More Introverts Needed - Really?
Never has my nerdy, bookish side been more validated than when seeing Susan Cain's TED Talk video (below). Cain, a self-admitted introvert, offers a compelling--and funny--case for why our culture's preference for extroversion has gone a little too far.
She argues that we have developed a "teamwork is all" mentality in the workplace and in education to the exclusion of solo time to allow concentration and creative problem-solving. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, I think you'll find that the 19 minutes this video takes will be enlightening. Enlightening--now there's an introvert's word if I ever heard one.
In the interests of full disclosure: teambuilding and consensus decision making are the bread and butter of my consulting and training business. But seriously, does everything need to be done with the team? As Cain points out, some of our best ideas have come from introverts. Maybe we should give them a few quiet minutes.
Copyright 2012, Diana Brooks Associates. All rights reserved. |
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What is TED??
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
Along with two annual conferences that bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less), there is TED.com. TED.com makes the best talks available for free. More than 900 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. Yum!
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