In today's rapidly evolving world, leadership requires a nuanced and adaptable approach. 'We Are All Ambiverts Now' offers a compelling and insightful exploration of the diverse personality styles that contribute to effective leadership, particularly at the C-suite level. As CEO of the Air France KLM Group, I've seen firsthand the power of balanced leadership, where individuals can leverage both introverted and extroverted strengths to navigate complex challenges and foster collaboration. This book provides valuable insights for anyone seeking to understand and cultivate the crucial balance needed to succeed in today's dynamic business environment. It's a must-read for current and aspiring leaders alike.
Ben Smith, CEO Air France-KLM
Karl and Gabby have written a book that most senior leaders will find highly instructive. Anyone who chairs several meetings and shakes multiple hands a day, and answers emails in their downtime will be familiar with the dilemmas they outline in their book. I found the insights, gleaned from their interviews with hundreds of senior leaders, highly thought provoking. In an age where the boundary between the ‘real world’ and the virtual one is getting increasingly blurry, with social media a major consideration for most leaders, striking a balance between introversion and extrovert behaviour is more important than ever. This book is guaranteed to help.
Kamal Munir, Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Strategy and Policy
The authors’ thorough and clear depiction of introverts, extroverts, and those in between shine light on the increasing relevance of flexibility and awareness in strong leaders, both in the corporate world and beyond.
Soumitra Dutta, Peter Moores Dean and Professor of Management, Saïd Business School
With grounding in research from Jungian psychology to biochemistry, Maslow to Adam Grant, Kennedy to Clinton — Dr. Moore teaches us that like most things, introversion and extroversion are not black and white but a gradient of color that can add light and dimension to leadership. As versatile as the ambidextrous are with their hands, the ambivert leader is with divergent strengths from listening to allocution. Moore explains that by meeting people where they are, you can get them to go where they need to be. He gives practical guidance to build trust, more productive teams, and the authenticity to excel in an evolving landscape.
Cathy Carlisi Managing Director, President Emeritus BCG BrightHouse
"We Are All Ambiverts Now" by Karl Moore and Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl is a groundbreaking guide that redefines leadership in today’s diverse corporate landscape. Drawing from over 750 interviews with C-suite executives, the authors challenge the traditional belief that leaders must be exclusively extroverted or introverted. Instead, they champion the power of ambiverts—leaders who effortlessly balance both traits.
As a Founder and CEO, I’ve found their strategies instrumental in harmonizing the dynamic between extroverted sales teams and introverted engineering minds, proving that ambiversion is indeed the future of leadership. Chapter 6, “The Introspective Extrovert,” resonates deeply, highlighting the seamless blend of social prowess and thoughtful introspection essential for effective leadership.
For any leader aiming to build balanced, empowered, and resilient teams, "We Are All Ambiverts Now" is an indispensable resource. It offers a fresh perspective and practical insights that make it essential reading for fostering effective and inclusive leadership.
Daniel Saks, Co-Founder of AppDirect & Landbase, Silicon Valley, USA
Every aspiring leader should read this book. As the world changes around us, ambiverts will thrive. This book will give you hope that you can adapt your leadership style, build self-awareness, and succeed."
Asheesh Advani, CEO, Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide
Everyone can learn something from this book!!
Daniel Lamarre, Executive Vice-Chairman, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group
In today’s fast-changing world, high quality leadership is more important than ever. In this fascinating book, Karl Moore and Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl open up the notion of the ambivert leader – someone who is able to adapt to their changing circumstances. The book has fascinating examples of business and political leaders who have mastered the ambivert style, and they offer great advice to all of us, as we seek to become better leaders ourselves
Julian Birkinshaw, Dean, Ivey Business School
While the world in 2025 remains under the shadow of the VUCA era, Dr. Karl Moore's new book offers a silver lining. As stated in the book, in the face of a turbulent world, leaders must adapt their personality types flexibly and adopt a more inclusive approach.
This idea resonates with the Yijing, an ancient Chinese classic. According to the Yijing, the nature of the universe lies in the balance of Yin and Yang. Yang represents extroversion—activeness and progressiveness, while Yin represents introversion—cautiousness and thoughtfulness. Successful leadership is best exemplified by the dynamic balance between Yin and Yang. Featuring thought-provoking philosophies and compelling case studies, We Are All Ambiverts No offers valuable insights to businesses and societies worldwide.
