Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges

Cuddy is emphatic throughout Presence that empowerment is available to everyone by using the techniques in her book. In this way, she suggests that her work is not the province of the elite. Rather, her methods are accessible regardless of class and socioeconomic status. She asserts that simple body movements can affect our personal sense of power and help us to feel more confident and powerful.

Cuddy firmly believes that our posture and nonverbal communication speaks not just to others, but to ourselves about who we are and how much power we have. By maintaining upright and expansive posture in public and power poses in private, it is possible for us to tap into our personal reserves of power. She explains: “The way you carry yourself is a source of personal power—the kind of power that is the key to presence. It’s the key that allows you to unlock yourself—your abilities, your creativity, your courage, and even your generosity” (198). Since most people can do these kinds of bodily movements, the technique is available to a majority, rather than a select few.

A critique of Cuddy’s work is that people with disabilities might not be able to mimic power poses.