I watched a TED lecture several months ago called “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are” by Amy Cuddy. This particular lecture is about how body language can change the way you think about yourself.

Generally body language is reactive to what a person is thinking or how they feel, but Amy Cuddy proves that one can actually do the reverse: one can change the way they feel about themselves by consciously changing their posture. The main situation that she addresses is a job interview. Cuddy proves that by standing or sitting in a more dominant position before a job interview a person will appear more confident and able to manage more and are therefore more likely to be hired.

Essentially her main message was that anyone can “fake it until they make it” just by changing their posture and body language because eventually the person will believe that they are as confident as they appear to be. She concluded with the warning message that one shouldn’t “fake it until they make it, but fake it until you become it”.

This lecture is fantastic, and Cuddy has a great message because everyone gets a little self-conscious at times or nervous before an important presentation. However, as inspirational as this lecture is, there is such a thing as portraying yourself as overly confident or too powerful, especially at a job interview.

Our culture has been inching its way toward a more self-absorbed society over the past 100 years. Generally, we need to remember our friends and neighbors, but more specifically to this lecture we need to remember our coworkers. Employers and companies thrive on the team mentality, which is important to remember when interviewing for a job.

Most companies will break up their total work load into different sections and assign employees to each task. When one person doesn’t do their job, the rest of the company is stressed trying to cover that person’s work. When everyone works together they get the most efficient work done, and that reflects in the company’s profit.

Another point to remember is that no matter how confident you make yourself appear, you still have to answer to your supervisor. This is not a quality of teamwork but of respect. Some managers might take this too far, but most will expect at least a slightly higher level of respect than the other employees.

Managers deserve at least a degree more respect based on the fact that they are your superior. When a person just enters a company they don’t know how the manager got to be at a higher level of employment. You might as well give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they worked their way there. If the employee finds out otherwise, then the degree of respect can be adjusted depending on the situation.

Finally, and this one is pretty obvious, a positive personality always helps. The book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts” by Susan Cain is a good example; it starts out about how our society associates extroverts with success. Cain doesn’t agree with this association, and neither do I, but you can take the time to smile whether you are an extrovert or introvert.

It’s possible to be confident, cooperative, and respectful all at the same time. The definition of a “good employee” is completely subjective to the situation one is in; depending on their type of job, the personality of the manager, the work environment, or the co-workers. But in most cases a smiling, respectful, hardworking employee is going to be considered a good fit for any company.