When you hear that someone is “highly sensitive,” it’s common to think they may be weak and fragile—someone who gets their feelings hurt more easily. In clinical terms, however, that’s not what high sensitivity means, says Andre Sólo, coauthor of Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person In a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World.
“As a personality trait, being sensitive means you take in more information from the world around you,” he says. “Sensitive people are actually wired at a brain level to process all information that comes in at a deeper level. They invest more mental resources and spend longer time thinking and reflecting on things.”
Sensitivity is on a continuum. Sólo says roughly 30% of people score high for sensitivity. Most people, however, fall in the middle range, with 40% having average sensitivity. And about 30% of people have low levels of sensitivity.
“Our society tends to be built around the expectations of not being highly sensitive,” he says. “The 70% of people who are not set the pace for what’s normal in the workplace, such as getting interrupted by notifications like Slack or email, as opposed to having deep focused time. They also set what’s a reasonable deadline and workload. Highly sensitive people do not thrive in those environments. They will burn out quickly if they’re not able to have a quieter, less stimulating environment.”
Extroverts can be highly sensitive, too. While sensitivity is often mistaken for introversion, they are two very different things, says Sólo. Introversion and extraversion measure your social orientation. Introverts get energy from being alone and extroverts get it from spending time with other people. Sensitivity is a measure of an orientation to your environment.
For example, a highly sensitive extrovert might love people and get their energy from being around people, but they don’t usually enjoy large networking events in crowded convention centers where everyone’s talking at once. They might prefer to set up one-on-one meetings with people or an evening out with a few friends at a quiet restaurant.
Working with or managing a highly sensitive person
You can tell that someone may be highly sensitive if they’re the person in the meeting who always has a few extra questions to ask or who focuses on details that other people didn’t care about, says Sólo. If you don’t fall in the highly sensitive range, it’s easy to mistake a highly sensitive person’s deep thinking for overthinking. Instead of being irritated at your differences, Sólo suggests seeing their personality as a strength to the team. For example, sensitive people often bring creativity and innovation to an organization.
“That’s vital, especially in our economy,” he says. “Our country is built on creativity, innovation. We often imagine sensitive people as artists and that’s true. But creativity is also useful in business, technology, and science. When you’re thinking about things more deeply connecting dots, you tend to see solutions that no one else can come up with.”
Highly sensitive people are good at reading other people. They often thrive on human connection or human interest. One of their strengths is having a high level of empathy. They can help bring people together, such as during mediation. They also provide a source of compassion, which can make them effective leaders, fostering better collaboration and making their teams feel seen and valued.
How to thrive at work if you’re highly sensitive
If you’re highly sensitive person working with people who don’t share the trait, Sólo says it’s important to embrace it.
“Being sensitive is not something you need to hide something or apologize for,” he says. “The best decision-makers are often those who are willing to think things through, ask a lot of questions, take time to speak with the team and experts rather than the fast decisive decision-makers that we often idolize.”
Sólo encourages highly sensitive people to change the way they talk about themselves, being open about their sensitivity. “It’s okay to say to your manager, ‘I’m very sensitive to my environment, and I do my best work when I have long periods of focus without interruptions. What are good times during the week that I can schedule that?’ That’s a reasonable question, and it’s going to boost your performance and contribute to team goals.”
Highly sensitive people should pay attention to their work environment. Having an ability to work from home may be ideal because it allows you to control your environment and perform at full potential. If fully remote work isn’t possible, wearing noise-cancelling headphones helps, but you can also be intentional about building space into your day.
“As a sensitive person, your brain needs to process deeply—it won’t stop trying to do that if you’re busy,” says Sólo. “For some people, that might be scheduling 40 minutes or an hour after work to just decompress. For others, it might mean doing that in the morning or at a lunch break. Control your environment, especially how you use your time to build that space into your life.”
The world needs highly sensitive people. “The truth is, highly sensitive people have a superpower,” Sólo says. “It’s an advantage that is vital today.”
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