The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain

Have you ever considered the notion that the quiet, introspective individuals among us might hold a unique, often overlooked power?

In ‘The Power of Introverts’, Susan Cain compellingly argues that society undervalues introverts, while championing extroverted characteristics.

You’ll find that, contrary to popular belief, introverts possess distinct qualities that are equally, if not more, beneficial in several personal and professional fields.

Cain’s insights are backed by extensive research and personal anecdotes, revealing a different perspective that challenges the conventional bias towards extroversion.

Intrigued? There’s much more to uncover about the power of introverts.

Background

“The Power of Introverts” is a compelling TED Talk delivered by Susan Cain in 2012, which has since resonated with millions of viewers worldwide. In her presentation, Cain advocates for the recognition and appreciation of introverts, challenging the widespread cultural bias that favors extroversion. She argues that modern society undervalues the quiet and contemplative contributions of introverts, emphasizing the need for a greater balance between action-oriented and reflective modes of being.

Cain draws upon psychological research, personal anecdotes, and historical examples to highlight the strengths typically associated with introversion, such as deep thinking, sensitivity, and creativity. She points out that many of the world’s most innovative and impactful leaders, thinkers, and artists have been introverts who utilized their natural tendencies towards solitude and deep focus to foster groundbreaking ideas and lead meaningful change.

By calling for a cultural shift that embraces introverted qualities and designs environments conducive to both extroverted and introverted personalities, Cain’s talk challenges listeners to rethink societal norms about success and leadership. “The Power of Introverts” not only provides validation and encouragement for introverts to embrace their unique traits but also urges society at large to leverage the diverse talents of all its members for collective progress and harmony.

Key Takeaways

Here are 4 key takeaways from Susan Cain’s ‘The Power of Introverts’ that highlight the strengths of introversion, challenging societal biases, and the value of quiet leadership and creativity:

• The Extrovert Ideal is deeply embedded in Western society, valuing sociability and comfort in the limelight.
• Introverts possess traits such as preferring quiet and introspective environments, being selectively social, and valuing meaningful one-on-one interactions.
• Institutions and workplaces often favor extroverted traits, undervaluing the strengths of introverts such as deep focus, thoughtful communication, and independent work.
• Recognizing the power of introverts and creating inclusive environments that value introverted traits can lead to creativity, growth, and a more balanced society.

Story

Exploring Susan Cain’s insights, we’re urged to question the Extrovert Ideal that undervalues introverts, spotlighting how industrial America’s shift emphasized personality over character.

This journey highlights introverts’ strengths—like deep listening and empathy—often overlooked due to extroversion’s societal favor.

Join us as we delve into this narrative, advocating for a broader definition of success and leadership, and championing the critical role of introverts in fostering a more empathetic and balanced world.

Understanding the Extrovert Ideal

Have you ever considered how deeply the Extrovert Ideal, which prizes sociability and comfort in the limelight, is embedded in our Western society? Susan Cain’s ‘Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’ brings this to light. This ideal pervades American culture, often leading to bias against introversion. It’s a concept that prizes extroverts for their outgoing nature and often undervalues introverts for their quiet strength.

Digging into history, the Extrovert Ideal traces back to industrial America. The shift from a Culture of Character to a Culture of Personality placed a premium on charisma and sociability over substance. How you sell became more important than what you sell, making the extroverts shine and introverts fade.

This bias extends to key aspects of society. From job interviews to parenting, the extrovert is often favored. The focus on extroversion and extroverts can stifle creativity and mute introverts in group dynamics, reinforcing the bias against introversion.

Understanding this Extrovert Ideal helps us better appreciate the Power of Introverts and the value they bring to our chatter-filled world.

The Defining Traits of Introverts

While appreciating the deep-seated bias against introversion in our society, it’s equally important to understand who introverts are and the unique traits they possess. Introverts, as outlined by Susan, are kindred spirits who prefer the quiet, introspective corners of the world. They aren’t just shy or reserved, but they’re individuals who find power in solitude and internal dialogue.

These people thrive in environments designed by Hello Cheshire, where the community respects their need for space and introspection. They aren’t anti-social, rather they’re selectively social, often opting for meaningful one-on-one interactions over superficial group engagements.

Introverts, as Susan Cain brilliantly highlights in ‘The Power of Introverts,’ have an intrinsic ability to listen and empathize, a trait that can be a boon in both personal and professional life. They aren’t the ones who can’t stop talking, but when they do, their words carry weight and substance.

