The Power of Introverts

I was prompted to watch this video of Susan Cain speaking at TED 2012 about the power of introverts because Tali Sharot talked about it in her first book, The Influential Mind. that I reviewed in my previous blog.  Tali was also speaking at TED 2012, this time about her second book, The Optimism Bias.

I have not worked how the passage then got into her first book but never mind.  What I did discover was a short clip 3-minute clip of Tali summarising her first book https://youtu.be/DOzFRD5LvVk which is excellent.

Anyway Tali was in the audience and was impressed with Cain’s talk.  In particular she was very taken of how Cain used stories to make her points instead of graphs and data.

The Cain talk is good and she does give a shout out to ambiverts, indeed saying she wished she was one.  And she talks about people being located at some point on the Introversion-Extroversion spectrum.

However early on in the talk (3 minutes in) she claims, “a third to half of the population are introverts – a third to a half.”

I beg to differ.  Surely he distribution of people on the Introversion-Extroversion spectrum would be a Normal distribution.  Thus about 2/3rds of the population would be Ambiverts and only 1/6^th would be Introverts.

Also Cain keeps talking of Introversion as a type rather than a trait.

Otherwise, the talk is reasonable and her three calls to action are useful:

1. Stop the madness for constant group work
2. Go into the wilderness
3. Take a good look at what’s inside your suitcase and why you put it there

I confess I played it 1.5 x normal speed with a live transcript going.

I discuss the Introversion-Extroversion spectrum in the  7MTF model when talking about the Socialiser EQ component.

For more information watch this 4-minute video introduction to the 7MTF.  If that whets you appetite  sign up to my Introduction to the 7MTF online-video course that takes only 5 hours to complete and an investment of only A$25.  The 7MTF model of temperament is the secret to lifting your emotional intelligence.  If you complete the basic 7MTF course you will dramatically increase your EQ competency in days.

https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts/transcript?language=en

This blog was first posted on LinkedIn on 29 April 2024.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-introverts-emotional-intelligence-courses-novyc