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group of friends and I were meeting for lunch at a local
restaurant. Near our table, two televisions were tuned to a
sports channel, the volume low.
We were the only customers, and we werent there to watch televi-
sion. I walked over and turned them off.
Televisions in restaurants are so annoying, I explained when I re-
turned to the table.
My friend Charity looked at me as though I were slightly crazy.
I just tune them out, she said.
I looked at her as though she were slightly crazy.
How? I asked.
Introverts in an Extroverted World
Over the next few months, I found myself wondering about this ex-
change periodically. I find noisetelevisions or talk radio in waiting
rooms, one-sided cell-phone conversations, noisy restaurants
distracting to the point of being infuriating. But the restaurant tele-
visions hadnt bothered Charity at all.
What made us so different?
It wasnt until I was reading Susan Cains Quiet: The Power of In-
troverts in a World That Cant Stop Talking (Random House, 2012)
that I found an answer. Our personalitiesspecifically our natural
tendency toward introversion or extroversioninfluence the way
we handle the world around us.
If youve noticed the flood of articles, blog posts, and social-media
lists including 25 Frustrating Things About Being an Extrovert and
The Top Ten Myths About Introverts, you can thank Cain, whose
New York Times bestselling book unleashed a flood of conversation
about those traits.
Cains core ideas in Quiet are twofold. First, she suggests West-
ern (especially American) culture has, relatively recently, developed
what she terms an extrovert ideal we all feel pressure to follow.
Second, she says the unquestioned ubiquity of that model is not
serving us: in personal and political life, in schools and business,
and in creative pursuits.
Instead, she argues, we need to build a world in which the unique
talents of both introverts and extroverts are appreciated and used
to their greatest ability.

TO BE
MI LD
Eleanor Brown examines
the role of introverts in a
world full of selfies and
overwhelming stimulation.
By Eleanor Brown
BORN
SHAUN CLEARY
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ill
What Is an Introvert?
Cain defines the core difference between the two personality types
this way: Introverts and extroverts differ in the level of stimulation
they need to function well.
This explains, then, why Charity was so confused by my inability to
tune out the televisions during our lunch and why I was so confused
by her lack of concern. We are wired completely differently in terms
of our tolerance for stimulation in our environment: She functions
best when there is a great deal, and I am better off when there is
much less.
But Cain herself points out there is no single type of extrovert or
introvert. There are extroverts who love to spend large amounts of
time reading and introverts who are successful public figures. We
often look for the wrong signs in interpreting peoples behavior.
Introversion, for instance, is not the same thing as shyness. Shy-
ness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introver-
sion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating,
Cain clarifies.
Another trait often confused or conflated with introversion is a lack
of social skills, but again, that is not necessarily the case. Intro-
verts, especially introverted children, often spend a great deal of
time observing peoples interactions, a habit which can make them
excellent readers of emotion and communication.
It is possible for extroverts and introverts to behave out of charac-
ter, but only to a certain extent. Cain calls this the rubber band
theory of personality. She says we can stretch ourselves, but only
so much. Our attempts to take on a different rolefor an extrovert
to behave in an introverted manner or vice versaare most suc-
cessful in service of something we are
passionate about.
The best way to think about extroverts
and introverts is to consider the issue
of how we deal with stimulation. A
speaker who greets the audience in-
dividually after a talk and then invites
a group out for a drink to continue the
conversation is likely an extrovert, but
a speaker who leaves the stage and
hurries home to a blissfully quiet house is likely an introvert. There is
no difference in their skill as speaker, only in how expending energy
in that way affects each of them.
And both were probably born that way.
It is possible for extroverts and
introverts to behave out of character,
but only to a certain extent.

How important to you is time alone?

Which recharges you: a night out with
your friends or a night in with your
partner?
Would you find more value in a
group discussion or a one-on-one
conversation?
How do you feel after public speaking?
Which helps you process your
thoughts: talking about them or
thinking about them?
ARE
YOU AN
INTROVERT
OR AN ?
Q:
Q:
Q:
Q:
Q:
Introverts: Tend to find the most value in
smaller group interactions and alone time.
Extroverts: Are energized and motivated by
larger groups and talking issues through.