Understanding the defining traits of introverts allows us to appreciate the diversity in our world. It helps to dispel the myth that being outgoing is the only way to succeed. Introverts hold their own unique power, and it’s time their qualities are celebrated and recognized.

Impact on Education and Child Development

Just as in workplaces, the bias towards extroverted traits in our educational institutions can impact the development and growth of introverted children, who often tend to flourish in quieter, minimally stimulating environments.

This impact on education and child development can be quite profound. In the hustle and bustle of an elementary school, these young introverts often feel pressured to conform to extroverted norms, leaving their silence and solitude overlooked.

Notable Introverted Individuals

You might be surprised to learn that many influential figures we admire, such as Rosa Parks, Gandhi, and Eleanor Roosevelt, were introverts who stayed true to their nature and still managed to make a significant impact. These iconic individuals preferred a quiet life over the hubbub and yet, they have left indelible marks on society.

Introverts are more likely to listen, think, and then act, a stark contrast to the ‘speak now, think later’ style often adopted by extroverts, like Tony Robbins. This is not to say one personality style is superior, but rather to highlight the unique strengths introverts bring to the table.

Iconic Introvert	Contribution
Rosa Parks	Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
Gandhi	Championed non-violent protest
Eleanor Roosevelt	Advocate for civil and human rights

Shyness and introversion are not the same; it’s high time that we recognize and celebrate these differences. Susan Cain’s ‘Manifesto for Quiet’ makes a compelling case for this. Embracing introversion isn’t about shunning public speaking or leadership roles, but about understanding and accepting the power of the introverted personality style.

Learnings

In ‘The Power of Introverts’ by Susan Cain, there are 3 key learnings. Let’s delve into each:

Embracing Introverted Qualities

Cain’s work sheds light on the unique contributions of introverts in various spheres, advocating for broader recognition and support for introverted traits:

• Diversity in Creativity and Leadership: Stresses the importance of acknowledging different forms of creativity and leadership, highlighting introverts’ potential for profound thought, reflection, and innovative solutions.
• Creating Inclusive Environments: Advocates for the adaptation of schools and workplaces to cater to diverse working and learning styles, suggesting that environments conducive to quiet contemplation can significantly enhance introverts’ productivity and satisfaction.
• Valuing Solitude: Underlines solitude’s role in fostering creativity, urging both individuals and organizations to respect and provide for periods of solitude as essential for personal growth and creative development.

Cain’s insights call for a cultural shift to embrace and facilitate the strengths introverts bring to creative and leadership contexts, recognizing the value of diversity in work styles and the importance of solitude in the creative process.

Rethinking Collaboration

Cain challenges conventional norms around collaboration, promoting a more nuanced understanding that accommodates introverted working styles:

• Balancing Teamwork with Individual Work: Proposes a balanced model of collaboration that marries the benefits of group brainstorming with the need for independent work, ensuring introverts can contribute effectively.
• Challenging the Overemphasis on Extroversion: Critiques the prevalent bias towards extroversion in collaborative environments, advocating for a greater appreciation of the introverted qualities that enhance team dynamics, such as thoughtful analysis and concentration.
• Adapting Educational Strategies: Recommends educational practices that balance group work with opportunities for solo projects and reflection, promoting a learning environment that nurtures independent thinking and respects students’ varied approaches to learning.

Cain’s perspective on collaboration emphasizes the need for balance and inclusivity, valuing both extroverted and introverted contributions and advocating for educational and workplace strategies that support diverse ways of working and learning.

Cultivating Self-Awareness and Acceptance

Cain’s narrative encourages a deeper understanding and acceptance of introversion, highlighting its value in personal and professional realms:

• Recognizing Personal Strengths: Emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in identifying and valuing introverted qualities as strengths, encouraging introverts to embrace their natural dispositions.
• Promoting Psychological Safety: Points to psychological safety as critical for enabling introverts to express their ideas freely, advocating for environments where diverse perspectives are respected and encouraged.
• Encouraging Authenticity: Calls for introverts to pursue paths that align with their temperaments, advocating for societal recognition of various lifestyles and career choices as valid and valuable.

Through these learnings, Cain advocates for a society that recognizes and celebrates introverted qualities, promoting environments that foster authenticity, psychological safety, and an appreciation for the introspective and contemplative contributions of introverts.

‘The Power of Introverts’ Speech

When I was nine years old I went off to summer camp for the first time. And my mother packed me a suitcase full of books, which to me seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. Because in my family, reading was the primary group activity. And this might sound antisocial to you, but for us it was really just a different way of being social.

