• Presence

  • Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges
  • By: Amy Cuddy
  • Narrated by: Amy Cuddy
  • Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (7,422 ratings)

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Presence  By  cover art

Presence

By: Amy Cuddy
Narrated by: Amy Cuddy
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Publisher's summary

Have you ever left a nerve-racking challenge and immediately wished for a do over? Maybe after a job interview, a performance, or a difficult conversation? The very moments that require us to be genuine and commanding can instead cause us to feel phony and powerless. Too often we approach our lives' biggest hurdles with dread, execute them with anxiety, and leave them with regret.

By accessing our personal power, we can achieve "presence", the state in which we stop worrying about the impression we're making on others and instead adjust the impression we've been making on ourselves. As Harvard professor Amy Cuddy's revolutionary book reveals, we don't need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, we need to nudge ourselves, moment by moment, by tweaking our body language, behavior, and mind-set in our day-to-day lives.

Amy Cuddy has galvanized tens of millions of viewers around the world with her TED talk about "power poses". Now she presents the enthralling science underlying these and many other fascinating body-mind effects, and teaches us how to use simple techniques to liberate ourselves from fear in high-pressure moments, perform at our best, and connect with and empower others to do the same.

Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every listener will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2015 Amy Cuddy (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"With advice that is both practical and profound, Amy Cuddy shows how to summon your true and best self when doing so matters most. Emotions are contagious. If you personify poise and optimism yourself, you enhance the odds that they will respond in kind." (Michael Wheeler, Harvard Business School, author of The Art of Negotiation )
"Amy Cuddy is the high priestess of self-confidence for the self-doubting. In Presence, she uses her warmth, empathy, and laser-sharp intelligence to decode the mysteries of presence under social pressure. A must-read for - well, for everyone." (Susan Cain, co-founder of Quiet Revolution and author of the New York Times best seller Quiet)

Featured Article: The Audible Essentials—The Top 100 Well-Being Listens of All Time


We assembled our editors, scoured listener reviews, polled our most-trusted colleagues, and listened our ears off to bring you this list of 100 must-listen well-being titles on Audible. Whether you’re looking to get organized, stay motivated, find creative inspiration, or relieve stress, these audiobooks and podcasts are packed with insights from self-development and wellness experts to help you take the next step—or the first—in your personal journey.

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What listeners say about Presence

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Watch the TED Talk

If the author's TED Talk "Your body language shapes who you are" resonates with you, read the book. Everyone at some point had felt like an imposter -- that they don't deserve something or don't belong somewhere. It is surprising that even people considered successful by any standard (such as students accepted into ivy league schools) have also felt like they're imposters. The book takes you through changing from feeling powerless over your life (avoiding threats) to feeling powerful over your life (approaching opportunities, same situations but seen in a positive light). There are three important factors to perform with presence: passion, confidence, and comfort. Find the subject that you are passionate about. Practice to develop confidence (what you talk about). Find the value you give to others (how you deliver your message). When you do it for others (rather than being occupied with thoughts of how others think of you), you'll become more comfortable in what you do.

I recommend starting at Chapter 10 where the author provides the actions you can take and then start at the beginning to get the theories and concepts.

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208 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • JB
  • 12-25-15

Matter over Mind!

Excellent book on how to overcome challenges by using the body to lead the mind. Small nudges in behavior to quiet that negative voice in our minds that paralyses us. I highly recommend this book. (Tip: listen to audio books at speed 1.25 to 1.50 and finish the material at a faster pace.)

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90 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great stories, advice and science

If you liked Amy Cuddy's TED talk and have a mind for science you will enjoy this book. The message does not go much beyond her talk but you get a lot of supporting evidence for that power posing works and some hypotheses why it works.

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67 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Book!

I watched her Ted Talk many times and was excited to see her expand her work into a book. It was inspiring to hear the personal transformations of herself and others in making themselves more present. This is a book I will review multiple times and not get sick of it. I highly recommend it!

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53 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Stick to the Ted Talk

Cuddy's Ted talk was fascinating. Book not so much , same twenty minutes stuff in hours. Save your self some time.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Your body shapes your mind,your mind shapes your behavior,your behavior shapes your future.

