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Susan Cain

Bestselling Author of Quiet and Bittersweet

Susan Cain
TED Talk - The Power of Introverts
Susan Cain
Interview - George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight
Susan
Susan Cain
Susan Cain
TED Talk - The Power of Introverts
Susan Cain
Interview - George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight

In her bestselling book, Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. With Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, she once again uncovers a powerful and under appreciated aspect of our world — and how embracing the bittersweetness at the heart of life is the true path to creativity, connection, and authenticity.

Quiet was an instant bestseller. It has been translated into 40 languages, spent eight years on the New York Times bestseller list, and was named the #1 book of the year by Fast Company. Fast Company also called Cain one of the “most creative people in business”, while Inc. Magazine named her one of the “world’s top 50 leadership and management experts” and LinkedIn called her the “sixth top influencer in the world.” In 2016, she released her second bestselling book Quiet Power: The Secret Strength of Introverts and in 2022, released her most recent book, Bittersweet, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Cain’s record-smashing TED Talks have been viewed more than 40 million times. As a speaker, her clients have included Microsoft, Google, the US Treasury, the US Naval Academy, the S.E.C., Harvard University, Yale University, Johnson & Johnson, and the International Women’s Forum, among many others.

A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, Cain is the recipient of several awards, including Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award for Communication and Leadership and Harvard Law School’s Celebration Award for Thought Leadership. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

Cain is one of the minds behind the Next Big Idea Book Club, which she helped launch in partnership with Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink. Each season, they showcase two ground-breaking books that you need to read with all proceeds donated in support of children’s literacy programs.

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

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Client reviews

  • Your talk was remarkable. People loved it. You have the incredible and rare capacity to be 100% human and authentic; 100% interesting; and 100% entertaining. Many I spoke to described it as the highlight of the conference.

  • Within minutes, Susan Cain became one of my favorite speakers of all time. From the moment she stepped onto the WorkHuman stage, she displayed an undeniable range of knowledge, clarity, authenticity, and warmth.  Best of all, she was the same in-person.  No surprise, the feedback from our attendees was off the charts.  I cannot recommend Susan highly enough and can’t wait to have her back at WorkHuman!

  • After spending all day yesterday basking in the glow of that marvelous event Tuesday night, I just wanted to send you a personal note thanking you for making the entire event so fascinating and inspiring for so many people. We have received an enormous amount of feedback from the over four hundred people who attended the event indicating that it was the most interesting and inspiring lecture that they have attended in a very long time. Your ability to connect with an audience in a very personal way while imparting fascinating information about all of us is indeed unique. We are proud as an organization to have brought such an interesting and inspiring speaker to our community. Your talk will resonate in the educational community in the Washington, D.C. area for a long time to come.

  • Susan Cain keynoted at our annual marquee event and was absolutely superb. Polished, relevant, and accessible, she connected with the audience immediately and held them in rapt attention throughout her presentation. Susan was our most popular speaker and I would recommend her for any engagement. This was one of the best experiences I have had working with a keynote speaker.

  • Susan was outstanding and people were blown away. We’ve brought a long list of accomplished speakers and thought leaders to Mercer Island and I have heard a number of people repeat that Susan was the best speaker we have ever had. Her message is salient, timely and crucial – especially for parents and teachers – and she is also warm, witty, engaging and articulate. She not only speaks softly, but with such kindness and humility that even when she disputes the value of group work in the classroom, teachers and administrators fully understand her without getting defensive. Back in the day when I taught, my Dean of Faculty described his job as “trying to herd cats.” I truly think Susan Cain would be successful herding even the most independent- minded cats over to the side of our quieter kids. On behalf of the entire Parent Edge team and Mercer Island Community, please thank her for her time, energy and passion.

  • We had a fantastic event last week and Susan was utterly charming. She gave the most thought provoking presentation which had everybody analyzing themselves from then on – created much chat/discussion. She attended the dinner on the Friday night which was also great – more exposure to our guests which they love.

  • Last night was—in a word—terrific! You are truly remarkable in your ability to connect, be passionate about changing the way our culture values introverts, and genuinely cause people to think differently. I have no doubt that your Quiet Revolution is going to be one of the seminal business/cultural shifts for this decade-and hopefully with lasting impact for many years to come. Thank you for sharing your warmth and enthusiasm with us: Womenetics and Porsche. The buzz was high today with emails and calls from women who attended.

  • Great presentation, and thank you for being a wonderful speaker. The presentation was an inspiration for seeing a new perspective on how viewing a balance between introverts and extroverts is essential to ensure all voices can be heard through the techniques you offered.

  • Back in October, you did a fabulous session for us. I wanted to let you know that we just completed a 2012 feedback survey, and the group continues to talk about you as a true highlight of the year and continues to strive to utilize some of your key “tips” of how to do things differently as leaders of cross functional teams. The feedback was very clear; you were very impactful!! Everyone really enjoyed your talk; they continue to bring it up as to how useful it was months later. I know some of the team leaders are trying more often to assign team members “pre-work” before meetings, so that they can avoid getting immediately into group think at the meeting. So thank you again for visiting us!!

  • Thank you again for the fabulous presentation at the J&J CDTL leadership forum. You received very positive feedback from the group, and [everyone] in the audience felt it was very instructive and impactful. I know many were still talking about it as we finished the day, and I have no doubt [they] will try to take their learning to [their] practice moving forward.

  • The talk Susan gave at our school was the best that I have heard in my fifteen years as Dean of two leading business schools. She also drew a record number of attendees.

  • You were a huge hit—you’ve been cited by many, many people as their favorite session—and I hope you enjoyed being with us as much as we enjoyed having you there and learning from you.

  • You made quite an impression on our employees – there were conversations on our internal blog and in the hallways about all the good things people felt while listening to you. One of our communications people was commenting on your ability to pick just the right word or phrase, even in the Q&A section. You’re a rock star here.

  • You were magnificent, and we are so very grateful for the dedication and talent you gave this historic program.

  • You are an excellent speaker and your event was a huge success!  You make it look so easy. You were our most well attended Bing Signature Speaker to date.

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