Take Susan Cains Quiet Quiz here.
PING NEPOMUCENO
3 CROSSFIT JOURNAL JUNE 2014 4
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Born Looking Inward
It seems to be nature, not nurture, that starts us down the road
toward extroversion or introversion. Jerome Kagan, the head of the
Laboratory for Child Development at Harvard University, theorized
that infants who reacted strongly to new stimuli would grow up to
be introverts.
Kagans experiments centered on a part of the brain called the
amygdala, part of the emotional brain that determines how we
respond to sensory input. His research proved his hypothesis:
Infants with more excitable amygdalas would wiggle and howl
when shown unfamiliar objects. Kagan called these children
high-reactives.
These highly reactive children were not necessarily scared. They
were simply very aware of the world around them.
Children who reacted less strongly to changes in their environment
had less excitable nervous systems. These low-reactives noticed
the unfamiliar objects but were not disturbed by them. These chil-
dren were more likely to grow into extroverts, which, given what
we now understand about an extroverts tolerance for stimulation,
makes sense.
This biological basis can be traced through the choices we make
during our lives.
A high-reactive introvert might have chosen to participate in an in-
dividual sport such as cross-country running in high school, and he
or she might have selected writing as a career. These choices are
attractive to an introvert because they allow a great deal of control
over the amount of environmental stimulation.
A low-reactive extrovert, on the other hand, might have chosen to
play a team sport such as soccer in high school, and he or she might
have taken jobs in sales because of the excitement provided by a
constantly changing environment and unpredictable interactions
with different people.
Cain reports that research like Kagans consistently shows intro-
version and extroversion, like other major personality traits , are
about 40 to 50 percent heritable.
And introversion is common: Cain says from one-third to one-half of
Americans are introverts.
So why do we talk more about the Kardashians than Kirkegaard?
Why is the National Basketball Association more popular than the
National Book Awards? Why do we insist a quiet, bookish child must
come out of her shell?
Why dont we celebrate introversion?
The Extrovert Ideal
We werent always an extroverted people. Cultural historian War-
ren Susman argues that, until the beginning of the 20th century, the
American zeitgeist was a Culture of Character, emphasizing easily
practicable virtues: morality, courtesy, integrity.
But the dawn of the new Industrial Age and its attendant chang-
esthe glorification of industry and the self-made man, the
broadening business circles bringing us into contact with new peo-
plealso brought about a shift in the kind of person we admired.
We became a Culture of Personality, Susman explains, revering
not the thoughtful or dutiful but the charismatic and charming. We
became a culture of salespeople and entertainers.
And our fascination with big personalities and our drive to emu-
late them have not abated. If anything, we have careened wildly
into a race to see who can be the most extroverted, the busiest,
the most outgoing.
Think of the seemingly inexhaustible number of people willing to ap-
pear on a seemingly inexhaustible number of reality shows. And our
fascination with the celebrity and attention social media grants all
of us turns us into extroverts, and often extreme extroverts. We all
have something public to saytypically immediately and without
thoughtabout every topic we encounter.
Sophia Dembling, author of The Introverts Way, points out that so-
cial media has turned even the process of grief into a performance.
Take, for instance, the tendency to become publically distraught
about the deaths of celebrities we did not know, or even our own
private losses, which we announce with tearstained Facebook
pages inviting all our friends to share our sorrow.
Our behavior demonstrates how the Culture of Personality has
changed the ideals we hold and pursue.
Extroversion as an individual personality trait is a wonderful thing.
The world needs extroverts. We need them at parties to keep the
conversation going, we need them on stage to entertain us, we
need them in diplomatic offices to build bridges between nations.
We need negotiators and salespeople and powerful personalities to
bring us together over conference tables and dinner tables.
But Cain thinks we have fallen so deeply in love with the idea of
extroversion that we have decided it is the cure for all our ills, even
when it clearly is not.
The Beer Test
Consider, for example, current politics. Todays U.S. Congress, Cain
points out, is made for extroverts, people who want to spend their
days talking and meeting with lobbyists and other lawmakers, who
enjoy public speaking and are energized by being around other peo-
ple. And because politics has become a full-time career, politicians
are concerned with electability, otherwise known as likeability,
which we tend to judge on the basis of extrovert traits.
