Still - The power of the introverts

Book review: Still / The power of the introverts

Susan Cain works as a negotiation coach in the US. So she is constantly confronted with a society in which extroverted people are seen as a standard and introverts "have to work on their weaknesses". "Their qualities such as seriousness, sensitivity and shyness are now considered as symptoms of illness, as qualities," says the introductory text in the book "Still / The Power of the Introverts".

Cain thinks this is a big mistake. On the one hand it discriminates against the introverts, on the other hand their potential is very valuable. So, their strengths included care, consideration and the ability to listen.

contents

• Book review: Still / The power of the introverts
• Extroverts as ideal
• America - the land of action
• Introversion as a mental illness
• Invitation to unscrupulousness
• The myth of charismatic leadership
• Wrong ideas of creativity
• Constructive paranoia
• Unused potential
• What do introverted executives do better??
• Overdose of creative collaboration
• Autonomy instead of peer pressure
• Being alone as an engine
• Large groups paralyze the performance
• Conclusion

Extroverts as ideal

Extroverts are systematically preferred in the US, according to Cain. So the renowned Harvard University has focused on "healthy extrovert young men". The ideal employee is not a deep thinker, but an extrovert with representative mentality. Scientists should not only be good at their trade, but also help with marketing, befriending and selling.

According to negotiation technique trainer Susan Cain, extroverted people are over-privileged in today's society - at least in the US. (Image: Karin & Uwe Annas / fotolia.com)

America - the land of action

In America, according to Cain Extroversion, there is much more focus than, for example, Asia or Africa. One explanation for this is the history of the USA as an immigration country. People who went out into the world were more extroverted than sedentary people. Thus, every wave of immigration has led to a new accumulation of extroverts, which was proportionately larger in each case than in their country of origin.

Already the Greeks and Romans had estimated extroverts, as the importance of rhetoric in the Greeks prove. In America, even Christianity, with its Redeemer cults, had resorted to the acting talents of preachers.

The early Americans even glorified energy enough to despise intellectuality and "associate spiritual life with the sluggish and ineffective aristocracy they have left behind." Very few American presidential candidates have been introverted.

Introversion as a mental illness

Today, status, income and self-confidence are closely linked to selling well and never showing fear. The bar of fearless self-presentation is getting higher, so that now every fifth American is considered pathologically shy. As Cain reports, the fear of talking to others is considered by psychology in the US not as a disadvantage, but even as a disease.

Invitation to unscrupulousness

The intention is still: "Talking is selling, selling everything is talking". This goes into questionable goals. "Should we be so adept at self-expression that we can pretend without anyone noticing?" (57). The ideal of extroversion translates into unscrupulous aspirations, says Cain.

The myth of charismatic leadership

Sales mentality has become a virtue in the US, writes Cain, and discusses how it came to be: In the beginning of the personality cult, developing an extrovert personality helped to outstrip others in the competition. Today, Americans believe they are extroverts, making them better people.

According to Cain, the American cult of personality promotes extroverted personalities, as many people think that they have an advantage over the competition through extroversion. (Image: contrastwerkstatt / fotolia.com)

No one strolls, strolls or trolls on the Harvard Business School campus. Everyone hurried and greeted each other vividly, nobody was more overweight, bad skin or inappropriate accessories. One student said to her, "This college is based on extraversion. This depends on grades and social status. "(73)

The university set standards such as: "Even if you believe something only 55 percent, say, as if you absolutely believe in it" or "It is better to stand up and say something, than never to express." (78) Socializing among students be like extreme sports. Not to create a big social network, how to waste his time.

Wrong ideas of creativity

Even companies employing designers and artists sought extroverts and creatively defined them as "sociable, witty and in a good mood ..." (81). Without Cain mentioning them, these are skills that have nothing at all to do with the quality of a designer or artist. It's no coincidence that Nike's "Just do it" slogan has become so successful.

The Harvard Business School itself, however, had designed a role-playing game in which it has become clear that fast and confident leadership is not quite right. She started a game "Survival in the Subpolaregion" to teach group synergy, so successful teamwork. Just here it became clear that the very groups that failed to uphold their self-assertion could fail. So the loudest participants had prevailed with their ideas, less vociferous had been knocked off (although the ideas may have been better).

Constructive paranoia

This game, described by Cain, can be imagined vividly in a real existing situation. Imprudent but quick proposals quickly lead to the death of all. Because these have it in them that they do not carefully go through all aspects. What Cain does not mention, but the evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond, is the constructive paranoia common to indigenous peoples. They behave overcautiously in situations where there is no immediate threat. So the people in Papua New Guinea systematically explore the trees all around before setting up camp. So they make sure that they will not be killed by falling trees when they sleep under it. Even if the probability of this is very small, it increases more and more, the more often the person sleeps under the trees.

