【正文】 g about my grandfather. underneath this ceremonial role, he was really modest and really introverted so much so that when he delivered these sermons, he had trouble making eye contact with the very same congregation that he had been speaking to for 62 years. and even away from the podium, when you called him to say hello, he would often end the conversation prematurely for fear that he was taking up too much of your time. but when he died at the age of 94, the police had to close down the streets of his neighborhood to acmodate the crowd of people who came out to mourn him. and so these days i try to learn from my grandfatheramp。39。s example in my own way.
　　so i just published a book about introversion, and it took me about seven years to write. and for me, that seven years was like total bliss, because i was reading, i was writing, i was thinking, i was researching. it was my version of my grandfatheramp。39。s hours of the day alone in his library. but now all of a sudden my job is very different, and my job is to be out here talking about it, talking about introversion. (laughter) and thatamp。39。s a lot harder for me, because as honored as i am to be here with all of you right now, this is not my natural milieu.
　　so i prepared for moments like these as best i could. i spent the last year practicing public speaking every chance i could get. and i call this my amp。quot。year of speaking dangerously.amp。quot。 (laughter) and that actually helped a lot. but iamp。39。ll tell you, what helps even more is my sense, my belief, my hope that when it es to our attitudes to introversion and to quiet and to solitude, we truly are poised on the brink on dramatic change. i mean, we are. and so i am going to leave you now with three calls for action for those who share this vision.
　　number one: stop the madness for constant group work. just stop it. (laughter) thank you. (applause) and i want to be clear about what iamp。39。m saying, because i deeply believe our offices should be encouraging casual, chatty cafestyle types of interactions you know, the kind where people e together and serendipitously have an exchange of ideas. that is great. itamp。39。s great for introverts and itamp。39。s great for extroverts. but we need much more privacy and much more freedom and much more autonomy at work. school, same thing. we need to be teaching kids to work together, for sure, but we also need to be teaching them how to work on their own. this is especially important for extroverted children too. they need to work on their own because that is where deep thought es from in part.
　　okay, number two: go to the wilderness. be like buddha, have your own revelations. iamp。39。m not saying that we all have to now go off and build our own cabins in the woods and never talk to each other again, but i am saying that we could all stand to unplug and get inside our own heads a little more often.
　　number three: take a good look at whatamp。39。s inside your own suitcase and why you put it there. so extroverts, maybe your suitcases are also full of books. or maybe theyamp。39。re full of champagne glasses or skydiving equipment. whatever it is, i hope you take these things out every chance you get and grace us with your energy and your joy. but introverts, you being you, you probably have the impulse to guard very carefully whatamp。39。s inside your own suitcase. and thatamp。39。s okay. but occasionally, just occasionally, i hope you will open up your suitcases for other people to see, because the world needs you and it needs the things you carry.
　　so i wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.
　　thank you very much.
　　(applause)
　　thank you. thank you