Extroverted Vs Introverted

Does a leader have to be extroverted to succeed in driving innovation and change?

After reading an interesting article title "Leadership is not just for the extroverts" in Financial Times, I'm starting to reconsider my thoughts on the traits of an effective leader. According to this author, introverts can succeed and even surpass their extroverted counterparts depending on the dynamics of the team that they are managing. For instance, an extroverted leader will succeed in driving change and innovation if the group of people are passive and willing followers.
On the other hand, if the group is filled with pro-active members, people who are extroverted, it is best to have an introverted leader. What studies have shown is that proactive members tend to "butt" heads with their extroverted leaders, which results in those extroverted employees feeling under appreciated in return for their efforts. Intoverted leaders (i.e Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg) can provide a more positive environment for ideas to flow because they listen to their proactive members without criticizing or edging their idea's out of the big picture.

Even in college, this is extremely evident in group projects. With willing followers, it is easy for one extroverted individual to lead and oversee the completion of the project. Since I consider myself to be relatively extroverted, I always find these types of groups the easiest to deal with. And not surprisingly, those groups that have one or two proactive members can be very difficult to work with (especially if we end up having different project goals and underlying values)

The other day, I caught the last few minutes of "Vanilla Sky" and it really reminded me of brevity of life, and the choices that we make. In two quotes or less...

Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.

Everyone make mistakes, it's human nature to take a gamble and see where the dice fall. In my own life, I have made more life mistakes than I can count on my hands and toes. Despite it all, I've turned out alright. Nothing is set in stone, and everything can change - all it starts with is some motivation and discipline.

Most of us live our whole lives... without any real adventure to call our own

Life in itself is an adventure, but without direction and purpose - it falls short of expectations. This is a fact that I've been coming to terms with for a long time, in my life I have been lacking an intrinsic purpose, something that motivates me to get up every morning and be the best person I can be.