Introverts are typically a type of person whom you assume isn't very good at making conversation and tend to prefer to be alone versus social situations. This is typically true, thus why the presumption of such things comes to mind when hearing the word 'Introvert'. In the TED talk "The Power of Introverts", which was hosted by Susan Cain, she talks about introversion in the average human and how this type of personality can actually be useful not just for the individual but for the community. She does this through the use of story-telling, real life examples, and just through talking about the pros and cons of introversion.

To provide a little bit of background, Susan Cain was a Wall Street lawyer who at the time of the video, had recently finished up writing and publishing her first book: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. The book gained some steam and that lead to her being asked to perform her TED Talk on the topic of introversion, which is ironic because she is an introvert herself, and now she would have to publicly speak in front of a very large crowd for a renowned business platform all about spreading great ideas. She starts off the talk with an interesting story describing her first experience with having to pretend to be an extrovert, where she went away to summer camp when she was just a little girl, and there she was at first teased by a fellow cabin member and then by the cabin counselor for not being outgoing enough while she quietly read her books. Her cabin counselor actually told her she needed to follow the friendly camp song they had all learned, which was to be "R-O-W-D-I-E". Following this short story, she moves further into her presentation by discussing how introversion is neglected in schooling around the nation, and that they try and force an extroverted way of learning onto the students while they are in class. She brings up this example of extroversion to then continue on to explain that not only is extroversion forced onto people in school, but also in situations such as in the workplace and in religious institutions. In addition to this, she moves on to discuss the contributions that introverts can provide to society due to their personality being that way. She gives examples of introverts being helpful contributors to society by listing actual people; whether it was Steve Wozniak being introverted when he was in grade school which helped lead him to being so focused and passionate about his job when he first invented the Apple computer, to Gandhi being an introvert himself, but still being the source of peace and hope for a whole group of peoples because he knew what must be done for change, so he became the leader he never meant to be and his now a figurehead of inspiration to this very day. She used these very real examples of people we all know, and described how their introversion helped them to that path of excellence, to prove that being an introvert can be useful and provide a contribution to society. 

To be an introvert is to be the type of person that would prefer to go and have a nice quiet dinner either alone or with a close friend rather than to be someone to goes out to the bar and socializes with a group of different people, or at least this is a description she provides in her talk about her personal experience being an introvert. Being an introvert is not someone who is shy, socialization is not what introverts are scared of, rather an introvert is someone who thrives in working in certain solo situations and prefers solitude more often than not. This is as described by Cain in her talk, in attempt to make people see that introverts are not just lonely and sappy people as interpreted by most people when they think of introverted personalities. She wants people to understand it is just a type of personality, a type that succeeds by itself more so than in group settings. Cain wants to get the bias out of everyone's heads that introversion is some sort of loner who dislikes other humans, cause that's far from the truth. She wants people to understand and respect the personality, and to understand that if not for having the two different types, the world would be a very different place. Introverts have the ability to think freely, and work with their ideas and emotions by themselves and successfully protrude these into their life.

The main, persuasive point that Cain is trying to get across here is that introverts should not be the shunned group of society just because of their natural tendencies to be quiet, solo-working persons. She wants the crowd, and any viewers who may see the video, to believe her and understand that introverts are not a 'poison' to society just because they like to be quiet and alone sometimes. In her eyes, they can be anything they want, whether its being a leader of some kind, or even an entrepreneur. Introverts can be just as contributing to society as an extrovert, their ability to do work well alone does not alone harm productivity by any means, and that is the point she is trying to get across. After Cain finishes up the end of her short story at the beginning of the speech, she tries to explain that her summer camp experience story was just one of many stories she could have shared about her introversion; and how they are all similar in the fact that the stories had to do with someone telling Cain that this lifestyle of preferring to be alone sometimes is bad and unhealthy for her. Even though the world we live in attempts to push introversion out and pursue an extroverted way of living, Cain says it would be hard to try and get rid of the introverts. She claims that "every one-in-two to every one-in-three people you meet will be an introvert", that means every one out of two or three people you see will be an introvert. For those not good at math, that is a very good chance that you will encounter an introvert, and not just once but multiple times a day. Cain also goes on to describe certain famous and historical figures in our society who helped make important contributions to our society, this is important because all the people she listed just so happened to also be introverts. She explains the people like Gandhi and Rosa Parks were all self-identifying introverts, and yet look at their accomplishments, they are some of the most renowned leaders of their respected movements. This goes against the whole stereotypical meta that introverts are quiet, lazy, and unable to lead. These people went against their personality theme, because they felt they had to, and if not for what they did, there would have been no change in that time. She says this to prove that introverts can be leaders, introverts can be powerful. Cain wants people to understand that introverts are contributing members of society and we need to get rid of the bias that extroverts are better and that quiet, shy people, are of no use. Cain believes that there is not a perfect, or good, balance between the split of introverts and extroverts in our society. She explicitly says "we need more of a yin and yang between the two types", because she believes society would function better off if this were to be true.  She believes a better connection between the two types of people will be better off for connections of creativity, and ideas.

To explain her thoughts and insights on the topic of introversion, Cain uses personal stories, facts on the topic, and comparing the pros and cons in the world of introversion and extroversion. To be an introvert is not all about someone who is very quiet, unsociable, and awkward. That is the point Cain wants to get across, to prove that introverts should be known for more than just those few descriptors. She doesn't want people to get the connotation that introverts are just lazy, non-contributing members of society, just because they are typically more quiet and less sociable than others. These traits do not describe a person as a whole, even with these certain traits, introverts can accomplish so much more than that. People should not be defined by just one word, especially if that one word gives a negative connotation in the reams of society. Cain wants the world to understand that if we are to be more efficient, we need to find a better balance between the differences of introversion and extroversion, we would be better off as a society. 


