Cuddy describes a car accident that set her along the path that took her first to her famous 2012 TED Talk and then to write this book. As a college student on her way back to campus to attend classes, she was thrown from a vehicle. She suffered a diffuse axonal injury (DAI) which is a type of serious brain injury that can affect all areas of life, including speech, personality, movement, and IQ. As part of her process to get to know herself again after the personality and IQ changes due to her accident, Cuddy decided to study psychology. She became interested in the idea of “presence” as a research topic. Cuddy says that presence “stems from believing and trusting in yourself” and “gives us the power to rise to [daunting] moments” (5). Cuddy credits the experience with her brain injury for opening up lines of inquiry on this subject that would not have occurred to her otherwise.

The success of Cuddy’s TED Talk led to an outpouring of personal stories about how the information she gave about presence had a positive effect on the lives of people in many different life situations, from families of people with Alzheimer’s to veterans to fifth graders who are afraid of mathematics (12).