MORE POWER TO THE INTROVERTS!

Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (New York: Crown, 2012) (There is a saying, "There are two types of people in the world. Those who do the work, and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first category. There is less competition."  I thought of this observation and admonishment as I read Quiet. We are living in a time when people are making themselves into products, and constantly "marketing" themselves (or, as students in my Commercial Law class might appreciate, constantly "puffing" themselves). Ostensibly, on the surface, it is the world of the extrovert. Yet! "Our lives are shaped as profoundly by personality as by gender or race. And the single most important aspect of personality--the 'north and south of temperament,' as one scientist puts it--is where we fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. Our place on this continuum influences our choices of friends and mates, and how we make conversation, resolve differences, and show love. If affects the careers we choose and whether or not we succeed at them. It governs how likely we are toe exercise, commit adultery, function well without sleep, learn from our mistakes, place a big bet in the stock market, delay gratification, be a good leader, and 'ask 'what if.'* It's reflected in our brain pathways, neurotransmitters, and remote corners of our nervous systems. Today introversion and extroversion are two of the most exhaustively researched subject in personality psychology, arousing the curiosity of hundreds of scientists." "*Answer key: exercise: extroverts; commit adultery: extroverts; function well without sleep: introverts; learn from our mistakes; introverts; place big bets: extroverts; delay gratification: introverts; be a good leader: in some cases introverts, in other cases extroverts, depending on the type of leadership called for; ask 'what if': introverts. [] As with other complementary pairings--masculinity and femininity, East and West, liberal and conservative--humanity would be unrecognizable, and vastly diminished, without both personality styles. [] Yet today we make room for a remarkable narrow range of personality styles. We're told that to be great is to be bold [note: have you ever notices how, when lawyers or law professors tell "war stories," they always make themselves the heroes? I suspect, however, it is mainly the extrovert lawyers  and law professors who tell war stories; the introverts tend not to boast.], to be happy is to be sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts--which means that we've lost sight of who we really are. Depending in which study you consult, one third to one half of Americans are introverts--in other words, one out of every two or three people you know. (Given that the United States is among the most extroverted of nations, the number must be at least as high in other parts of the world.) If you're not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one." Id. at 3-4. "It makes sense that so many introverts hide even from themselves. We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal--the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypal extrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual--the kind who's comfortable 'putting himself out there.' Sure we allow technologically gifted loners who launch companies in garages to have any personality they please, but they are the exceptions not the rule, and our tolerance extends mainly to those who get fabulously wealthy or hold the promise of doing so." "Introversion--along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness--is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform." Id. at 4. "Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor or a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're 'in your head too much,' a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral." "Of course, there's another word for such people: thinkers." Id. at 7. "It's not always so easy, it turns out, to identify your core personal projects. And it can be especially tough for introverts, who have spent so much of their lives conforming to extroverted norms that by the time they choose a career, or a calling, it feels perfectly normal to ignore their own preferences. They may be uncomfortable in law school or nursing school or in the marketing department, but no more so than they were back in middle school or summer camp." "I , too, was once in this position, I enjoyed practicing corporate law, and for a while I convinced myself that I was an attorney at heart. I badly wanted to believe it, since I had already invested years in law school and on-the-job training, and much about Wall Street was alluring. My colleague were intellectual, kind, and considerate (mostly). I made a good living, I had an office on the forty-second floor of a skyscraper with views of the Statue of Liberty. I enjoyed the idea that I could flourish in such a high-powered environment. And I was pretty good at asking the 'but' and 'what if' questions that are central to the thought processes of most lawyers." "It took me almost a decade to understand that the law was never my personal project, not even close...." Id. at 217-218.).