Reflections on Susan Cain's TED talk on the Power of Introverts
Objective:
I heard Susan Cain say that 1 out of every 3 people are introverts! I heard her say that the North American society we live in largely favours extroverts, she mentions that what society considers the ideal person is social and bold, enjoys networking and being part of a larger group. I heard Ms Cain talk about how we sit elementary school children in pods so that they can work on everything, from math to writing, in groups. When only one generation ago, we sat each at our own desk in a tidy rows, and worked independently on most subjects, among those math and writing. I heard Ms Cain say that many workplaces now favour open office settings with very little privacy instead of offices where you can close your door and take refuge from the constant hum/buzz of ringing phones, colleagues talking, photocopiers photocopying, and keyboards typing.
I heard Susan Cain say that we should stop the madness of constant group work.. I love that sentence!
I heard Ms Cain say that we need to let introverts do what they do best, and have an environment where they can thrive. We need to let introverts have their own space so that they can continue to develop great and profound ideas.
Reflective: “my gut reaction”.. my reaction to what I have been exposed to..
When I think of the term introvert, it conjures up images of the quiet girl (or boy) at school, reading her book during lunch break while groups of giggly girls and sporty boys sit together eating their lunches. I think sometimes that girl choses to be alone (she’s most comfortable with her own company), but that sometimes she just doesn’t feel she fits in with a group. Where extroverts exude confidence and initiate conversation, introverts are shy and are perfectly happy to view the world without participating in it.
At times in my life, I have been that very girl.
Last year, I attended a staff lunch at the college where I teach. I knew no one. It was the first time in a long time where I was in a work environment where I knew no one. I had been working an industry for 20 years in various capacities and with various organizations. I enjoyed going to functions and always knew people. This lunch was a real eye opener as to what it’s like for the newcomer. At this event at the college, I sat quietly in a sunny spot eating my burger and sipping my soft drink. I looked around. There’s a small part of me that was looking for someone to make eye contact with, but I didn’t. I chose to keep to myself. Most people seemed to be sharing summer stories. I felt out of place, in a new environment. I realized I wasn’t feeling gregarious, as I once might have felt in a similar situation.
It reminded me that being the new kid on the block is not easy. It gave me perspective on how many of my first year students probably felt. I was teaching a first year class that semester, and many of my students were probably having to make new friends in a new school. My students would represent the full spectrum from introvert to extrovert.
My feelings when reflecting on Ms Cain’s talk and her description of how we tailor our schools and workplaces to favor extroverts also made me think of my younger self, around age 20. I was fairly gregarious at that time. I studied sciences in university and had very little opportunity to engage in public speaking. Away from school, I was a lifeguard, taught first aid and C.P.R courses, mostly to young people but also to adults. I felt comfortable enough teaching material that I knew well to small groups but had no real interest in going too far outside of my comfort zone.
Ms Cain talks about the fact that most people sit somewhere on the continuum of introverts to extroverts. I tend to sit on the introvert side of the equation, but throughout my life I have had jobs that have required me to behave more like an extrovert. Upon graduating from university what I really wanted to do was go live and travel in Europe. So I trained to become a tour guide, and low and behold realized that I needed to be pretty comfortable talking to large groups (50 people at a time) every day, about things that I didn’t (previously) know much about. I was passionate about European culture, customs, languages, and somehow found the courage to stand in front of my clients to share my knowledge with them. I remember getting such a buzz from showing my clients around Paris and Rome and seeing the awestruck look on their faces as they saw famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Coliseum for the first time! It was scary to put myself out there but it was energizing. With every passing day, I grew more knowledgeable and more confident. I still think I prefer to be an introvert. I still prefer sitting in the passenger seat and listening to someone else make commentary, but it was a means to an ends. If I wanted to share “my” Europe with my clients, and make a living from it, the necessary evil was having to give commentary to my clients. That was over 20 years ago, that I tour guided around Europe, and I still wake up some nights afraid that I haven’t done a good French history talk!
Interpretive: “My reaction” and why did I have that reaction?
When I think of my own life experience, I have had jobs that have called on me to tap into my introvert self and others that require more of my extrovert self. Ms Cain says that no one can be 100% introvert or extrovert, that we all sit somewhere on the spectrum. I think I sit somewhere close to the middle and see the value of tapping into either side depending on the situation at hand.
I think somehow that our education system and our workplaces need to offer individuals the opportunity to work both individually and in group settings, so that we can allow people to come alive in the environment in which they feel most comfortable. If introverts are given the opportunity to study or work in a quiet environment in which they thrive they will likely yield better results, but equally giving them the opportunity to be outside of their comfort zone, will yield interesting and unexpected results.
