Thoughts:
The author
Susan Cain is the Quiet Schools Network and the Quiet Leadership Institute’s co-founder, public speaker, and American writer.
In a nutshell
It is a book full of research, observations, and true stories of introverts and how they work, learn, recharge, see themselves and how society sees them.
Enjoyed
Non-fiction. Tons of research. Stories from real people. Actionable insights on balancing introvert and extrovert sides.
Self-reflection
The book helps me to understand one dimension of myself, strength and nature. I see myself as an ambivert through social gatherings and 1-1 meetings, whether online or offline, in live or asynchronous conversation.
Quotes from the book
“The highly sensitive [introverted] tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive. They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions–sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear.
Highly sensitive people also process information about their environments–both physical and emotional–unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss–another person’s shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a touch too brightly.”
“So stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.”
“A Manifesto for Introverts
1. There’s a word for ‘people who are in their heads too much’: thinkers.
2. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
3. The next generation of quiet kids can and must be raised to know their own strengths.
4. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend extrovert. There will always be time to be quiet later.
5. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is key to finding work you love and work that matters.
6. One genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
7. It’s OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.
8. ‘Quiet leadership’ is not an oxymoron.
9. Love is essential; gregariousness is optional.
10. ‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world.’ ~ Mahatma Gandhi”
Nudge
If you are in a F2F or remote meeting with your team, network or community members, consider taking ten minutes to be quiet - host and guests included - to reflect and use brainwriting/drawing on this question:
What is the legacy of our gathering/network/organisation/community?
Use a timer and have a timekeeper. Bring a pen, post-it, or a small piece of paper to write down or draw your deep thoughts and insights with the participants and the host when time is up. Then, the host can invite each person to share their ideas or build on each other's ideas to co-create the small gems of the present and future legacy as people wire together waves after waves of conversation, collaboration and cooperation.
