Amy Cuddy wasn’t supposed to become a successful scientist. In fact, she wasn’t even supposed to finish her undergraduate degree. Early in her college career, Cuddy suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, and doctors said she would struggle to fully regain her mental capacity and finish her undergraduate degree.

But she proved them wrong. Today, Cuddy is a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School, where she studies how nonverbal behavior and snap judgments affect people from the classroom to the boardroom.

Much of our effectiveness as managers and leaders is determined by how confident we appear to others AND how well we handle stressful and challenging situations.  Fooling our brains into thinking we’re more confident than we feel – “faking it til you make it” – actually has scientific validity according to Cuddy.

Her latest research illuminates how “faking” body postures that convey competence and power (“power posing”) – even for as little as two minutes — changes our testosterone and cortisol levels, increases our appetite for risk, causes us to perform better in job interviews, and generally configures our brains to cope well in stressful situations. In short, “If you act powerfully, you will begin to think powerfully.”

Take a few minutes to check out her #2 rated TED Talk below….

Here are some watching tips:

  • Go to Minute 8 and watch for three minutes to hear more about her findings about how just changing your body position can change your mind.
  • To hear Cuddy’s inspiring personal story of overcoming adversity just skip to Minute 16.  A fabulous story of success – enjoy!

And to hear another inspiring story of success, sign up now for our 10th Annual Growth Strategies Breakfast on Friday, April 1st!

John Ratliff, Founder and former CEO of 650 employee Appletree Answers and a champion of creating a strong Culture and Management team using the tools and best practices from “Scaling Up” and “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” will be joining us as our Keynote AND we’ll be sharing the results from our 10th Annual Growth Strategies Survey too.

Hope to see you there!

 

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