As I let the information contained in Ms Cain’s TEDtalk sink in, it continued to bother me. I did further research about why our society doesn’t seem to want introverts to thrive. Why are we, in our North American society, both in schools and in the workforce are developing an “army” of extroverts? Why do we place a premium on behaviors such as gregariousness, dominance, preferring action to contemplation, and favoring quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong?
Dr Elaine N. Aron, in 1996, coined the term “Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) which describes people who process sensory data more deeply and thoroughly due to a biological difference in their nervous system. She estimates that 20% of the population of the US is considered highly sensitive. Many of these HSPs may also be introverts, but not necessarily. HSPs have great imagination and intellectual abilities, are creative and curious, are hard workers and good problem solvers, greatly respect nature, art and music, are objective and can see the bigger picture. These are all very important and admirable qualities. Society is often structured in ways that can be difficult for HSPs and introverts to adjust to. In the classroom, highly sensitive kids are called on when their hand isn’t raised. In the business world, open office settings and group brainstorming meetings are common place.
Dr Aron’s findings seem to provide evidence that our society needs the contributions of highly sensitive persons, let’s call them introverts, as well as that of extroverts. According to her, as more and more research about the benefits of introversion come to light, society would do well to get rid of the “extrovert ideal” and give equal weight to the experiences, ideas and perspectives of quiet, compassionate and sensitive thinkers.
Decisional: “what I am going to do as a result of this piece of information”
I am going to include at least one individual project as well as one group project in the next class that I teach.
The last class that I taught was a first year class called Tourism Business Structure. My course schedule students included 4 group projects, and no individual projects. Upon consideration of the above material, and to provide both introverts and extroverts the opportunity to succeed in my class, I would like to change this. The preceding semester, I taught the same class and I included one individual project and it was not a good use of time so I chose to change the project from an individual one to a group one. In retrospect, the individual project did allow my students to research and develop (and present) a project of their own creation, not created as part of a team. The presentation part of the project may not have been the best use of class time but I should retain a component of individual project.
In the future I will consider where I think my students are on the introvert/extrovert spectrum. I will try to have them think about what types of jobs are more and less suited to their personal strengths. I spend time in the first and second class asking my students to write mission statements – asking them to think about where they see themselves in 2 years and 5 years. Asking them to think about the types of careers that align with those attributes. I will make a more concerted effort to include behavior preferences (introvert/extrovert) as part of my mission statement exercise.
You can find Ms Cain's talk by clicking here: The Power of Introverts
I heard Susan Cain say that 1 out of every 3 people are introverts! I heard her say that the North American society we live in largely favours extroverts, she mentions that what society considers the ideal person is social and bold, enjoys networking and being part of a larger group. I heard Ms Cain talk about how we sit elementary school children in pods so that they can work on everything, from math to writing, in groups. When only one generation ago, we sat each at our own desk in a tidy rows, and worked independently on most subjects, among those math and writing. I heard Ms Cain say that many workplaces now favour open office settings with very little privacy instead of offices where you can close your door and take refuge from the constant hum/buzz of ringing phones, colleagues talking, photocopiers photocopying, and keyboards typing.
I heard Susan Cain say that we should stop the madness of constant group work.. I love that sentence!
I heard Ms Cain say that we need to let introverts do what they do best, and have an environment where they can thrive. We need to let introverts have their own space so that they can continue to develop great and profound ideas.
Reflective: “my gut reaction”.. my reaction to what I have been exposed to..
When I think of the term introvert, it conjures up images of the quiet girl (or boy) at school, reading her book during lunch break while groups of giggly girls and sporty boys sit together eating their lunches. I think sometimes that girl choses to be alone (she’s most comfortable with her own company), but that sometimes she just doesn’t feel she fits in with a group. Where extroverts exude confidence and initiate conversation, introverts are shy and are perfectly happy to view the world without participating in it.
At times in my life, I have been that very girl.
Last year, I attended a staff lunch at the college where I teach. I knew no one. It was the first time in a long time where I was in a work environment where I knew no one. I had been working an industry for 20 years in various capacities and with various organizations. I enjoyed going to functions and always knew people. This lunch was a real eye opener as to what it’s like for the newcomer. At this event at the college, I sat quietly in a sunny spot eating my burger and sipping my soft drink. I looked around. There’s a small part of me that was looking for someone to make eye contact with, but I didn’t. I chose to keep to myself. Most people seemed to be sharing summer stories. I felt out of place, in a new environment. I realized I wasn’t feeling gregarious, as I once might have felt in a similar situation.
It reminded me that being the new kid on the block is not easy. It gave me perspective on how many of my first year students probably felt. I was teaching a first year class that semester, and many of my students were probably having to make new friends in a new school. My students would represent the full spectrum from introvert to extrovert.
