Susan Cain

Susan Cain grew up in Lawrence, New York, on Long Island. She studied English at Princeton University and law at Harvard Law School. She then worked for seven years as a corporate lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb in New York and later ran a negotiation consulting firm. She calls herself an introvert, and she found public speaking hard.

She left law to write and spent seven years on Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (2012). The book argues that Western culture, and American culture most of all, holds up an extrovert ideal. Schools and offices reward group work and fast talk, and they miss the strengths of quiet people, such as careful thought and deep focus. Cain asks for more room for solitude at work and in class. She gave a TED talk on the book in 2012.

In 2015 she co-founded Quiet Revolution, a company that develops these ideas for schools, parents and workplaces. Quiet Power (2016) is a version for young readers. Bittersweet (2022) argues that sorrow and longing can lead people to connection and creativity.