Susan Cain is the co-founder of Quiet Revolution and the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking.
After ordering the book, I spent some time sitting (alone) with her ideas. Susan’s Quiet Revolution Manifesto resonated with me on many levels. It is outlined below:
- There is a word for “people who are in their heads too much” – thinkers.
- Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
- The next generation of quiet kids can and must be raised to know their own strengths.
- Sometimes it helps to be a pretend-extrovert. There is always time to be quiet later.
- But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is the key to finding work you love and work that matters.
- One genuine relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
- It’s okay to cross the street to avoid making small talk.
- “Quiet leadership” is not an oxymoron.
- Love is essential; gregariousness is optional.
- “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi
I’m just glad I no longer have to feel guilty about crossing the street to avoid making small talk! I’m hoping the same applies to switching isles at the grocery store. If you’d like to learn more, perhaps in a room by yourself, I suggest the following:
Read this:
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
Watch this:
Listen to this:
The Knowledge Project: Leading the “Quiet Revolution”
Article by Christopher Pavese, Broyhill Asset Management
Quiet – Book revieww
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.
