That was the subject of Susan Cain's legendary speech on the "quiet revolutionary" at the 2012 TED conference called The Power of introverts. In the same year, thanks to her book entitled Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking she also became a celebrity among introverts. Cain demonstrates her conclusions about introverts based on the latest findings in the field of psychology and neuroscience. She also puts forward examples of famous leaders with introverted natures.
Susan Cain's TED talk on introverts has been viewed by almost 8 million people, which makes it one of the top-viewed TED talks ever. Cain talks about how she struggled with being an introvert.
"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," says Susan Cain. According to Cain, most most introverts tend to behave in the same way, which is detrimental not only to themselves but also to their surroundings.
Introverts can be leaders
Cain explains that introverts suffer from prejudices deeply ingrained in our society. All important institutions, such as schools or workplaces, are designed for extroverts. Introverts are therefore forced to work in open spaces which do not correspond to their preferences and they are commonly neglected in promotions to leadership roles. "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," says Cain, "... what I'm saying is that culturally we need a much better balance."
To conclude the talk, Cain summarizes the three recommendations for everyone who shares the same opinion.
1. "Stop the madness for constant group work." - We need more privacy, freedom and independence at work.
2. "Go to the wilderness." - Look inside your own mind more often.
3. "Take a good look at what's inside your suitcase and why you put it there" - Let others look into our world more often and share our energy and joy.
If you find the talk interesting and would like to know more about how to succeed in an extroverted world, Susan Cain's book has been published in Czech under the title Ticho – Síla introvertů ve světě, který nikdy nepřestává mluvit (Jan Melvil Publishing, 2012).
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