Ms. Susan Cain

Quiet: How to Harness the Strengths of Introverts to Transform How We Work, Lead and Innovate

Susan Cain

CHIEF REVOLUTIONARY OF QUIET REVOLUTION AND THE AUTHOR OF THE BEST-SELLERS QUIET POWER: THE SECRET STRENGTHS OF INTROVERTS AND QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN’T STOP TALKING

December 12, 2018

Lecture Summary: To Be Successful, Organizations Should Let Introverts Be Introverts, Says Stevens Speaker→

ABSTRACT: Did you know that introverted leaders often deliver better results than extroverts? That the most spectacularly creative people tend to be introverts? One of the central challenges of any business is to bring out the best in its employees. Yet when it comes to introverts — who make up a third to a half of the workforce — our leadership strategy mainly consists of asking them to act like extroverts. This is a serious waste of talent and energy. In an enlightening, relatable and practical talk, Susan Cain shows us that introverts think and work in ways that are vital to the success of organizations. How can you structure your organization so that the best ideas dominate, rather than those of the most vocal and assertive people? How do introverts’ and extroverts’ different personalities cause them to solve problems and evaluate risk differently? What do introverts know about creativity that the rest of us should learn? Drawing on her original research and the latest in neuroscience and psychology, Cain will radically change your view of the best way to develop leaders, manage teams, make smart hires and stimulate innovation.

BIOGRAPHY: Susan Cain is the Chief Revolutionary of Quiet Revolution and the author of best-sellers Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been translated into 40 languages, is in its sixth year on The New York Times best-seller list, and was named the #1 best book of the year by Fast Company, which also named Cain one of its "Most Creative People in Business". Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Her record-smashing TED Talk has been viewed more than 19 million times and was named by Bill Gates as one of his all-time favorite talks. Cain has also spoken at Microsoft, Google, the U.S. Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard, Yale, West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy. She received Harvard Law School’s Celebration Award for thought leadership, the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award for communication and leadership, and was named one of the world’s top 50 leadership and management experts by Inc. She is an honors graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. She lives in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two sons. Visit Cain and the Quiet Revolution at quietrev.com.

This event is made possible through support by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1311792. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.