books
Many organizational
cultures have in effect
become toxic, which is an
indicator of purely human
failure. Pfeffer is not shy
about citing examples
book. My only quibble is with the sometimes redundant
recaps and “action summaries” that conclude every chapter,
which seem to have become de rigueur in business books.
Leaving it to people to imagine how they might apply what
they have learned instead of providing templates for every
step might enrich how readers interpret a book’s insights.
The Pose of Power
Amy Cuddy is a Harvard Business School professor and
social psychologist with an engagingly informal writing
style, a compelling personal story, and a talent for ferreting
out endless research studies in support of her thesis: that
personal presence is a key to success in virtually any
endeavor and that even the most nervous and insecure can
learn how to comfortably project it.
There’s been an increased interest in leadership presence
over the last few years, perhaps because simply being
present has become one of the chief executive obstacles in
our highly distracting 24/7 culture. The devices with which
we constantly interact virtually require our minds to be in
two (or more) places at once, making it impossible to fully
inhabit the present moment. A frantic air of distraction hardly
conveys leadership. Indeed, many positional leaders seem so
preternaturally relaxed only because they are able to outsource
their technological interactions. Reclaiming the capacity to
communicate coherently and clearly, and to be fully available
for what is happening in the moment, has thus become a way
to hold ground and distinguish oneself as a leader.
What is presence? In Presence: Bringing Your
Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges , Cuddy
defines it as the state of being attuned to and able to
comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values,
and potential. It is, then, both an inside and an outside
job. When we feel present, she notes, our speech, facial
expressions, postures, and movements are aligned, syn-
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chronized, and focused: They add up. This harmony creates
an internal-external convergence, otherwise known as poise,
that others read as trustworthy and persuasive and that we
ourselves experience as relaxed and calming. But it’s tricky
to achieve this state. Cuddy notes that self-affirmation, one
of the most frequently advocated techniques for projecting
confidence, is ineffective because it requires us to simply
affirm what we may not actually believe (“I’m going to be
great!” “I’m a winner!”). She cites numerous studies that
confirm this. For example, social researchers have failed to
find any decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone, in subjects
who practice affirmations. The scientific literature bears
out what common sense suggests: You can’t talk or think
yourself into believing something you don’t actually believe.
You can, however, act yourself into feeling confident even
if you are not. All you need is a clear and well-prepared
message, control of your breath, and a knowledge of
what physical postures are helpful and what postures
can undermine you and betray your fear and feelings of
powerlessness. Cuddy’s ingenious ways of showing people
how to perform their way into presence are what made
the TED talk that preceded her book a viral sensation.
Having experienced a serious brain injury when in college,
Cuddy came to this realization through painful personal
learning. Her quest inspired her many experiments aimed
at discerning precisely what helps people become more
confident and forceful, and how they can feel powerful and
able to influence events.
For example, she demonstrates the mechanisms that
enable people who assume specific poses to become more
relaxed, feel stronger, and manifest those positives to
others. Mind follows body, she notes, because the body is
continually sending information to the brain; this is also
why breathing exercises, which she advocates, calm the
autonomic nervous system. By practicing effective “power
poses” — standing tall with arms akimbo, leaning in when
standing at a table, raising your arms in a wide V while
preparing for a speech, and in general being comfortable
taking up space — even the nervous can calm the hormone
storm within and inhabit a more persuasive way of being.
Although deliberately practiced, the projected confidence
is not fake because you don’t simply manifest it, you also
feel it: Your body sends signals to your mind that you’re
relaxed and in control.
This delightful book will be useful to anyone seeking to
project a more powerful and relaxed presence as well as
to leadership and development professionals looking for