I feel very lucky to listen to the book at the right moment.,because I think I am experiencing some depressing things. I feel like I'm trapped in the circle and can't get over it.
Thanks for the book which gives me effective methods that are tested right over and over. The book tells me a lot of amazing physiological and psychological experiments to explain why I can shape my future from self-nudge movements. I believe anyone will take benefits of the book.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

I was hoping the book would outline new concepts for developing presence. The book primarily focused on different stories to show how each individual discussed had presence. It wasn't as inspirational as I hoped. If you have zero previous exposure to concepts related to self-confidence and self-control, you may find this book helpful.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Finding the Real McCoy

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The term "authentic self" is used through out the book but never defined or proven to exist.That there is such a thing as a true or authentic self is debatable and has been debated for centuries. The "authentic self" is an abstract concept and therefore not demonstrable. Burdening struggling people with the impossible task of finding their true authentic self seems a bit unkind. Perhaps a more useful term would be the preferred self. David Bowie died while I was listening to the book. Bowie had several preferred selves over the course of his life. Each worked well while they lasted and by his own account he lived a contented life. Doubtful he would say Ziggy Stardust was his authentic self but neither would he say he was acting a fraud. He was authentically contrived and people loved him for it.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was hard to get to the ending because the argument never got any richer or more dimensional. The many many examples of highly authentic people resulted in a flattening that made them all seem like bores.

Which character – as performed by Amy Cuddy – was your favorite?

Amy Cuddy was the only real character.

Could you see Presence being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Kathie Lee Gifford or one of the other TV anchor women

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Oh please don't ding me on this one Karma

What did you like about this audiobook?

Honestly not much.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

Zero.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Not at all. Actually the presentation became annoying.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I think she sounded to young to be taken seriously. I believe she should have hired a pro narrator who sounded more mature.

Do you have any additional comments?

I do not intentionally mean to discredit the authors work. I am sure she worked hard at what she had completed and is proud of that as she should be. Many will never accomplish such a feat.

I am just expressing my view to give equal and fair review for others who may be interested in giving this book a listen.

I was swayed to obtain this audio mainly due to the prior reviews of this book being a life changing listen. Well I did not find it to be even close.

The entirety of the book is just quotes, stories, study after study and experiment reports, all of which are common sense with catchy headlines (eg. No Brain No Pain - in this study we find out how putting your finger in a fire causes pain).

This is in no way considered to be a self help book as the title suggests due to the fact that there is no information given to the listener on what to do. All the listener gets to do is listen to a story, study or results from a experiment but no instruction on how to overcome the issue being talked about.

If you want to spend well worth time on a story where someone fails watch the movie "Falling Down". If you want to spend well worth time on a movie where someone succeeds watch the movie "In Pursuit of Happiness"

I honestly got tired, frustrated and somewhat angered halfway through the book constantly hearing "In this study", but I stuck it out to the end hoping it would change, it did not.

Kindly saying, the author seems to me to be no more than a researcher who put all of her finding in one book but the author herself does not seem to have any ability to lend the listener a way to overcome obstacles. I do not know of the author nor do I care to find out. I just know I invested my time in expectancy of getting much more out of my investment of time than I did.
The book does not show me any ability or talent that the author might have other than being educated in compiling others peoples work and creating a book out of it. Sorry but I am being honest.

I am giving an overall 1 star due to I did not like the material and I feel the title is deceiving.

The material is also somewhat insulting to the listener, like nobody has not heard such common sense material a million times before and you do not even need to have heard it before, It is just common sense.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Useful, Effective Integration of Research, Practical Advice and Applications

Amy Cuddy's approach to authoring this book has made it accessible and understandable to the average reader, the business professional, and to applied behavioral scientists. There's useful information throughout to help individuals improve their sense of impact and agency in their environments as well as many sound ideas that can be applied to improve interpersonal relationships snd work environments. Her findings and her approach to presenting her research and research by others provokes ideas for further research.

Amy also does an exceptional job as an engaging narrator.

I've already purchased and given copies of the book to people I know would find her insights and advice useful.

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25 people found this helpful