Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not.
Susan CainRead
Studies have shown that performance gets worse as group size increases ... If you have talented and motivated people, they should be encouraged to work alone when creativity or efficiency is the highest priority.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Larger groups can hinder performance, so talented individuals should work independently for better creativity and efficiency.
This quote by Susan Cain highlights the phenomenon of social loafing, where individuals in larger groups may contribute less due to the diffusion of responsibility. It suggests that in situations where creativity and productivity are critical, it is often more effective to allow skilled and motivated individuals to work alone rather than in large teams, where their potential may be stifled.
Themes
Group SizePerformanceCreativityEfficiencyIndependence
In practice
Example use cases
In a team meeting about product design, referencing this quote can emphasize the importance of individual contributions.
More from Susan Cain
All quotes →We need to do teacher training to educate them about what temperament means. Shyness is painful and you want to help a child with shyness - but the underlying temperament of being a careful, sensitive person is to be honoured, valued and respected.
Susan CainRead
But when the group is literally capable of changing our perceptions, and when to stand alone is to activate primitive, powerful, and unconscious feelings of rejection, then the health of these institutions seems far more vulnerable than we think.
Susan CainRead
We don't need giant personalities to transform companies. We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they run.
Susan CainRead
What if you love knowledge for its own sake, not necessarily as a blueprint to action? What if you wish there were more, not fewer reflective types in the world?
Susan CainRead
[Introverts,] the world needs you and it needs the things you carry. So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.
Susan CainRead
Similar quotes
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don't worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency.
Jon StewartRead
However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.
J. K. RowlingRead
Though the academic authorities are actually proud of conducting everything by means of Examinations, they seldom indulge in what religious people used to descibe as Self-Examination. The consequence is that the modern State has educated its citizens in a series of ephemeral fads.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
I've got a 12-year-old grandson who, when he was 3 years old, before he could say many other words, could name the different kinds of dinosaurs.
Walter CronkiteRead
When I was 11, I knew that I wanted to write a kid's book and tell the world what it was like being deaf.
Marlee MatlinRead
Young men and women, your education is ever important - to us, to you, and to God.
Russell M. NelsonRead