In a double-header TED Talk weekend, social psychologist Amy Cuddy discusses body language and how building a sense of control over ourselves -- even if we start out faking it a bit — will most likely cause transformation.

TED has partnered with Huffington Post in a new project called TEDWeekends, a curated weekend program anchored in an exceptional TED Talk, an original blog post from the featured speakers, along with thoughts, reponses and related articles from the Huff Po community.

Cuddy Has Good Advice for Progressive Women Politicos

I just posted the video in a secret society group for progressive women politicos. Indeed, we PA ladies are tired of living in one of the smartest states in America, and yet we are in about 46th place in terms of political representation in Congress and our state legislature.

It seems that an intervention is required, and we’re working on it for the next election cycle in 2014. We can’t change the Republican party in this state, but let Democrats take a heads up that a rebellion in forming among the ladies.

When it came to my attention recently that even PA’s progressive Democrats are run by men only, I declared no more taxation without representation. And so I booted this TED Talk right into our underground community as a much-needed heads up on how to believe in ourselves and act accordingly.

In a followup to this outstanding TED Talk, Amy Cuddy makes the key point that many leaders focus so much on being powerful and competence that they fail to communicate warmth and trustworthiness.

Says Cuddy, “You must understand the people you’re trying to influence or lead by building trust first before demonstrating competence and power. You must be able to show them that you understand them — and, better yet, that you can relate to them. By doing that, you’re laying the groundwork for trust. And it’s only then that they can really hear you and be open to your ideas. Trust is the conduit for influence; it’s the medium through which ideas travel. If they don’t trust you, your ideas are just dead in the water. If they trust you, they’re open and they can hear what you’re offering. Having the best idea is worth nothing if people don’t trust you.

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