One of these examples is the beer test, which seems to rear its
ugly head every presidential election: Which candidate would we
most want to have a beer with? This is, of course, a completely
irrelevant question (and an unlikely scenario), but it reveals how far
the Extrovert Ideal has spread.
Shouldnt the question be who is the most thoughtful, the most ex-
perienced, the most likely to get us through the good times and the
bad? Shouldnt we want someone brilliant? Smarter and more con-
templative than the rest of us put together? Sure, likeability should
Why do we talk more about the
Kardashians than Kirkegaard?

RUBY WOLFF
5 CROSSFIT JOURNAL JUNE 2014 6
be a consideration for a position requiring so much diplomacy, but
shouldnt it be only one item on the list of things we consider?
But because we are prisoners of the Extrovert Ideal, that beer ques-
tion comes around every election, and we, as a nation, seriously
spend time considering it.
Reading Cains thoughts on politics, I
was reminded of the 1992 presiden-
tial election, in which independent
candidate Ross Perot selected Navy
Vice Adm. James Stockdale as his
vice-presidential candidate.
Stockdale held a masters degree
from Stanford University and was a
highly decorated veteran and Medal
of Honor recipient who had spent seven-and-a-half years as a pris-
oner of war in Vietnam. But his poor performance during a televised
debate against more camera-ready opponents Dan Quayle and Al
Gore made him a national punchline instead of a serious candidate.
But we were, again, evaluating him on the wrong criteria. We
werent considering his ideas, his character, his resume. We
were judging him as a performeronly one part of the job he
sought. And he failed, in our eyes, because, as comedian Dennis
Miller said, he committed the one unpardonable sin in our cul-
ture: he was bad on television.
And therein lies the problem with the Extrovert Ideal. We are so
sure extroversion is the best measuring stick that we use it in situa-
tions in which it has little to no bearing.
The Extrovert Ideal at Work
Because the Western world has become so focused on extrover-
sion, we have begun to think of introversion as a personality flaw,
as something to be cured.
On one hand, if our culture stresses the importance of first impres-
sions, if we make decisions about who to hire based on job inter-
views, and if we require people to make public presentations, we
need to produce people with the right skillsthus the stress in
schools on group work and cooperative learning, on class discussion
and participation, on presentations and performance.
On the other hand, many of the decisions we have made and the
strategies we have developed because of our love of extroversion
are not, in fact, effective at all, Cain argues. For example, group
brainstorming, a technique adored from the classroom to the board-
room, is actually a poor method for generating ideas, and perfor-
mance gets worse as group size increases.
The rage for open-plan officestearing down the cubicle walls
as an active metaphor for improving communication and collabo-
rationcontributes to a decline in productivity. Committee deci-
sion-making leads to the acceptance of not the best ideas but those
expressed most vociferously.
Its not that there is no point in col-
laboration. But when we elevate it to
such a lofty status, assuming with-
out thought that it is the best way to
achieve the best possible outcome,
we have lost something.
In contrast, Cain presents research
demonstrating the value of a more
introverted process of invention and
collaboration. Instead of gathering
people together to generate ideas and make decisions, Cain prais-
es the value of asynchronous, passive forms of collaboration like
email, instant messaging, and online chat tools.
Whats the difference? The slower pace of the conversation and
having to articulate ideas through writing forces us into a more con-
templative and thoughtful state.
In addition, the impact of personal charisma is reduced, and ideas
can be considered on their merits, not on the enthusiasm or talent
of the presenter. To be fair, it could be argued that though the bias
toward a more enthusiastic speaker is removed, it is replaced by a
bias toward a more eloquent writer.
Despite our preference for group work, we often are visited by our
greatest genius when we are on our own.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., is an example of the kind
of creativity that can grow from quiet, independent work. In his
biography, he notes the importance of time spent in thoughtful,
practical solitude.
I dont believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by
community, he wrote.
Introverts as Leaders
According to Cain, our inability to distinguish between good pre-
sentation skills and true leadership ability has led us to automat-
ically look for a big personality to lead us, even in places where a
quieter, more thoughtful approach might be a boon.
Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School of business, has
proposed the idea that introverts would be better leaders in certain
cases. His research argues that, given a group of relatively passive
workers, an extroverted leader would be very successful, exciting
We are so sure extroversion is
the best measuring stick that
we use it in situations in which
it has little to no bearing.
Despite our preference for
group work, we often are
visited by our greatest genius
when we are on our own.

EXCERPTS FROM
MANIFESTO
3
2
1
BY SUSAN CAIN
Theres a word for people who are in their
heads too much: thinkers.
Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
Our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we
need our heed-takers more than ever.
Read the complete list at
thepowerofintroverts.com.
ALICIA BALDWIN
7 CROSSFIT JOURNAL JUNE 2014 8
and encouraging his or her staff to reach their goals. However, a
group of employees more interested in taking initiative might be
better off with an introverted leader, one less interested in the
impact he or she personally makes and more receptive to employ-
ee-driven suggestions.
Instead of making assumptions about the best type of leaders
(charismatic) and the best processes for groups to follow
(brainstorming), research such as Grants indicates we might
be better off looking at each individual group of people and
each situation. Members of a group composed largely of
introverts might be ill-suited for daily meetings but might
thrive when asked to deliver that same information via email,
which would give them time to consider and formulate opinions
and suggestions without the stress of oral presentation. But a
group of extroverted employees might starve for stimulation if
they were all ordered to telecommute.
Minister Adam McHugh talks about the Extrovert Ideal in his evan-
gelical faith in his book Introverts in the Church. While charismatic
ministers may make excellent preachers, what about the contem-
plative listening skills required by pastoral counseling, he wonders?
In a celebratory, enthusiastic religious service, how can we also
make space for individual meditation and private connection with
the divine?
In other words, dont we need both introverts and extroverts?
Living in Harmony
There is much information in Quiet that could be read as critical
of extroversion.
Because the power of introversion is rarely discussed, it would be
easy to read the book that way, especially for an introvert delighted
to find validationat last!
The real point of Cains work is not to disparage extroverts but to con-
sider the idea that we have been neglecting the contributions introverts
can make and the aspects of introversion we can learn from.
Research has demonstrated no difference between the intelligence
of introverts or extroverts, but they do perform quite differently on
tasks. For instance, in timed exercises or ones requiring multitask-
ing, extroverts perform better. But if the exercise requires patience
and persistence, introverts are more likely to succeed. Knowing our
talents can lead us to greater success.
And we have something to learn from each other. Extroverts
must become better at listening to good ideas presented with
less polish or through introverted channels such as writing. But
introverts must also learn to value their own ideas and to share
them effectively, even in traditionally extroverted ways.
One of the great strengths of introverts, Cain argues, is soft pow-
er. Rather than an aggressive battle for control, soft power is qui-
et persistence, a way of asserting oneself or ones ideas by using
those natural introverted skills of patience, conviction and tenacity.
It is worth being aware, too, of the needs and desires of our oppo-
sites. Extroverts must understand an introverts need for silence, as
introverts must support an extroverts requirement for stimulation.
Teachers and bosses must make space for introverts to process si-
lently and individually, without judgment, and for extroverts to work
together, to act and decide with quickness and energy. But there
must also be cognizance of what is gained and lost by each method.
And we must recognize our need for each other. As part of her
research, Cain went to a retreat targeted at introverts. She had
expected the experience to be peaceful, filled with people who
understood her need for quiet and calm. But she also found her-
self missing what she thought of as the natural balance between
introverts and extroverts.
I thought (the retreat) would make me long for a world in which
everyone speaks softly and no one carries a big stick. But instead it
reinforced my deeper yearning for balance.
ADDITIONAL READING
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture,
Adam McHugh
The Introverts Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World, Sophia Dem-
bling
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, Daniel
H. Pink
Quiet Kids: Help Your Introverted Child Succeed in an Extroverted
World, Christine Fonseca.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eleanor Brown is the New York Times and international bestselling
author of the novel The Weird Sisters, and of the fitness inspiration
book WOD Motivation. She has been doing CrossFit for two-and-
a-half years and trains at CrossFit Modig in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
RUBY WOLFF
Dan Bailey, the quieter version of
the extrovert Danny Broflex.
9 CROSSFIT JOURNAL JUNE 2014 10