Review of Susan Cain's "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking"

"Quiet" by Susan Cain feels (granted, rather unsurprisingly) as if it has been written for The Quiet Protagonist. Notwithstanding, this was a Book Club read and although members overall enjoyed the book, they differed in their views about Quiet's relative strengths and shortcomings. And yes, those points did seem to correlate depending on whether each member self-identified as an introvert or as an extrovert. Though if introversion vs. extroversion is indeed more of a spectrum than a binary state, our book club overall tends to tilt (again, quite unsurprisingly) towards the introverted end.

Let us actually start with this notion of spectrum, which is probably one of the book's most significant contributions to the popular discussion about introverts and extroverts. Susan Cain does a great job at establishing from the start that there are "so many different kinds of introverts and extroverts" (p.14). And that nuance remains a red thread throughout the book, as Cain walks us through the different reasons, both common sense and science-based, why we should not be too quick in trying to put people into introvert of extrovert boxes. Two variables stand out: first the cultural dimension (coming across as an extrovert in the United-States is very different as it would be in say, Finland, Japan or Senegal). Second, the situational dimension: context matters. One person may be seen as extroverted in one setting, where she feels particularly comfortable, while appearing to be introverted when meeting a new group of people in a different setting.

That leads us to another key point that Susain Cain makes in her book, which acts as a myth-buster: Introversion and extroversion are usually categories that are applied onto individuals, by others, based on a subjective analysis of their behaviors at a certain time, within a certain context. The stereotypical example would be to categorize someone as introverted based on his "shy" behavior at a given gathering.

However, introversion and extroversion have actually more to do with how one finds balance and energy in life, and how one recharges when that energy is depleted. Here the story around Professor Little is particularly insightful and inspiring. Little's notion of "restorative niche" thereby talks to that idea that everyone, introverts or extroverts, needs to find those places "you go when you want to return to your true self" (p. 219). To some, that will consist of staying in one's favorite armchair reading a book finding solace in silence or one's own thoughts; to others, it is to go and meeting up with a small circle of close friends, re-gaining energy from being within a trusted group; to others, it is going to a concert or event, deriving energy from the crowd and its relative anonymity. This presents the reader with the fascinating reflexive questions, "what is MY restorative niche and what does it say about me"?

Some people might assume that Quiet is just another self-help book that glorifies introverts and makes them feel good about themselves. Susan Cain's book is nothing of the like. In fact, it is a very serious, historical and indeed scholarly account that adresses a really important societal and psychological issue, to which it contributes considerably. In order to make a contribution of this type, Susan Cain has conducted a very comprehensive and interdisciplinary literature review, walking us through what cognitive psychology, sociology, history, but also biology can teach us about introversion and extroversion. Cain's historical account of what she refers to as the "the Extrovert Ideal" is fascinating. It unpacks the origins of the admiration for extroversion all the way back to the ancient Greeks, "for whom oratory was an exalted skill, and to the Romans, for whom the worst punishment was banishment from the city, with its teeming social life" (p. 29). In doing so, Cain traces deeply-ingrained processes that have led to key societal transformations, at least in American life and by extension, in the Western world. On this, Susain Cain cites Warren Susman's work (p. 21), which documented the shift from a "Culture of Character", (which was very much inward-looking and where the ideal self was one defined by seriousness, discipline and honor), to a more outward-looking "Culture of Personality" (where people "started to focus on how others perceived them" and where "bold and entertaining" became rewarding traits). An interesting theory about the origins of the Extrovert ideal is put forward by Cain, hypothesizing that early Americans might have been suspicious of introverted behavior, which they perceived as the "life of the mind" akin to the "languid, ineffectual European aristocracy they had left behind" (p. 30).

Quiet is also one of those mind-expanding reads because it connects the dots on how pertinent the extroversion/introversion is for many contemporary societal and business situations. For instance, by exposing the reader to the "bus to Abilene" analogy (when a group gets influenced in a decision by the mere action or inaction of a person or group of people, p. 52) Cain ends up making a very powerful point about the overused (and badly implemented) notion of "brainstorming". She cites Osborn's work that group brainstorming does not actually work (p. 88). Instead of leading to a real process of co-creation, group brainstorming thus tends to naturally select those ideas that are put forward by the most vocal members, which hardly are always the most constructive ones. Susan Cain alerts us on the tendency to conflate extroversion and competence, thus empowering the most dynamic and vocal speakers. For instance, some might assume that a person is a great leader based on his/her great oratory skills and confidence in public settings. But it is important to distinguish between "good presentation skills and true leadership ability" (p.52). In fact, Adam Grant's research offers interesting insights on this issue, as he found that "the correlation between extroversion and leadership was modest" (cited on p. 56).

Furthermore, Cain shows that peer pressure and "the pain of independence" actually make it very hard for anyone to offer a dissenting voice, which in turn means that the group can effectively change our perceptions (p. 92). Studies have thereby shown repeatedly that face-to-face brainstorming processes tend to be inefficient. Groups miss out on great ideas because those ideas do not have space to be expressed. And introverts are inevitably disadvantaged in the process.

One great recommendation Cain offers is not to scrap brainstorming altogether, but rather to organize it differently so that it better harvests all valuable ideas and makes smarter use of collective intelligence. One way to go about this is to ask group members to think and reflect, individually, about the issue that will be at the centre of a planned brainstorming session and send their thoughts and ideas to the moderator before the start of the brainstorming activity. During the brainstorming exercise, good moderation may succeed in maintaining some kind of balance in terms of the voices that contribute to the discussion, though this is not always easy. But at least, individual ideas will have been collected before being "contaminated" by the group and the influence of its most vocal members.

This book has many, many other great research-based insights, which Susan Cain articulates very elegantly in order to support her wider narrative about the underestimated contributions that introverts can make to society and the workplace. Some of our book members felt that the topic could have been limited to an article rather than a whole book. Others appreciated the exhaustive approach provided by the author and especially how Cain structured her argument throughout the book. We all appreciated the fact that she always goes back to what the research says and thus pushes readers to go beyond stereotypes and question their assumptions.