You have the animal warmth of your family sitting right next to you, but you are also free to go roaming around the adventureland inside your own mind. And I had this idea that camp was going to be just like this, but better. I had a vision of 10 girls sitting in a cabin cozily reading books in their matching nightgowns.

Camp was more like a keg party without any alcohol. And on the very first day our counselor gathered us all together and she taught us a cheer that she said we would be doing every day for the rest of the summer to instill camp spirit. And it went like this: “R-O-W-D-I-E, that’s the way we spell rowdie. Rowdie, rowdie, let’s get rowdie.” Yeah.

So I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why we were supposed to be so rowdy, or why we had to spell this word incorrectly. But I recited a cheer. I recited a cheer along with everybody else. I did my best. And I just waited for the time that I could go off and read my books.

But the first time that I took my book out of my suitcase, the coolest girl in the bunk came up to me and she asked me, “Why are you being so mellow?” — mellow, of course, being the exact opposite of R-O-W-D-I-E. And then the second time I tried it, the counselor came up to me with a concerned expression on her face and she repeated the point about camp spirit and said we should all work very hard to be outgoing.

And so I put my books away, back in their suitcase, and I put them under my bed, and there they stayed for the rest of the summer. And I felt kind of guilty about this. I felt as if the books needed me somehow, and they were calling out to me and I was forsaking them. But I did forsake them and I didn’t open that suitcase again until I was back home with my family at the end of the summer.

Now, I tell you this story about summer camp. I could have told you 50 others just like it — all the times that I got the message that somehow my quiet and introverted style of being was not necessarily the right way to go, that I should be trying to pass as more of an extrovert. And I always sensed deep down that this was wrong and that introverts were pretty excellent just as they were.

But for years I denied this intuition, and so I became a Wall Street lawyer, of all things, instead of the writer that I had always longed to be — partly because I needed to prove to myself that I could be bold and assertive too. And I was always going off to crowded bars when I really would have preferred to just have a nice dinner with friends. And I made these self-negating choices so reflexively, that I wasn’t even aware that I was making them.

Now this is what many introverts do, and it’s our loss for sure, but it is also our colleagues’ loss and our communities’ loss. And at the risk of sounding grandiose, it is the world’s loss. Because when it comes to creativity and to leadership, we need introverts doing what they do best.

A third to a half of the population are introverts — a third to a half. So that’s one out of every two or three people you know. So even if you’re an extrovert yourself, I’m talking about your coworkers and your spouses and your children and the person sitting next to you right now — all of them subject to this bias that is pretty deep and real in our society. We all internalize it from a very early age without even having a language for what we’re doing.

Now to see the bias clearly you need to understand what introversion is. It’s different from being shy. Shyness is about fear of social judgment. Introversion is more about, how do you respond to stimulation, including social stimulation. So extroverts really crave large amounts of stimulation, whereas introverts feel at their most alive and their most switched-on and their most capable when they’re in quieter, more low-key environments. Not all the time — these things aren’t absolute — but a lot of the time. So

The key then to maximizing our talents is for us all to put ourselves in the zone of stimulation that is right for us.

But now here’s where the bias comes in. Our most important institutions, our schools and our workplaces, they are designed mostly for extroverts and for extroverts’ need for lots of stimulation. And also we have this belief system right now that I call the new groupthink, which holds that all creativity and all productivity comes from a very oddly gregarious place.

So if you picture the typical classroom nowadays: When I was going to school, we sat in rows. We sat in rows of desks like this, and we did most of our work pretty autonomously. But nowadays, your typical classroom has pods of desks — four or five or six or seven kids all facing each other. And kids are working in countless group assignments.

Even in subjects like math and creative writing, which you think would depend on solo flights of thought, kids are now expected to act as committee members. And for the kids who prefer to go off by themselves or just to work alone, those kids are seen as outliers often or, worse, as problem cases. And the vast majority of teachers reports believing that the ideal student is an extrovert as opposed to an introvert, even though introverts actually get better grades and are more knowledgeable, according to research.

Okay, same thing is true in our workplaces. Now, most of us work in open plan offices, without walls, where we are subject to the constant noise and gaze of our coworkers. And when it comes to leadership, introverts are routinely passed over for leadership positions, even though introverts tend to be very careful, much less likely to take outsize risks — which is something we might all favor nowadays.

And interesting research by Adam Grant at the Wharton School has found that introverted leaders often deliver better outcomes than extroverts do, because when they are managing proactive employees, they’re much more likely to let those employees run with their ideas, whereas an extrovert can, quite unwittingly, get so excited about things that they’re putting their own stamp on things, and other people’s ideas might not as easily then bubble up to the surface.