Noah Xie, Chairman of Kmind Consulting
Professor Karl Moore’s and Gabby’s book provides us with vivid, actual examples of why it is beneficial for organizations to nurture diversity. One of the more important benefits of diversity is diversity of thoughts and psychological processing,
As this diversity enables organizations to navigate fast changing environments and achieve superior performance. Introverts and extroverts, and all the various combinations of these two black-and-white conceptualizations, are eloquent examples of this type of diversity.
Quy Huy, INSEAD Professor of Strategy, The Solvay Chaired Professor of Technological Innovation
As a dominant left-hander, my trainer is always working to balance my lopsided strength. The same is equally true for personality types. Moore and Hartshorne-Mehl’s decades of extensive research shows how introverted leaders can benefit from sometimes acting like more of an extrovert, and that extroverts have much to learn from introverts, too. These insights will help me become a better parent and teacher: I’m not ambivalent about becoming more of an ambivert.
Barry Nalebuff, Milton Steinbach Professor, Yale School of Management and cofounder, Honest Tea
Effective leaders adapt so they can bring their talents and passions to bear on mobilizing people toward their vision of a better tomorrow. Using a wealth of evidence from compelling case studies, Moore and Hartshorne-Mehl demonstrate how to navigate the leadership journey by knowing yourself and by learning continually, throughout your life, how to align your values with those of your most important people at work, at home, and in their communities.
Stew Friedman, Author of Total Leadership and Emeritus Professor of Management Practice, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
In today’s dynamic business landscape, the traditional categories of introverts, ambiverts, and extroverts are evolving, and so must our understanding of leadership. “We Are All Ambiverts Now: Introverts, Ambiverts, and Extroverts in the C-Suite” by Karl Moore and Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl explores the nuances of personality within the leadership hierarchy, revealing how embracing our diverse traits can foster more innovative, inclusive, and effective leadership. This groundbreaking book encourages aspiring leaders to recognize their strengths, cultivate adaptability, and harness the power of communication and collaboration. Whether you prefer deep thinking or engaging in dynamic brainstorming, it is time to embrace the ambivert within us all and unlock the full potential of diverse leadership styles. The book is a must-read for executives and senior leaders looking to transform their approach to leading, connecting, and thriving in their professional journeys. The book serves as an invaluable, timely, and insightful resource.
Sherif Kamel, Professor of Management and Dean, Onsi Sawiris School of Business, The American University in Cairo
Every once in a while a book comes out that makes you look at the world, and yourself, a little different. Ambiverts Now is such a book. No more stock assumptions that CEOs are all extroverts or that introverts have to be something they’re not to succeed. Like much of leadership, it’s not either/or, but both. Such a cool idea, backed by impressive research, that will strip away excuses – imposed or self-imposed – that can keep us sitting on the sidelines when we have every reason to enter the ring.
Sydney Finkelstein is a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and the author of the bestsellers, Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses
This is a splendid read. It features a diverse collection of leaders, all of whom have personally wrestled with the “vert” matrix during their lives and careers. These leaders have shared their perspectives as part of Moore’s research for this Work, which enables readers to expand their own understanding of how effective leadership can be exercised. My review brought to mind two excerpts from the works of William Shakespeare that focus on the phenomenon of role-playing and how personal values remain a foundational element of genuine leadership.
The first is from As You Like It:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
The second is from Hamlet, as part of the advice given by Polonius to his son Laertes:
This above all: to thine own self be true.
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
On occasion, leaders must be prepared to act, seemingly out of character (even in roles with which they may be uncomfortable), but while harnessing those role-playing tactics, never compromise their values.
Richard Pound, Olympic Athlete and Olympic Committee (IOC) Member for over 40 years
Kudos to Karl Moore! In today’s complex environment, good leadership rests on a constant exploration of oneself to ensure that who we are, what we stand for, and how we relate to our work are in harmony, if we want to successfully build strong teams. Karl’s thoughtful book offers valuable insights to all leaders in our lifelong endeavour of self-discovery and growth. Bravo Zulu!
General Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, Canada
