I have been thinking about the problem I mentioned yesterday. According to Susan Cain people with high risk tolerance, who also were highly talkative and social, came to dominate the financial industry. I can imagine that they repeated over and over again to each other that real estate prices were going to keep going up and up. Their sociability and loquaciousness reenforced the belief.
At the same time, there were people around who advised caution. But these people were not heeded. According to what business executive Jack Welch told Cain, the extroverts would ask why those advising caution, who tended to be more introverted, were so silent.
It occurs to me that we may have here a Cool Hand Luke failure to communicate situation.
There is an old cowboy adage that goes, “When enough’s been said, quit sayin’ it.” Extraverts and introverts probably disagree about when enough’s been said. I know that I hate repeating myself. I used to hate it with a passion. But over years of learning to communicate, I found that a lot of people need you to repeat an idea over and over. Maybe they think if you just say it once, it isn’t very important.
So if introverted people remain true to their tendency to be taciturn, extroverts hear that as silence.
Why didn’t you say something?
I did.
Well, I don’t remember. What I remember is a whole bunch of people saying the opposite.
At least I don’t have to worry about this when I pray. “When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:10 NET Bible).
Yet Jesus did tell about the man who knocked on his neighbor’s door at midnight (Luke 11:5-8). Perhaps this is a how-much-more story. If your extraverted friend will pound on your door at midnight and you will respond, then how much more will God respond to even quiet requests.
Anyway when communicating to non-divine persons, you might want to remember that repeating yourself over and over may nauseate you but help them to finally hear you.
