When you meet someone for the first time, do you put across a good impression? And what do we mean by "good" in the context? According to Presence, a new book by Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, people assess you on two main criteria when they first meet you: 1. Can I trust this person? 2. Can I respect this person? Your level of trustworthiness, or warmth, is the most important factor in how people initially admire you, Cuddy says-yet many mistakenly believe that the second factor,characterised as competence, is more important."From an evolutionary aspect,"Cuddy writes,"it is more important to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust." While displaying competence is certainly beneficial, particularly in a work setting, Cuddy warns that focusing on winning people's respect, while failing to win their trust, can backfire-a common problem for young professionals attempting to make a good impression early on in their careers. "If someone you're trying to influence doesn't trust you, you're not going to get very far", Cuddy says, "A warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits  admiration, but only after you've established trust does your strength become a gift rather than a threat." In Cuddy's book she also explains some of the science that can help you spot a liar. When a person is lying there is likely to be differences between what they are saying and what they are doing, she suggests. "Lying is hard work," she writes, "We're telling one story while suppressing another, and most of us are experiencing psychological guilt about doing this, which we're also trying suppress. We just don't have the brainpower to manage it all without letting something go-without'leaking'." "It's about how well or poorly our multiple channels of communications-facial expressions, posture, movement, vocal qualities, speech-co-operate,"she adds.     "When we're consciously looking for signs of cheat or truth, we pay too much attention to words and not enough to the external body language," the professor adds. "Truth reveals itself more clearly through actions than it does through our words. According to Amy Cuddy, which is most significant in putting across a good impression?
Level of knowledge. Level of reliability. Level of competence. Level of flexibility.