NOT BASEBALL

Chapter 2 of Quiet is very long.  It goes from a Tony Robbins seminar to Harvard Business School to Kimberly-Clarke.  It discusses how introverts may not fit in many current structures.  It also tells of strengths introverts bring.  For instance, extroverted leaders can enhance group performance when employees are passively following instructions.  However, introverted leaders are more effective with active employees. Quiet suggests this is because the leader listens and adapts. A quote from the book states that, “We need leaders who build not their own egos, but the institutions they run.”  Given some of the bosses for whom I have worked I could certainly identify a few who would benefit from a daily reading of that quote.

It continues back to 1960’s Montgomery, Egypt at the time of Moses and also visits an evangelical church. It continues to tell how some surprising places- like the evangelical church are trying to adapt to support introverted personalities.  It explains how introverts like Rosa Parks and Moses and extroverts like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Aaron can support one another to accomplish great things.

Chapter 3 seems promising.  It purports to describe how many ideas in business today that try to use teamwork to increase productivity and creativity may actually stifle productivity and creativity.  Project and test grading may delay my reading of Chapter 3 for a week, or so.