Pulse December 2017 | Page 33

2017 ispa conference & expo keynote speaker October 16, 2017 compare. Her words made us all think back to our happiest, most joyous, most successful, most honest moments and realize who we really are. Once you have that image in your brain, you can imagine those feelings each time you go into a situation you’re not comfortable with. “When you are present you invite others to be present.” Being present is something we should all start to be consciously aware of. When you are engaging with others, be completely there. Cuddy noted that if we are present in our interactions with others, we will ha ve more confidence, and in turn invite them to also be present. Be present at work by not bringing your cell phone into meetings, listening completely when others are speaking to you and evoking confidence in your interactions. Confidence was another important point Cuddy touched on. She made it clear that when you are your authentic self and when you are present, you evoke a kind of confidence that is rare and beautiful. However, there is a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. “Confidence is a tool, arrogance is a weapon,” Cuddy noted, which is something we should always keep in mind. People respond to confi- dence. When you are confident, you invite others to be confident, as well. 2. quick takeaways from amy cuddy’s session 1. Prepare with bIG poses. 2. be present with good, open posture. 3. Mind your posture throughout your day. 4. Attend to others’ posture. When you are arrogant you only invite others to back off, retreat or downright dislike you. “When we feel powerful we expand, when we feel powerless we shrink.” Perhaps the most moving takeaways from Cuddy’s keynote were her points on posture and power poses. Through her research as a social psychologist, Cuddy has found that the notion of expanding our posture when we feel powerful and shrinking when we feel powerless is hardwired into our brains. Even our primate relatives do the same thing, which is proof this concept is in our nature. She showed photos of powerful gorillas expanding and beating their chests to show dominance, while the gorillas in defeat tended to shrink themselves to be as small as possible. It was interesting how she also showed this phenomenon across the animal kingdom; from dogs to birds and everyone in between. Another hardwired posture she noted was that of victory. Across cultures and throughout the world, when someone wins (or even when their team wins) they raise their arms in a giant V, expanding to show their victory. It was so fun to see Cuddy’s slideshow of proof that represented every sport in every culture across the world. What really sent her point home was that blind people also perform this pose after victory. These are people who have never seen the pose on another human in their life, but instinctively perform this 3. victory pose after a big win. “The feeling of power is hardwired to evoke expansive posture,” noted Cuddy, so to bring that point home, she recom- mends performing big power poses to prepare for intimidating situations in order to train your body to be confident and your brain to feel like a winner. “We must teach our daughters to expand.” When Cuddy shifted the conversation to talk about young women, the entire audience sat up a little straighter. She noted how she has a middle school-aged boy, and as he soon as he entered middle school, his close friend, who is a girl, began to shrink. Her posture has become hunched, she nervously fiddles with her sleeves and shifts her feet, and it seems she is constantly trying to make herself as small as possible. After studying this trend, Cuddy noted that at around middle school age, young women begin to shrink. They feel self-conscious and shameful. As Cuddy said, “Shame is a powerful feeling that leads us to disruption.” That disruption is happening in young women across the country. “We must teach our daughters to expand,” Cuddy implored. “No more sit like a lady, no more feeling small.” She inspired us all to show the young women of this world that it is okay to have a presence. When we see a young girl shrinking, inspire her to be powerful like Wonder Woman, who, of course, had the ultimate power pose. n 4. rIcHard blanco’s PoeM was written especially for the ISPA community. Click here to download a copy so you can share with your team or hang in your office, where his inspiration will always be near. December 2017 ■ PULSE 31