Bullies, Bystanders, and Bravehearts: Lessons in Power and Presence with Amy Cuddy *05

Amy Cuddy *05

Social psychologist, NYT-bestselling author, and award-winning Harvard lecturer

Social psychologist, NYT-bestselling author, and award-winning Harvard lecturer Dr. Amy Cuddy is an expert on the behavioral science of power, presence, and prejudice. Cuddy earned her PhD from Princeton University in 2005, was a professor at Harvard Business School from 2008-2017, at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management from 2006-2008, and Rutgers University from 2005-2006. Amy has taught in Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School and, more recently, UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Amy’s first book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges (Little, Brown, & Co.,2015), is a New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Globe & Mail bestseller and has been published in 35 languages and has sold more than half a million copies. As described in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, “Cuddy brings an abundance of humility and charm to the page. Her presence itself-- her openhearted desire to help the insecure and the uneasy in this age of anxiety--shines through. Presence feels at once concrete and inspiring, simple but ambitious--above all, truly powerful." Amazon selected Presence as the ‘Best Book of December 2015’.

Dr. Cuddy’s TED Talk, ‘Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are,’ the second-most-viewed TED talk of all time, has more than 70 million views. Named by The Guardian as ‘One of 20 Online Talks that Could Change Your Life’, her talk has reached and influenced how building confidence under stressful situations is taught and practiced worldwide. A pop-culture phenomenon, Amy and her talk have been referenced in the TV shows Ted Lasso, Grey’s Anatomy (four times), Sex Education, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Bold Type, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and others.

Focusing on the power of prejudice and stereotyping, nonverbal behavior, the delicate balance of trustworthiness and strength, and the ways in which people can affect their own thoughts, feelings, performance, and psychological and physical well-being, she studies, writes, and speaks about how we can become more present, influential, compassionate, and satisfied in our professional and personal lives. She is currently writing her second book, Bullies, Bystanders, and Bravehearts (Mariner, 2023), which delves into the psychological causes and consequences of bullying among adults, a pervasive and often devastating problem, and the steps that we all must take to move toward social bravery in our daily lives and broader culture.

Amy has been named by the BBC as one of their 100 Women of 2017, a Game Changer by Time, one of 50 Women Who Are Changing the World by Business Insider, one of the World’s Top 50 Management Thinkers by Thinkers50, one of the Top 50 Leadership Innovators Changing How We Lead by Inc., one of the top 5 HR Thinkers by HR Magazine, one of Twitter’s 100 Science Stars by Science, one of 10 Ten Bostonians Who are Upending the Way We Live, Lead, and Learn by Boston Magazine, a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, an Early Career Award recipient by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, winner of a Harvard Excellence in Teaching Award, and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Amy’s highly cited research on stereotyping and prejudice, nonverbal behavior, and presence and performance under stress has been published in top academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Science, and Psychological Science, and featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Guardian, Wired, Fast Company, Inc., Globe and Mail, NPR, BBC, and many more. She has been a guest on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CBS Sunday Morning, BBC World News, Morning Joe, 60 Minutes with Charlie Rose, CNN with Anderson Cooper, among others. Cuddy has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, CNN, and other outlets.

Amy is a devoted Deadhead, live-music enthusiast, and an avid skier and roller skater. In fact, she worked throughout her years as an undergraduate as a roller-skating waitress. She has one son, Jonah, a guitar player, songwriter and student at Berklee College of Music, and a husband, Paul, an adventuring, sailing, boat-building, Australian lover of life.