Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is a 2012 book by Susan Cain. It is meant either to make all of us introverts feel better about being introverts, or to make the extroverts wise up and realize introverts have something to contribute to society! Either way, I know the readership of Gaming & Leisure® magazine can benefit from this article. Information Technology and Finance professionals often lean towards the Introvert scale on personality profiles like Myers-Briggs, and as leaders we have to be able to adapt to different personality styles to get the most out of our teams.
Perhaps you haven’t taken the Myers-Briggs personality assessment and aren’t sure if you are an introvert or an extrovert. You could also identify as an introvert if you gain energy through quiet time alone (extroverts get recharged by being around other people and feeding off of their energy), if you are more thoughtful than impulsive, if public speaking generally scares you, or you much prefer small group conversations over small talk and working the room.
In her book, Cain covers the physiology, psychology, and environmental factors around introversion. She also covers the history of the social pressure towards extroversion in the US and compares it to other cultures currently. She spends much of her time discussing the virtues of introverts and the benefits of incorporating them into our institutions. She closes with recommendations for both introverts and extroverts, including how to communicate across styles, and parenting advice.
Key Learnings
The most important things I learned from reading Quiet include:
- Extroverts should ensure that introverts are valued members of their teams. They need to create environments where introverts’ voices are heard. This can include providing quiet time for consideration of issues before seeking feedback, being intentional about not valuing the loudest and quickest opinions the most, and keeping group sizes down for meetings.
- Introverts need different things than extroverts, so our workspaces should offer flexibility so introverts can find quiet time, for example. They need different learning environments – individual projects and lecture will be more effective than group projects and brainstorming.
- Introverts have great traits that are some of the most sought after for leaders. These include empathy, caring and cooperation. Introverts are more likely to defend others against bullying.
- Introverts are more likely to stick with some thing they are passionate about, so they are more likely to conduct deep practice and become an expert. This leads to an interesting paradox – introverts are often great public speakers when they are passionate about the subject.
- Introverts have greater conscious and are more ethical (Cain spends a chapter discussing introverts in the financial and business worlds, where extroverts seeking a “rush” and instant gratification helped accelerate the financial crisis).
What does this mean for us?
For extroverts:
We should remember that different people react to environments and situations differently – so when someone is quiet in a meeting, be careful about our instant reaction that “Susan needs to speak up” or “I wish John would put himself out there more.”
We should partner with introverts to gain synergies (Cain uses the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – where Eleanor served as Franklin’s “conscious”) or allow introverts to challenge our assumptions in business dealings, as they will ensure we think longer-term with more reasonable assumptions. I think this is particularly relevant for those of us who work with Finance and IT teams, as these teams can be your best partners in business if you incorporate their strengths into decision-making and projects.
For introverts:
We should be ourselves, so if we are introverted we need to find ways to make your environment and situations fit our personality. Cain recommends, for example, implementing breaks between big group presentations to reenergize.
If you are going to be speaking publicly, prepare by seeing the facility and doing extra deep practice of the speech. Introverts should take extra care to do the things they are passionate about so that passion can carry them through situations that might otherwise be stressful.
Most importantly, introverts (like me) should rejoice at our newfound fame – we finally have a book of our own! That should give you some small talk opportunities at the next work cocktail party.
Rick Arpin is the Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller at MGM Resorts International. Mr. Arpin’s responsibilities include oversight of the company’s Finance Shared Services Center and all aspects of external reporting, along with assisting in corporate finance matters. He was recently named to Treasury and Risk Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list.