My feelings when reflecting on Ms Cain’s talk and her description of how we tailor our schools and workplaces to favor extroverts also made me think of my younger self, around age 20. I was fairly gregarious at that time. I studied sciences in university and had very little opportunity to engage in public speaking. Away from school, I was a lifeguard, taught first aid and C.P.R courses, mostly to young people but also to adults. I felt comfortable enough teaching material that I knew well to small groups but had no real interest in going too far outside of my comfort zone.
Ms Cain talks about the fact that most people sit somewhere on the continuum of introverts to extroverts. I tend to sit on the introvert side of the equation, but throughout my life I have had jobs that have required me to behave more like an extrovert. Upon graduating from university what I really wanted to do was go live and travel in Europe. So I trained to become a tour guide, and low and behold realized that I needed to be pretty comfortable talking to large groups (50 people at a time) every day, about things that I didn’t (previously) know much about. I was passionate about European culture, customs, languages, and somehow found the courage to stand in front of my clients to share my knowledge with them. I remember getting such a buzz from showing my clients around Paris and Rome and seeing the awestruck look on their faces as they saw famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Coliseum for the first time! It was scary to put myself out there but it was energizing. With every passing day, I grew more knowledgeable and more confident. I still think I prefer to be an introvert. I still prefer sitting in the passenger seat and listening to someone else make commentary, but it was a means to an ends. If I wanted to share “my” Europe with my clients, and make a living from it, the necessary evil was having to give commentary to my clients. That was over 20 years ago, that I tour guided around Europe, and I still wake up some nights afraid that I haven’t done a good French history talk!
Interpretive: “My reaction” and why did I have that reaction?
When I think of my own life experience, I have had jobs that have called on me to tap into my introvert self and others that require more of my extrovert self. Ms Cain says that no one can be 100% introvert or extrovert, that we all sit somewhere on the spectrum. I think I sit somewhere close to the middle and see the value of tapping into either side depending on the situation at hand.
I think somehow that our education system and our workplaces need to offer individuals the opportunity to work both individually and in group settings, so that we can allow people to come alive in the environment in which they feel most comfortable. If introverts are given the opportunity to study or work in a quiet environment in which they thrive they will likely yield better results, but equally giving them the opportunity to be outside of their comfort zone, will yield interesting and unexpected results.
As I let the information contained in Ms Cain’s TEDtalk sink in, it continued to bother me. I did further research about why our society doesn’t seem to want introverts to thrive. Why are we, in our North American society, both in schools and in the workforce are developing an “army” of extroverts? Why do we place a premium on behaviors such as gregariousness, dominance, preferring action to contemplation, and favoring quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong?
Dr Elaine N. Aron, in 1996, coined the term “Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) which describes people who process sensory data more deeply and thoroughly due to a biological difference in their nervous system. She estimates that 20% of the population of the US is considered highly sensitive. Many of these HSPs may also be introverts, but not necessarily. HSPs have great imagination and intellectual abilities, are creative and curious, are hard workers and good problem solvers, greatly respect nature, art and music, are objective and can see the bigger picture. These are all very important and admirable qualities. Society is often structured in ways that can be difficult for HSPs and introverts to adjust to. In the classroom, highly sensitive kids are called on when their hand isn’t raised. In the business world, open office settings and group brainstorming meetings are common place.
Dr Aron’s findings seem to provide evidence that our society needs the contributions of highly sensitive persons, let’s call them introverts, as well as that of extroverts. According to her, as more and more research about the benefits of introversion come to light, society would do well to get rid of the “extrovert ideal” and give equal weight to the experiences, ideas and perspectives of quiet, compassionate and sensitive thinkers.
Decisional: “what I am going to do as a result of this piece of information”
I am going to include at least one individual project as well as one group project in the next class that I teach.
The last class that I taught was a first year class called Tourism Business Structure. My course schedule students included 4 group projects, and no individual projects. Upon consideration of the above material, and to provide both introverts and extroverts the opportunity to succeed in my class, I would like to change this. The preceding semester, I taught the same class and I included one individual project and it was not a good use of time so I chose to change the project from an individual one to a group one. In retrospect, the individual project did allow my students to research and develop (and present) a project of their own creation, not created as part of a team. The presentation part of the project may not have been the best use of class time but I should retain a component of individual project.
In the future I will consider where I think my students are on the introvert/extrovert spectrum. I will try to have them think about what types of jobs are more and less suited to their personal strengths. I spend time in the first and second class asking my students to write mission statements – asking them to think about where they see themselves in 2 years and 5 years. Asking them to think about the types of careers that align with those attributes. I will make a more concerted effort to include behavior preferences (introvert/extrovert) as part of my mission statement exercise.
You can find Ms Cain's talk by clicking here: The Power of Introverts