Three people tend to dominate 70% of every meeting. Sadly, it's rarely the ones with the best ideas.

In this episode of the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast, host Matt Abrahams sits down with Susan Cain, former Wall Street lawyer, negotiation consultant, and New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and Bittersweet. Susan Cain has spent her career exploring the introvert vs extrovert dynamic, and she draws upon years of research into how society's extrovert ideal shapes workplaces, schools, and leadership communication. Susan makes the case that introversion is a major asset, not a limitation.

Tune in to hear Matt and Susan discuss:
• The decades-old psychological desensitization technique that can rewire your brain out of a lifelong, paralyzing fear of public speaking.
• The core differences between shyness vs introversion, and why confusing anxiety with introversion is a costly mistake.
• How to run better meetings that give your quiet leaders a voice.
• Why introverts get passed over for promotion despite often out-producing their loudest colleagues
• The method that gets introverts and extroverts contributing equally. (OR The classroom technique that quietly triples who actually gets heard in a meeting)
• A famous musician's biggest so-called flaw that actually made him one of the most trusted communicators of all time.
• An oil rig's leader figured out how to be vulnerable at work and its accident rate dropped dramatically.

Introverts often outperform their louder colleagues, yet these quiet leaders get overlooked anyway. As Susan puts it, "Over time, what works is truly showing up in a way where you actually care." In a little less than half an hour, Susan shows what happens when the people who talk least stop ‘performing’ their confidence and start trusting their own rhythm.

About The Guest
Former Wall Street lawyer and negotiation expert Susan Cain has spent years studying how society's image of an extrovert influences everyday communication, schools, and workplaces. She writes The Quiet Life on Substack and is the New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, which was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Her record-breaking TED lectures have had over 50 million views, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages.

About Matt
Matt Abrahams is a leading communication expert, lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford GSB, and host of the award-winning Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast. He has coached presenters at TED, the World Economic Forum, and the UN Secretary-General's office, and his online talks have garnered millions of views worldwide. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter and Speaking Up without Freaking Out, two bestselling guides to confident, spontaneous communication.

Key Quotes
• "The best way to overcome the fear... is to expose yourself to it in very small and very manageable doses." - Susan Cain (08:01)
• "Your brain is basically interpreting the social encounter as an encounter with a saber-tooth tiger." - Susan Cain (09:06)
• "Quiet leaders deliver outcomes that are as strong and in some cases stronger than those of extroverted leaders." - Susan Cain (10:53)
• "We know from the Kellogg School that three people do 70% of the talking in your typical meeting." - Susan Cain (13:44)
• "Three people do 70% of the talking in your typical meeting." - Susan Cain (13:47)
• "You want to find a way to share that information truthfully while at the same time communicating that you have a plan." - Susan Cain (16:01)

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:05 The Extrovert Ideal
05:05 Shyness Vs. Introversion
07:24 Facing the Sabre-Tooth Tiger
09:59 What Quiet Leaders Do Differently
11:32 Designing Workplaces For Introverts
13:49 “Think, Pair, Share”
16:15 The Oil Rig Story: How Honesty Cut Accidents in Half
20:04 Matt's 3 Questions
25:38 Conclusion

Relevant Links:
Susan Cain:

Susan's Books: https://bookplease.ai/cain/quiet?podcast=think-fast-talk-smart / https://bookplease.ai/cain/bittersweet?podcast=think-fast-talk-smart

Episode References:
Ep. 69. Reframing Anxiety: How Stress Can Make You a Better Communicator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X6purBMt2M / https://www.fastersmarter.io/69-feeling-nervous-how-anxiety-can-fuel-better-communication/

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