Rather is was their confidence, comfort level and enthusiasm.

One study, for example, found that the best predictors of who got the money at venture capitalist pitches were not the person’s credentials or the content of the pitch. There’s no new research here, but Cuddy provides a good overview of recent findings in her area of social psychology. Where the book comes into its own is in the accounts of the studies about presence and power. They’re not necessarily examples you can learn much from however. These episodes are good at demonstrating how widespread feelings of inadequacy and ‘imposterism’ are, even among conventionally successful people. Quite a bit of the book is taken up with Cuddy’s personal anecdotes, snippets from interviews she’s done (ranging from a successful financier to author Neil Gaiman), and stories she’s been sent from people who have been inspired by her work. That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t some interesting and practical content in Presence. There’s nothing ground breaking here, and if you’ve watched Cuddy’s TED talk, you’ll recognise some of the material. The main thrust of the book is that by employing power poses and other small psychological nudges, we can master presence and therefore perform better in interviews, meetings, presentations, public speaking events – or any other stressful challenge we might face. ‘The state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential.’ She explores the idea of ‘presence’ and how it can help you to overcome your biggest challenges, both personal and professional.

In her book, she takes the idea a step further. Harvard psychologist, Amy Cuddy became famous thanks to her TED talk on ‘power poses’, which has more than 35 million views on TED’s website.

Amy cuddy presence ted talk