From the ASAE 2025 Stage: Susan Cain on Unlocking Quiet Brilliance

Over the past decade, I’ve had the wonderful privilege of facilitating conversations with people who’ve reshaped how we think about leadership, courage, and possibility—from heads of state to Fortune 500 CEOs, Nobel laureates, and Olympic champions.
Regardless of who I’m speaking with, my goal stays the same: to unlock the incredible stories and lived experiences of my guests in a way that serves my audience.

I want people to walk out thinking differently and doing differently—by being part of a conversation that only happened in that room, on that day, with that guest.

That’s exactly what I set out to do with Susan Cain at ASAE’s Annual Meeting earlier this year.

Susan Cain on What Hybrid Work Gets Right—and Wrong

Cain sparked a global conversation with her bestselling book Quiet and viral TED Talk, challenging the myth that great leaders must be the loudest voices in the room.

But the world of work has changed dramatically since Quiet was first published in 2012.

Back then, “remote work” conjured images of mining sites and offshore rigs. Today, we’re navigating geographically distributed teams and hybrid schedules. Both have fundamentally reshaped how we connect, collaborate, and contribute.

So, I asked Cain a question I’d been wondering for a while: Has hybrid work leveled the playing field for introverts, or has the “extroverted ideal” just followed us onto Zoom?

Her answer: both.

“Video calls and asynchronous communication have created incredible opportunities for introverts to contribute,” she told me.

But, she added, there’s a catch.

“We’ve also created new performance pressures. There’s this thing I call ‘performance introversion,’ where people feel they need to be ‘on’ in a different way. And Zoom fatigue affects introverts differently because they’re managing both the social energy and the technology energy.”

Hybrid work didn’t erase the introvert-extrovert gap. It reshaped it.

And that means we need new leadership habits, better questions, and more intentional design to bring out the best in every brain.

Eight Words That Change Everything

Cain offered ASAE leaders one powerful question to get the best out of their teams: “What brings out your best thinking and contributions?”

It’s a question that can change everything—from how you run meetings to how your team makes decisions.

She shared a story about a tech CEO who was ready to fire a “star” hire—someone who crushed interviews but seemed disengaged in team meetings.

It wasn’t until Cain suggested they ask the magic question that the truth came out: They simply needed the agenda 24 hours in advance and five minutes to gather their thoughts before each topic was addressed.

They tried it. A month later, that same person flagged a product flaw that would’ve cost the company $2 million.

It’s a perfect example of what Cain calls our “extroverted work design bias”—the assumption that good ideas emerge spontaneously and that the best thinking happens out loud.

“The tragedy,” Cain said, “is how much brilliance we’re missing because we’re optimizing for one way of thinking.”

Different Brains, Different Defaults

Here’s the science behind it:

• Extroverts have shorter neural pathways and respond more to dopamine. Talking helps them process in real time.
• Introverts have longer pathways and are more sensitive to acetylcholine, linked to reflection and focus. They need quiet to arrive at insight.

“Asking an introvert to brainstorm out loud,” Cain explained, “is like asking someone to write with their non-dominant hand. They can do it, but it’s not their best work.”

Two Leadership Shifts That Make the Difference

1. Ask the Question

Start by asking your team, “What brings out your best thinking?” Do it one-on-one. Then, bring it into the open so teammates can understand each other’s styles.

2. Build Systems That Work for Every Brain

Blend live discussions with asynchronous options. Share agendas in advance. Offer different ways to contribute—whether it’s written, verbal, small group, or follow-up. The more flexibility you create, the more brilliance you invite.

Designing for Every Brain in the Room

Introverts make up an estimated 30 to 50  (opens in a new tab) percent of the global population—yet many work cultures still reward the fastest talker over the deepest thinker.

The next breakthrough idea? It might not be absent—just unheard.

Unlock it by asking: “What brings out your best thinking and contributions?”