Another journal spot for our trip to Chicago recently, the awesome Amy Cuddy. This was a particular favourite of mine, and whilst not directly applicable to design it certainly made you think about your work in a different way. Cuddy is a social psychologist, author, lecturer and Professor at Harvard Business School. She has undertaken extensive research into body language and the social and personal ramifications of a subject that we largely take for granted. It is often some of the simplest theories that provide the stand out wow moments at conferences and Amy certainly provided that. She paralleled nature’s reaction to appearing powerful with humans by giving numerous examples of animals making themselves larger. On the topic of sport she showed how in sucessful and powerful moments we throw our arms in the air. Do we know why we do this? There seems to be no historical or cultural reason but it is an innate human reaction. This all seemed obvious however when she finally revealed the blind paralympian doing exactly the same on winning a medal the ‘wow' point was made. This lead to the conclusion that being open, bigger and more powerful in your body language can manifest a sense of success, without necessarily fully believing it, or as Cuddy calls it: The Power Pose. An incredible speaker with a perfect balance of confidence and humility, if you get the chance please do see her.