Susan Cain

  • Expert on Leadership and Innovation
  • Bestselling Author, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

Co-founder of Quiet Revolution, LLC; one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business; an accomplished corporate lawyer and negotiations consultant for clients such as JP Morgan, GE, and Merrill Lynch; and author of the award winning bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking–Susan Cain is a (quiet) force to be reckoned with. 

A self-proclaimed introvert, she is soft-spoken yet powerful, witty, and incredibly engaging. Cain has received high praise for her presentations at Google, Microsoft, Harvard, West Point, the SEC and the U.S. Treasury and is the recipient of several awards, including the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award for Communication and Leadership, and Harvard Law School’s Celebration Award for Thought Leadership. Through her countless appearances in popular media, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, CBS This Morning and NPR, Cain shows audiences how to tap into their “quiet side” and leverage talents typically associated with introverts. 

 

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Past Hosts Include:
  • Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School
  • Bing/Microsoft
  • Globoforce
  • The Advertising Research Foundation
  • Parents Council of Washington, D.C.
  • Parent Edge
Rave Reviews About Susan Cain
Susan Cain keynoted at our annual marquee event and was absolutely superb. Polished, relevant, and accessible, she connected with the audience immediately and held them in rapt attention throughout her presentation. Susan was our most popular speaker, and I would recommend her for any engagement. This was one of the best experiences I have had working with a keynote speaker.

More rave reviews

"Your talk was remarkable. People loved it. You have the incredible and rare capacity to be 100% human and authentic; 100% interesting; and 100% entertaining. Many I spoke to described it as the highlight of the conference."

-Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School

"You are an excellent speaker and your event was a huge success! You make it look so easy. You were our most well attended Bing Signature Speaker to date."

-Bing/Microsoft

"Within minutes, Susan Cain became one of my favorite speakers of all time. From the moment she stepped onto the WorkHuman stage, she displayed an undeniable range of knowledge, clarity, authenticity, and warmth. Best of all, she was the same in-person. No surprise, the feedback from our attendees was off the charts. I cannot recommend Susan highly enough and can’t wait to have her back at WorkHuman!"

-Globoforce

"After spending all day yesterday basking in the glow of that marvelous event Tuesday night, I just wanted to send you a personal note thanking you for making the entire event so fascinating and inspiring for so many people. We have received an enormous amount of feedback from the over four hundred people who attended the event indicating that it was the most interesting and inspiring lecture that they have attended in a very long time. Your ability to connect with an audience in a very personal way while imparting fascinating information about all of us is indeed unique. We are proud as an organization to have brought such an interesting and inspiring speaker to our community. Your talk will resonate in the educational community in the Washington, D.C., area for a long time to come."

-Parents Council of Washington, D.C.

"Susan was outstanding, and people were blown away. We’ve brought a long list of accomplished speakers and thought leaders to Mercer Island, and I have heard a number of people repeat that Susan was the best speaker we have ever had. I personally agree. Her message is salient, timely and crucial—especially for parents and teachers—and she is also warm, witty, engaging, and articulate. She not only speaks softly, but with such kindness and humility that even when she disputes the value of group work in the classroom, teachers and administrators fully understand her without getting defensive. Back in the day when I taught, my Dean of Faculty described his job as “trying to herd cats.” I truly think Susan Cain would be successful herding even the most independent-minded cats over to the side of our quieter kids. On behalf of the entire Parent Edge team and Mercer Island Community, please thank her for her time, energy, and passion."

-Parent Edge
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Keynote - The Power of Introverts | InnoTown [48:04] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Susan Cain
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Quiet: How to Harness the Strengths of Introverts to Change How We Work, Lead, and Innovate

Did you know that introverted leaders often deliver better results than extroverted leaders do? That the most spectacularly creative people tend to be introverts? That the most innovative thinking happens alone and not in teams? One of the central challenges of any business is to bring out the best ...

Did you know that introverted leaders often deliver better results than extroverted leaders do? That the most spectacularly creative people tend to be introverts? That the most innovative thinking happens alone and not in teams?

One of the central challenges of any business is to bring out the best in its employees. Yet when it comes to introverts—who make up a third to a half of the workforce—our leadership strategy mainly consists of asking them to act like extroverts. This is a serious waste of talent and energy.

In an enlightening, relatable, and practical talk, Susan Cain shows us that introverts think and work in ways that are crucial to the survival of today’s organizations. How can you structure your organization so that the best ideas—rather than those of the most vocal and assertive people—dominate? How do introverts’ and extroverts’ different personalities cause them to solve problems and evaluate risk differently? What do introverts know about creativity that the rest of us should learn?

Drawing on her original research and the latest in neuroscience and psychology, Cain will radically change your view of the best way to develop leaders, manage teams, make smart hires, and stimulate innovation.

Quiet Kids: How Our Education System Can Teach Introverted Students

A central challenge of any educational system is to bring out the best in all students. This means providing a robust learning experience for both introverted and extroverted children. Yet, too often, when it comes to introverts—who comprise nearly a half of every classroom—we simply ask them to act ...

A central challenge of any educational system is to bring out the best in all students. This means providing a robust learning experience for both introverted and extroverted children. Yet, too often, when it comes to introverts—who comprise nearly a half of every classroom—we simply ask them to act like extroverts. This is a serious waste of quiet children’s considerable and under-noticed talents, not to mention their energy and happiness.

In an enlightening and practical talk, Susan Cain shows us that introverted children possess gifts that enhance the culture of any classroom and are crucial to the survival of our society. Drawing on her original research, compiled over many years, Cain answers a plethora of questions, including how and when to use group work, grade on class participation, and use social media in the classroom. Passionate yet coolly reasoned, Cain will radically change your view of the best way to cultivate the talents of quiet children, develop their leadership skills, and create a classroom culture designed for introverts and extroverts alike. This is an urgent and necessary talk for anyone concerned with the state of education today.

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Biography

Susan Cain is the author of the bestsellers Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been translated into 40 languages, is in its seventh year on the New York Times best seller list, and was named the #1 best book of the year by Fast Company magazine, which also named Cain one of its Most Creative People in Business. LinkedIn named her the 6th Top Influencer in the world. Susan has partnered with Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant and Dan Pink to launch the Next Big Idea Book Club; they donate all their proceeds to children’s literacy programs. 

Her writing has appeared in the The New York TimesThe AtlanticThe Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Her record-smashing TED talk has been viewed over 30 million times on TED.com and YouTube combined, and was named by Bill Gates one of his all-time favorite talks. Cain has also spoken at Microsoft, Google, the U.S. Treasury, the S.E.C., Harvard, Yale, West Point and the US Naval Academy. She received Harvard Law School’s Celebration Award for Thought Leadership, the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award for Communication and Leadership, and was named one of the world’s top 50 Leadership and Management Experts by Inc. Magazine.

She is an honors graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. She lives in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two sons. Visit Cain and the Quiet Revolution at www.quietrev.com.