Now in fact, some of our transformative leaders in history have been introverts. I’ll give you some examples. Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi — all these peopled described themselves as quiet and soft-spoken and even shy. And they all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their bodies was telling them not to. And this turns out to have a special power all its own, because people could feel that these leaders were at the helm, not because they enjoyed directing others and not out of the pleasure of being looked at; they were there because they had no choice, because they were driven to do what they thought was right.

Now I think at this point it’s important for me to say that I actually love extroverts. I always like to say some of my best friends are extroverts, including my beloved husband. And we all fall at different points, of course, along the introvert/extrovert spectrum. Even Carl Jung, the psychologist who first popularized these terms, said that there’s no such thing as a pure introvert or a pure extrovert.

He said that such a man would be in a lunatic asylum, if he existed at all. And some people fall smack in the middle of the introvert/extrovert spectrum, and we call these people ambiverts. And I often think that they have the best of all worlds. But many of us do recognize ourselves as one type or the other.

And what I’m saying is that culturally we need a much better balance. We need more of a yin and yang between these two types. This is especially important when it comes to creativity and to productivity, because when psychologists look at the lives of the most creative people, what they find are people who are very good at exchanging ideas and advancing ideas, but who also have a serious streak of introversion in them.

And this is because

                Solitude is a crucial ingredient often to creativity.

So Darwin, he took long walks alone in the woods and emphatically turned down dinner party invitations. Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, he dreamed up many of his amazing creations in a lonely bell tower office that he had in the back of his house in La Jolla, California.

And he was actually afraid to meet the young children who read his books for fear that they were expecting him this kind of jolly Santa Claus-like figure and would be disappointed with his more reserved persona. Steve Wozniak invented the first Apple computer sitting alone in his cubical in Hewlett-Packard where he was working at the time. And he says that he never would have become such an expert in the first place had he not been too introverted to leave the house when he was growing up.

Now of course, this does not mean that we should all stop collaborating — and case in point, is Steve Wozniak famously coming together with Steve Jobs to start Apple Computer — but it does mean that solitude matters and that for some people it is the air that they breathe. And in fact, we have known for centuries about the transcendent power of solitude. It’s only recently that we’ve strangely begun to forget it.

If you look at most of the world’s major religions, you will find seekers — Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad — seekers who are going off by themselves alone to the wilderness where they then have profound epiphanies and revelations that they then bring back to the rest of the community. So no wilderness, no revelations.

This is no surprise though if you look at the insights of contemporary psychology. It turns out that we can’t even be in a group of people without instinctively mirroring, mimicking their opinions. Even about seemingly personal and visceral things like who you’re attracted to, you will start aping the beliefs of the people around you without even realizing that that’s what you’re doing.

And groups famously follow the opinions of the most dominant or charismatic person in the room, even though there’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas — I mean zero. So … You might be following the person with the best ideas, but you might not. And do you really want to leave it up to chance? Much better for everybody to go off by themselves, generate their own ideas freed from the distortions of group dynamics, and then come together as a team to talk them through in a well-managed environment and take it from there.

Now if all this is true, then why are we getting it so wrong? Why are we setting up our schools this way and our workplaces? And why are we making these introverts feel so guilty about wanting to just go off by themselves some of the time? One answer lies deep in our cultural history. Western societies, and in particular the U.S., have always favored the man of action over the man of contemplation and “man” of contemplation.

But in America’s early days, we lived in what historians call a culture of character, where we still, at that point, valued people for their inner selves and their moral rectitude. And if you look at the self-help books from this era, they all had titles with things like “Character, the Grandest Thing in the World.” And they featured role models like Abraham Lincoln who was praised for being modest and unassuming. Ralph Waldo Emerson called him “A man who does not offend by superiority.”

But then we hit the 20th century and we entered a new culture that historians call the culture of personality. What happened is we had evolved an agricultural economy to a world of big business. And so suddenly people are moving from small towns to the cities. And instead of working alongside people they’ve known all their lives, now they are having to prove themselves in a crowd of strangers.

So, quite understandably, qualities like magnetism and charisma suddenly come to seem really important. And sure enough, the self-help books change to meet these new needs and they start to have names like “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” And they feature as their role models really great salesmen. So that’s the world we’re living in today. That’s our cultural inheritance.

