quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-cant-stop-talking-susan-cain
as a typical HBS student, tall, with graciousmanners, prominent cheekbones,a winsome smile, and a fashionablychoppy, surfer-dude haircut. He’d liketo find a job in private equity when hegraduates. But talk to Don for a whileand you’ll notice that his voice is softerthan those of his classmates, his headever so slightly cocked, his grin a littletentative. Don is “a bitter introvert,” ashe cheerfully puts it—bitter because themore time he spends at HBS, the moreconvinced he becomes that he’d betterchange his ways.Don likes having a lot of time to himself,but that’s not much of an option atHBS. His day begins early in the morning,when he meets for an hour and ahalf with his “Learning Team”—a preassignedstudy group in which participationis mandatory (students at HBSpractically go to the bathroom in140/929
teams). He spends the rest of the morningin class, where ninety students sittogether in a wood-paneled, U-shapedamphitheater with stadium seating. Theprofessor usually kicks off by directinga student to describe the case study ofthe day, which is based on a real-lifebusiness scenario—say, a CEO who’sconsidering changing her company’ssalary structure. The figure at the heartof the case study, in this case the CEO,is referred to as the “protagonist.” Ifyou were the protagonist, the professorasks—and soon you will be, is the implication—whatwould you do?The essence of the HBS education isthat leaders have to act confidently andmake decisions in the face of incompleteinformation. The teaching methodplays with an age-old question: If youdon’t have all the facts—and often youwon’t—should you wait to act until141/929
- Page 89 and 90: magazine, “if you have a big, hus
- Page 91 and 92: parents and teachers conspired to o
- Page 93 and 94: the one who’s had an 80 or 85 ave
- Page 95 and 96: The rest of the organization menwou
- Page 97 and 98: personality traits are genetically
- Page 99 and 100: The victor of that campaign? Thefig
- Page 101 and 102: new demands of self-presentation.Wh
- Page 103 and 104: senior manager at Eastman Kodak tol
- Page 105 and 106: “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”
- Page 107 and 108: learn to stage-manage our voices, g
- Page 109 and 110: 2THE MYTH OF CHARISMATICLEADERSHIPT
- Page 111 and 112: learning how to be more energetic,
- Page 113 and 114: PowerBars, bananas, and corn chips.
- Page 115 and 116: and impossibly defined cheekbones.E
- Page 117 and 118: off his expressive face, they cry o
- Page 119 and 120: “Did you hesitate or go straight
- Page 121 and 122: hands. When we’re finished, the q
- Page 123 and 124: love knowledge for its own sake, no
- Page 125 and 126: Ba-da-da-da, YES! Dum-dum-dum-DUM,
- Page 127 and 128: His intellect is impressive, too.Th
- Page 129 and 130: so on. He is motivated by love, he
- Page 131 and 132: I can’t help but wonder why none
- Page 133 and 134: salesmanship as a way of sharing on
- Page 135 and 136: TVs silently broadcasting campus ne
- Page 137 and 138: Capital of Extroversion.” But it
- Page 139: to shake Wall Street, Main Street,
- Page 143 and 144: students’ grade, and a much large
- Page 145 and 146: students. When students fail to spe
- Page 147 and 148: rowdy evening? Students at HBS go o
- Page 149 and 150: judges HBS by how well it prepares
- Page 151 and 152: 151/929“creative,” she answered
- Page 153 and 154: Yet even at Harvard Business School
- Page 155 and 156: salvaged items. But his group didn
- Page 157 and 158: But Mills also pointed to the commo
- Page 159 and 160: powerful as a meeting goes on. It a
- Page 161 and 162: somebody says, ‘I’m bored. Why
- Page 163 and 164: president of Rite-Solutions, and Ji
- Page 165 and 166: have in common was something theydi
- Page 167 and 168: charisma but for extreme humilityco
- Page 169 and 170: he wanted to avoid simplistic answe
- Page 171 and 172: introverted people, as well as one
- Page 173 and 174: results. And personal opinions are
- Page 175 and 176: T-shirts as possible in ten minutes
- Page 177 and 178: which motivated them to work harder
- Page 179 and 180: other hand, “may wish to adopt a
- Page 181 and 182: quietly. “Get off my bus,” Blak
- Page 183 and 184: to ‘reenter that forbidden zone b
- Page 185 and 186: their encounter in her newspapercol
- Page 187 and 188: do it, he said. “Who am I, that I
- Page 189 and 190: If Parks spoke through her actions,
teams). He spends the rest of the morning
in class, where ninety students sit
together in a wood-paneled, U-shaped
amphitheater with stadium seating. The
professor usually kicks off by directing
a student to describe the case study of
the day, which is based on a real-life
business scenario—say, a CEO who’s
considering changing her company’s
salary structure. The figure at the heart
of the case study, in this case the CEO,
is referred to as the “protagonist.” If
you were the protagonist, the professor
asks—and soon you will be, is the implication—what
would you do?
The essence of the HBS education is
that leaders have to act confidently and
make decisions in the face of incomplete
information. The teaching method
plays with an age-old question: If you
don’t have all the facts—and often you
won’t—should you wait to act until
141/929
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