Translator: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Claudia Sander
Rosa Parks, pioneer of the civil rights movement.
Steve Wozniak, inventor of the most popular computer model.
Bill Gates, technological genius.
Sir Isaac Newton, world-renowned physicist.
J. K. Rowling, author of the best-selling book series.
Dr. Seuss, one of the most famous children's authors.
Our world would not be the same without these introverted leaders.
Raise your hand if you're afraid of public speaking.
Thank God. I thought I was the only one here.
During my speech,
I am going to be talking to you about how I gained enough confidence in myself
to have the courage to stand in front of all of you today.
In second grade, I was often described
as a shy, quiet girl who had yet to come out of her shell.
I favored coloring and reading books by myself
over socializing with my classmates.
One day, my teacher, Ms. Spaniard, who was very aware of my shyness,
contacted my parents
so that she could coordinate our outfits for class the next day.
Here's a picture of Ms. Spaniard and I on that very day,
wearing our same blue sweaters.
Despite my shyness, I've always had a somewhat goofy side to me as well.
As a child, I always had high aspirations for myself,
and I was constantly thinking about my future.
I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps ever since I was a little girl.
I used to ask him, "Dad, what do you do for a living?"
And he would simplify what he actually does,
which is work in private equity,
into little-kid terms, by saying he sold things to people.
So, for the longest time,
I thought my dad sold furniture for a living.
(Laughter)
And, of course, I wanted to sell furniture for a living too.
This goal of mine quickly changed as my interest in rocks progressed.
I wanted to be an archaeologist up until high school.
My obsession for archaeology grew to the point
where I asked my grandmother for a rock polisher
and a metal detector for Christmas one year.
I was convinced that I would find some sort of gold or valuable item
buried in my backyard using this very metal detector.
Despite my constant need to think about the future,
which frankly has not changed one bit,
I've always been very apprehensive to pursue these goals.
How would I, a shy, quiet girl, be able to get her voice heard
and pursue her dreams in such a loud society?
Introverts prefer solitude and gain their energy from being alone,
while extroverts prefer socialization
and gain their energy from the presence of others.
I credit my shyness and fear of social disapproval
to being completely introverted.
However, I never thought that I fit the definition of an introvert perfectly.
So, as I grew up, I thought to myself,
"How does my personality really fit into the binary
of being completely introverted or completely extroverted?"
I felt uneasy about how my personality fit into this binary,
until stumbling upon a quote by Carl Jung,
an influential psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology.
He proposed that there's no such thing as a pure extrovert or pure introvert.
"Such a man would be in the lunatic asylum."
I was under the impression that I was an introvert in an extroverted world
until high school.
So, I acted accordingly.
In middle school, I was very comfortable with being myself around my best friends,
but the minute I had to interact with people I was less comfortable with,
I would tense up and felt like was acting awkward.
As much as I loved my school and as much as I loved my friends,
my absolute favorite part of the day
was waiting in the carpool line for my car,
next to my pink polka-dotted backpack,
so that I could go home and spend some time alone.
The perspective that I had on how my personality fit into society
changed when I went to boarding school.
Now that my school was also my home,
I noticed my introversion a lot more so than I ever did in middle school.
After a long day of socializing, going to classes and doing work,
my very first instinct was to go upstairs to my room and spend some time alone.
But when I was doing this,
I felt like I was missing on everyone else was socializing
and getting to know each other,
but I was never satisfied with spending all of my time alone,
nor was I satisfied with socializing all the time.
So, I didn't quite understand how I fit in.
Ever since Ancient Greece,
when public speaking was an expectation in our democratic society,
extroversion has been the ideal.
Our culture is built on individualism and the principle of speaking up.
We pay very little attention to the power of creativity,
which is more often than not bolstered by solitude and thinking,
characteristics that introverts embody.
This ideal undermines a quiet resilience that many individuals hold in our society.
Introversion should not be seen as a burden
when it can be an opportunity to be successful.
Because we live in this extrovert ideal,
I felt the pressure to go out of my comfort zone
and be extroverted myself.
At the end of my sophomore year,
I attended a social justice conference in Seattle, Washington.
As a member of the youth group of this conference,
we were required to gather onstage,
but speaking about our experiences was optional.
As an introvert at the time, I was terrified of public speaking.
Nothing has changed, even though I'm standing in front of all of you today.
And with no intention to speak
in front of the 1,000 or so participants of this conference,
my body acted before my mind could stop it.
I took a step forward and I grabbed the microphone.
In a world that prizes extroverts,
my faithful step toward this microphone
was the first step in my self-imposed introvert's challenge.
I've continued to follow my introvert's challenge
in an effort to become a functional ambivert,
someone who embodies the qualities of both introverts and extroverts.
In order to develop a more harmonic personality in our extroverted society,
I opted to become a peer-discussion leader in high school.
Initially, as a peer-discussion leader, I was very uncomfortable
leading weighty discussions about drug and alcohol abuse,
healthy versus unhealthy relationships, and bullying,
with people that I barely knew.
But as the year progressed, my nervousness abated.
For the first time, I didn't feel confused about how I fit into this society.
I was confident that my personality mattered
and I was proud to call myself an ambivert.
In my experience, being an ambivert is like being a balloon.
Balloons are meant to expand to reach their fullest capacity,
but they can only expand so far.
Eventually, as time passes by,
they begin to deflate and they return to their original state.
As an ambivert who does prefer introversion,
I strive to stretch my balloon in extroverted ways.
In order to grow and find balance in my life,
I've stretched myself as far as I am capable of going.
However, after having done so,
I know that it is important to return to my comfortable state.
That's why, after this speech is done,
I can guarantee that I will be crawled up in my bed,
watching a TV show.
I stretched my balloon farther than I ever thought possible
during the summer after my junior year of high school.
I continued to pursue my introvert's challenge
when attending an entrepreneurial summer study program
in Boston, Massachusetts.
I gained an understanding of myself that I never had before,
and I began sharing my voice more frequently and more confidently.
I had to create two business plans during this program,
and I presented them in front of venture capitalists.
I acted as a CEO for both of my companies
and I never felt intimidated or scared to share my ideas.
I felt passionate about what I had created,
and I became more extroverted through the experience.
Sometimes, all it takes is finding your passion in life
to feel comfortable in an extroverted world.
In a loud world where I used to keep quiet,
my voice finally mattered and was finally being heard.
My introvert's challenge has proven to be a successful journey,
and now I consider myself a highly functioning ambivert
in situations that do not come easily to introverts.
The balance that I found in my life was being ambiverted,
and I was able to interact in an extroverted world
while still being me.
Rosa Parks, pioneer of the civil rights movement.
Steve Wozniak, inventor of the most popular computer model.
Bill Gates, technological genius.
Sir Isaac Newton, world-renowned physicist.
J. K. Rowling, author of the best-selling book series.
Dr. Seuss, one of the most famous children's authors.
These introverts show us
that leaders do not have to be gregarious, extroverted or talkative to lead.
People can lead by introducing things in unconventional ways.
As Gandhi famously says,
"In a gentle way, you can shake the world."
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)