Would you be surprised if I told you that the vaudevillean professor and the recluse who prefers a life of the mind are one and
Will this job allow me to spend time on in-character activities like, for example, reading, strategizing, writing, and researching? Will I have a private workspace or be subject to the constant demand...
Why do we accept this one-size-fits-all situation as a given when we know perfectly well that adults don’t organize themselves this way? We often marvel at how introverted, geeky kids blossom into sec...
Whoever you are, bear in mind that appearance is not reality.
Who could be happy in a world of podiums and microphones?
Whenever you’re in an army group and somebody says, ‘I think we’re all getting on the bus to Abilene here,’ that is a red flag.
When you go to a football game and someone offers you a beer [...], they're really saying hi, have a glass of extroversion.
What's so magical about solitude? In many fields, it's only when you're alone that you can engage in deliberate practice. This is the key to exceptional achievement.
What scientists haven’t realized until recently is that these risk factors have an upside. In other words, the sensitivities and the strengths are a package deal. High-reactive kids who enjoy good par...
What is the inner behavior of people whose most visible feature is that when you take them to a party they aren't very pleased about it?
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?
We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts—which means that we’ve lost sight of who we really are.
We perceive talkers as smarter than quiet types—even though grade-point averages and SAT and intelligence test scores reveal this perception to be inaccurate.
We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they run.
We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual—the
We failed to realize that what makes sense for the asynchronous, relatively anonymous interactions of the Internet might not work as well inside the face-to-face, politically charged, acoustically noi...
We don't need giant personalities to transform companies. We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they run.
Usually they’re carried away by people who are assertive and domineering. The risk with our students is that they’re very good at getting their way. But that doesn’t mean they’re going the right way....
Use your natural powers—of persistence, concentration, insight, and sensitivity—to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems, make art, think deeply.
Unleashing a passion can transform a life...