US - I bet it gives a lot of answers as to why the US is crumbling.
Just like a person who goes insane because they can't survive living a contradiction, I bet the US culture is a typology contradiction.
Over and over again in the profile the south is portrayed as warmer and more extroverted, hence more E and more F.* When they say the south I think they are referring to the deep south, which is really the southeast of the country, excluding Florida which is basically latino.
Also, over and over again the east coast is portrayed as less friendly and less warm, hece more I and more T. When they say the east coast I think they mean the big cities such as New York, Boston, Philly, Washington D.C. and the New Jersey area.
This kind of ties into what Josh was saying about how war torn Latin American countries such as Nicaragua and Guatemala tend to be more I(introverted), but they still fit into the overall personality of LatinAmerica which is SFP. Likewise, all of the areas of the U.S. reflect American culture, but there are definite differences. Back to Latin America, one exception to a war torn country being introverted is Colombia. It seems clearly extroverted yet it has had an ongoing internal conflict in the country for years due to the guerilla groups.
I do think culture affects the personalities of the figures we look at in the brain typology sites. After all culture is a big part of nurture. Foreign born athletes like Dirk Nowitzki may lack the killer competitive edge that feels natural for a U.S. born athlete where being competitive is strongly encouraged. Or likewise, you'll notice in MMA that Brazilian teammates who come from a culture that more higly values collectivism tend to be less likely to fight against each other where maybe that would occur easier between U.S. born athletes who have a higher individualism orientation because of their culture.
This is interesting stuff for sure.
In a nutshell, I think American society values an E__J culture the most in the workplace, but the media and entertainment industries value E__P types the most. Regardless, extroverts dominate either way because approximately four of every five people are extroverts. Stats that claim extroversion and introversion are evenly split just make me want to pull my hair - if only some of these people could try living as a REAL introvert in American society for over 20 years as I have, and be subject to the endless frustrations of being told to do things contrary to my nature almost every day. There are so many people who claim to be introverts, or claim others are introverted, who aren't even close to being such if they would just assess themselves or others more realistically. Additionally, isolated statements about being 'nervous' or 'shy' when speaking in public are not good bases for judging introversion in and of themselves, especially when said people contradict themselves and pop off at the mouth or do about seven different things comfortably all at once right after they claim to be "reserved" and "lower energy" (it amuses me how often extroverts comment that they are "tired" and then proceed to talk at a rapid pace for about 20 more minutes!)
Anyway, interesting article, but I disagree strongly with the singular focus aspect. America is an ***EXTREME*** multi-tasking culture in the modern age. Tradition may dictate we turn off cell phones and such in a workplace, but I was fired in my last job because I couldn't multi-task quickly, and I quit my first job for the same reason - no time and space to reflect and concentrate! It was maddening. Every common clerical and service job demands, dictates, and absolutely requires multi-tasking in all basic operations. When I had trouble with it and wanted to do one thing at a time, the possibility of Asperger Syndrome was broached, so entrenched is American culture in its seemingly never-ending energetic multi-tasking! This is an age where you must do several things at the same time, like send text messages while answering the phone at work while typing up a business letter while talking to your supervisor all at once, and if you can't do that, then screw you, you aren't going to survive in the modern day working world (I am not doing anything else while slowly writing up this response, incidentally).
Higher education is one of the few places where I genuinely feel fairly comfortable. It is also one of the few areas in Western society that truly tolerates TRUE introversion, especially in the intuitive realm. Reflection, abstraction, and analysis are usually greatly rewarded, and constant busy action is not an absolute necessity. In fact, that is why I laugh when people think schools "socialize" people more than any other institution; you can actually do wonderfully in school with very little social effort. Ask almost any INFJ or INTJ who has applied himself or herself in college while drawing little social attention. We may not win the glamor shots or get many friends, but professors love us.