While chatting

In the somewhat typical early 2020s way of conversing through the digital ephemera of video/audio chats, I was reminded – by someone’s comment about it – of the fantastic TED talk by Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts.

I think I have watched it (a few times, post its February 2012 release) but, your honour, despite this point, I feel it pertinent to confirm that I did not watch it post the conversation that this post posits. However, I did read the transcript of the video of the talk instead and thoroughly enjoyed its perspective given and points made.

Here are a few parts of Susan Cain’s talk, that stood out for me...

[...] 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 maximising our talents is for us all to put ourselves in the zone of stimulation that is right for us.

[...]

[...] 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 favour 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.

[...]

[...] 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.

[...] solitude is a crucial ingredient often to creativity.

A fantastic talk that is well worth watching (or reading its transcript) and seems even more prescient for today’s times.

I’ll finish, what with being a bit of an Apple geek (since their Performa/LC475 days!) with this part of her talk...

Steve Wozniak invented the first Apple computer sitting alone in his cubicle 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.