Ford Library

Cuddy, Amy. Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges. Little, Brown and Company, 2015.

Next time you walk down the mallway, watch how Fuqua students walk. Early in the academic year, most students walk confidently with a long stride, swinging their arms and moving their heads. By October, some students are walking with a shorter stride and smaller arm movements. Their shoulders are rolled forward and their heads are stationary. These students are losing their confidence.

In her new book, Presence, Harvard Business School faculty member Amy Cuddy offers this advice to discouraged students: To regain your confidence and to feel your personal power, begin carrying yourself in an expansive way. Start acting like you are strong and in control and your confidence will return. The body shapes the mind.

In 2012 Amy Cuddy taught millions of viewers about power poses through her popular TED talk. In Presence she explains the science behind her work, citing academic research on how to make the best impression – by being confident, passionate and enthusiastic. To channel these qualities, people need to be genuine, to believe in their own abilities and to feel at ease when revealing them to others.

The way you carry yourself – how you walk or stand or sit – does not change your abilities. Yet Cuddy explains that the body’s posture is a source of personal power that increases feelings of strength and skill. She presents ample evidence that expansive posture makes people more open, bold and creative. It improves the ability to relate to others. It fosters confidence and enhances performance, particularly under pressure.

Graduate school at a top university is stressful and Presence has much to offer students in Fuqua’s demanding programs. For Cuddy, presence is not about winning. It is about approaching challenges without dread, executing them without anxiety and living without regret. This book is recommended. For those short on time, Amy Cuddy’s TED talk is also recommended.

Also available as an audiobook on CD and in the Ford Library Kindle – Business bestseller collection.

© Meg Trauner & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
All rights reserved.

Welcome to our new MBA and MMS students and welcome back to our returning second year MBA’s. Students bring an energy and vitality to our university and to our city. We hope your move went smoothly and that as you explore the city and the university, you come to enjoy your new home as much as we do.

Duke Libraries are among the elite libraries of the world. Since you have found your way to the Ford Library Blog, you must already know that the library web pages give you access to the library 24 hours every day. You can access the online catalog for all of Duke’s libraries as well as the libraries of other research universities in the area, including UNC and NC State (noted in the catalog as TRLN Libraries).

Besides print resources, the Duke catalog gives you access to the thousands of full-text journals, eBooks, and audiobooks (online or on CD) that you can download to your own devices. We also offer business e-book collections on Kindles as well as a variety of career tools.

I also invite you to come in person to our library, the most beautiful space on campus (“like reading in a forest” – an actual quote from an MBA), and a quiet place to study. Introduce yourself to Jane Day, our fabulous director of reference services. Or consult with any of our reference librarians in person at the reference desk, by email or by online chat.

We can help you be successful during your time here at the Fuqua School.

Meg Trauner MLS, MBA
Associate Dean for Library Services
and Ford Library Director

Here are the summer’s latest DVD titles:

Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice
The Boss
Criminal
Dear Eleanor
Allegiant
Elvis & Nixon
Everybody Wants Some!!
Green Room
The Mermaid
Miles Ahead
Only Yesterday
Sing Street
Underdogs

You may browse the entire DVD collection via the library catalog.