Susan Cain: preference

Transcript context

…Yes. I would just say I totally get it that that's what people feel that they want. But what we think we want is not always actually the way to the ultimate goal we want. Because I think what we really want is to learn to be completely comfortable as ourselves. And I will... I know that sounds like a bland or woo woo thing to say, but this is a paradox that I have observed through all the years that I've been doing this, that the more introverts or anybody else become deeply comfortable in their own skin, that's when they start to show up at the job interview, or on the stage, or whatever the venue is in a more powerful way, because you're now there as your own true being, as opposed to there always being a voice in your head saying, "I'm not really supposed to be me, so I'm going to pretend to be somebody else." And people can pick that up, and you can pick it up. I think people hear this idea that you teach in your book that you can be very successful as an introvert, and I bet it's intellectually difficult to actually believe you can be as successful as an introvert versus being an extrovert. Because you see all these founders, they're very charismatic, extroverted, you see people at meetings, all the loud voices in the room always seem to get what they want. How can you help people believe this is actually true, that you can be just as successful being very true to yourself versus learning to be an extrovert?…

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