Are introverts suppressed in our society and their potentials less perceived? (Image: estebanlxs / fotolia.com)

Unused potential

Cain considers it a cause for concern when quieter participants are less involved in solutions. People who talk more would be judged to be smarter, better-looking and more sympathetic. Those who speak quickly are considered more competent and attractive than slow speakers. Studies have shown that there is no connection between quick speech and prudence.

What do introverted executives do better??

Extrovert executives are better when employees tend to be passive, introverts when employees show initiative. Introverts listened to their employees' suggestions and implemented them. They set in motion a positive circle of initiative. On the other hand, it can quickly happen to extroverts that good ideas of others are not taken note of. While literature advises how introverts should improve their rhetorical skills, extroverts should learn to sit down so that others could stand up.

Overdose of creative collaboration

According to Cain, today's model of teamwork strives for an overdose of creative collaboration, pointing to statements that inventors, engineers and artists tend to be shy heads. It would be best for them to work alone, not in a committee, not in a team.

At least, as she points to studies, many introverts are very creative. This is no coincidence, because being alone is often crucial for creativity and productivity. Introversion prevents the dispersion of sexual and social affairs that have nothing to do with the work.

Autonomy instead of peer pressure

The author suggests teaching children, working independently, and giving employees a lot of privacy and autonomy. The new group thinking, on the other hand, represents teamwork above all else. It insists that creativity and intellectual achievement are a thing of the community. Organizations are increasingly organizing their workforce into teams, and 91 percent of top executives believe Cain is the key to success, according to Cain.

Many famous thinkers like Charles Darwin were introverts and spent a lot of time alone. (Image: pict rider / fotolia.com)

But while some people feel the need to integrate harmoniously into a group, others want to remain independent. Leadership and leadership is not the same. Cain points to introverted minds like Charles Darwin, who spent many years of his life in solitude. In short, extroverts often achieved a social leadership role, introverts more of a theoretical or aesthetic leadership role.

Being alone as an engine

Targeted practice requires high concentration, while other people could distract. High motivation must be drawn from oneself. Working alone means working on what is personally the hardest for the practitioner. If you want to improve, you have to tackle the challenging part directly. In a learning group, this step will be taken over by others. Too sociable teenagers often did not cultivate their talents because they were afraid of loneliness. For example, Charles Darwin had taken long, lonely walks in nature as a child.

In one study, the best programmers in companies have worked with maximum privacy, personal space and control over their physical environment, Cain reports. Open-plan offices, on the other hand, reduced productivity and worsened memory. People would better learn after a quiet walk in the forest than after walking through a noisy city. One of the biggest obstacles to productivity is being interrupted. Multitasking has proven to be a myth. In reality, those affected would not solve several tasks at the same time, but would jump back and forth between them, which would lower productivity.

Large groups paralyze the performance

Personal freedom is just as essential for creativity as freedom from peer pressure. Brainstorming in the group did not work. With increasing group size the performance decreases. Nevertheless, brainstorming in groups is as popular as ever. The reason lies not in the proven poor performance, but in the fact that people feel socially involved. The benefit is therefore social cohesion, not creativity.

Brainstorming in the group failed for three reasons that can not be reversed: first, individuals would lean back in one group, secondly, only one person at a time could pronounce one idea, at the expense of others' productivity, and thirdly, there was the fear of ratings to be stupid in front of peers.

According to Cain, introverts can handle much better because they devote themselves to a task with less distraction. (Image: natali_mis / fotolia.com)

Conclusion

Cain provides scientifically proven and practice-based evidence that introverts are more introverted than before, giving them the privacy they need to work better than the group. Her intense experience as a negotiating trainer, which reveals her misjudgments about creativity on the one hand and self-expression on the other hand, becomes clear. In this focus on practice, however, lies the weakness of the book. It tears the readers directly into the action, without psychologically clarifying what extroverted and introverted means at all, or what characterizes such structured characters.

This can somehow be recognized between the lines, but only there. Therefore, it makes sense to read previous or parallel introductions to the differences of personalities. In addition, their focus is on conditions in the US, which may not make it comprehensible to the local readership at all times. Thus Germany, with the nickname of "poets and thinkers", has traditionally been a country in which lonely thinkers, the silence in nature and the inwardness of romanticism were even ideals and in this respect a counterpart to the "just do it" of the USA.

For the readers in this country, it would be interesting to compare how the thought patterns described by Cain have crept into Germany and whether they stand in contrast to the so often quoted "German inwardness". Nonetheless, the reading is always worthwhile, especially because Cain ends up giving valuable practical tips for parents on how best to encourage introverted children. In addition, she dispels the myth that everyone has to sell in the best possible way in every situation - regardless of whether this corresponds to his or her character. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)

source

Susan Cain: Still. The power of the introverts. Goldmann 2018. ISBN: 978-3-442-15764-8