Now none of this is to say that social skills are unimportant, and I’m also not calling for the abolishing of teamwork at all. The same religions who send their sages off to lonely mountain tops also teach us love and trust. And the problems that we are facing today in fields like science and in economics are so vast and so complex that we are going to need armies of people coming together to solve them working together. But I am saying that the more freedom that we give introverts to be themselves, the more likely that they are to come up with their own unique solutions to these problems.

So now I’d like to share with you what’s in my suitcase today. Guess what? Books. I have a suitcase full of books. Here’s Margaret Atwood, “Cat’s Eye.” Here’s a novel by Milan Kundera. And here’s “The Guide for the Perplexed” by Maimonides. But these are not exactly my books. I brought these books with me because they were written by my grandfather’s favorite authors.

My grandfather was a rabbi and he was a widower who lived alone in a small apartment in Brooklyn that was my favorite place in the world when I was growing up, partly because it was filled with his very gentle, very courtly presence and partly because it was filled with books. I mean literally every table, every chair in this apartment had yielded its original function to now serve as a surface for swaying stacks of books. Just like the rest of my family, my grandfather’s favorite thing to do in the whole world was to read.

But he also loved his congregation, and you could feel this love in the sermons that he gave every week for the 62 years that he was a rabbi. He would takes the fruits of each week’s reading and he would weave these intricate tapestries of ancient and humanist thought. And people would come from all over to hear him speak.

But here’s the thing about my grandfather. Underneath this ceremonial role, he was really modest and really introverted — so much so that when he delivered these sermons, he had trouble making eye contact with the very same congregation that he had been speaking to for 62 years.

And even away from the podium, when you called him to say hello, he would often end the conversation prematurely for fear that he was taking up too much of your time. But when he died at the age of 94, the police had to close down the streets of his neighborhood to accommodate the crowd of people who came out to mourn him. And so these days I try to learn from my grandfather’s example in my own way.

So I just published a book about introversion, and it took me about seven years to write. And for me, that seven years was like total bliss, because I was reading, I was writing, I was thinking, I was researching. It was my version of my grandfather’s hours of the day alone in his library. But now all of a sudden my job is very different, and my job is to be out here talking about it, talking about introversion. (Laughter) And that’s a lot harder for me, because as honored as I am to be here with all of you right now, this is not my natural milieu.

So I prepared for moments like these as best I could. I spent the last year practicing public speaking every chance I could get. And I call this my “year of speaking dangerously.” (Laughter) And that actually helped a lot. But I’ll tell you, what helps even more is my sense, my belief, my hope that when it comes to our attitudes to introversion and to quiet and to solitude, we truly are poised on the brink on dramatic change. I mean, we are. And so I am going to leave you now with three calls for action for those who share this vision.

Number one: Stop the madness for constant group work. Just stop it. (Laughter) Thank you. (Applause) And I want to be clear about what I’m saying, because I deeply believe our offices should be encouraging casual, chatty cafe-style types of interactions — you know, the kind where people come together and serendipitously have an exchange of ideas. That is great. It’s great for introverts and it’s great for extroverts. But we need much more privacy and much more freedom and much more autonomy at work.

School, same thing. We need to be teaching kids to work together, for sure, but we also need to be teaching them how to work on their own. This is especially important for extroverted children too. They need to work on their own because that is where deep thought comes from in part.

Okay, number two: Go to the wilderness. Be like Buddha, have your own revelations. I’m not saying that we all have to now go off and build our own cabins in the woods and never talk to each other again, but I am saying that we could all stand to unplug and get inside our own heads a little more often.

Number three: Take a good look at what’s inside your own suitcase and why you put it there. So extroverts, maybe your suitcases are also full of books. Or maybe they’re full of champagne glasses or skydiving equipment. Whatever it is, I hope you take these things out every chance you get and grace us with your energy and your joy.

But introverts, you being you, you probably have the impulse to guard very carefully what’s inside your own suitcase. And that’s okay. But occasionally, just occasionally, I hope you will open up your suitcases for other people to see, because the world needs you and it needs the things you carry.

So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.

Thank you very much.

Conclusion

So, you’ve been living under the extrovert’s shadow, huh? Well, take heart, my introverted friend! As Susan Cain’s enlightening book shows, you’re not alone or lesser.

Your quiet, insightful nature is a strength, not a flaw. So, go ahead, embrace your inner introvert. After all, some of the world’s great minds were just like you.

Who knows? You might be the next Einstein or Jobs, quietly brewing the next big idea in a cozy, quiet corner.

 

You can read the rest of the speech collection here:

Speech Collection