Many women (and men I might add) are searching for ways to show up with more authenticity and power in their work and lives. In her best-selling book, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, Associate Professor Amy Cuddy from Harvard Business School, suggests that the best way for us to step into our authenticity and personal power is through cultivating more moments of what she calls presence.
As she articulates: “Presence is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values and potential. It emerges when we feel personally powerful, which allows us to be acutely attuned to our most sincere selves. It’s what makes us compelling. We are no longer fighting ourselves: we are being ourselves.”
It’s the presence that comes from being acutely attuned to our most sincere selves so we can be honest, genuinely connect with others and fully represent our abilities. It’s what synchronizes our thoughts, physical and facial expressions, and behaviors, so people feel safe with us. It’s what enables us to communicate with passion, confidence, and comfortable enthusiasm whilst still owning any nerves that we might have. It’s the medium through which trust develops and ideas travel.