Presence

Have you ever left a job interview, a difficult conversation with your boss, or a first date and thought, "That wasn't me"? You knew you could have done better, been more, but you let nerves get the better of you.

In Presence, former Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy — whose TED Talk on "power posing" became a global phenomenon with over 75 million views — teaches us how to achieve "presence," that heady state in which we stop worrying about the impression we're making and instead connect with our deepest values and feelings.

Drawing on cutting-edge science, inspiring personal stories, and practical advice, Amy shows us that small tweaks — in how we stand, what we tell ourselves before a big meeting, the two-minute routine we adopt before walking into a nerve-racking situation — can liberate us to perform at our best when it matters most.

Presence is not about behaving in a way that's calculated to impress others. It's about stepping into our fullest, most authentic selves, even in the moments when we feel least capable of doing so.