Harvard Business School professor and social psychologist Amy Cuddy has been studying first impressions for many years and has learned that there are two key things that people ask themselves (usually subconsciously) when first evaluating a new person:
Can I trust this person?
Can I respect this person?
These questions can be boiled down to two traits: Warmth and competence. Having a warm personality lets people know they can trust you. Showing confidence and competence in your skills and responsibilities tells people know they can respect you and rely on you to get things done.
Cuddy, whose book Presence is all about reassessing our personal power and learning techniques that can make us thrive in the high-pressured moments we may currently dread, can be considered one of the foremost experts on impressions. She is most known for her famous 2012 TED Talk on power poses (which is the second most watched TED Talk ever).
