This is a classic misunderstanding of what a introvert is. It does seem to be true that introverts have weaker social skills than extroverts. This is not however, inherent! It is simple a function of practice, and as introverts need alone time to recharge, they are less likely to have practice in social settings. It's a subtle distinction but an important one to make. The article claims that people skills come "naturally" to extroverts, but that's an oversimplification of the underlying issues.
Put simply, the difference between introverts and extroverts is how they recharge energy. Imagine a party in a packed apartment. An extrovert can spend hours there and feel refreshed and energized at the end. On the other hand, an introvert will feel tired and drained. But this has nothing to do with how they act at the party. Being shy and awkward doesn't mean you are an introvert! This misunderstanding is fairly pervasive. I'm a huge introvert and I go to parties all the time. I act very outgoing, friendly, and confident. Close friends are in fact quite surprised when they find out I am an introvert at heart. But I could never sustain going to parties twice a week every week because I would get too drained.
All of that said, the author does raise some important points about the place of introverts in society. Caring For Your Introvert is absolutely recommended reading: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-f.... It touches on some of the issues raised in the article and provides a much better overview of extroversion versus introversion. Previous discussion of this excellent article here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=561311. Rands also has a nice article about nerds which does not explicitly touch on introversion. It does however, address many issues introverts typically deal with: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2007/11/11/the_nerd_ha....
But this whole concept of recharging energy sounds pretty unscientific to start with, unless you're talking about sleep and digestion. Although interestingly I did see an experiment once that showed introverted people salivated significantly more than extroverted people, while carrying out a group task (licking envelopes).
Put simply, the difference between introverts and extroverts is how they recharge energy. Imagine a party in a packed apartment. An extrovert can spend hours there and feel refreshed and energized at the end. On the other hand, an introvert will feel tired and drained. But this has nothing to do with how they act at the party. Being shy and awkward doesn't mean you are an introvert! This misunderstanding is fairly pervasive. I'm a huge introvert and I go to parties all the time. I act very outgoing, friendly, and confident. Close friends are in fact quite surprised when they find out I am an introvert at heart. But I could never sustain going to parties twice a week every week because I would get too drained.
All of that said, the author does raise some important points about the place of introverts in society. Caring For Your Introvert is absolutely recommended reading: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-f.... It touches on some of the issues raised in the article and provides a much better overview of extroversion versus introversion. Previous discussion of this excellent article here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=561311. Rands also has a nice article about nerds which does not explicitly touch on introversion. It does however, address many issues introverts typically deal with: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2007/11/11/the_nerd_ha....