HOW TO TRAIN YOUR VOICE TO BE MORE CHARISMATIC

There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, by
the same title, about the charismatic influence your voice can
have in your professional life. Having analyzed the voices of
leaders in countries such as Brazil, France, and Italy,
scientists have found that those who exhibited charisma “use
their voices to dominate, rouse and influence a large
audience.”
By analyzing the voice and speech patterns of various political
leaders and CEOs, they discovered that there were two areas
which strongly influenced how these speakers were perceived
by audiences. Both the depth of the voice as well as the
ability to be expressive were the two most common
characteristics of charismatic leaders.
As an example, they discovered that “CEOs with lower-pitched
voices typically manage larger firms, make more money and
last longer on the job than higher-pitched peers, studies at
Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business have found.”
The scientists also found that speaking with expression –
which means varying your pitch throughout your delivery is as
important as the quality of your sound. I refer to this as color
– the life, the emotion, and the animation you express by
means of your vocal variety, facial expression and body
language.
While none of this information was new to me, it is interesting
that they seemed surprised by their findings. Let me ask you.
Would you prefer to listen to a deep, resonant voice or one
which is high-pitched, squawky, or shrill?
The title of the article, however, was misleading because they
did not discuss how to train your voice to be more
charismatic. So I will. There are two things you must do to
improve your voice and speech patterns:
1. Use your chest cavity to power and amplify your voice.
Most people do not use their chest as a vocal resonator,
instead relying on their throat, voice box, mouth and nasal
cavities to do all the work.
2. Speak with emotion if your voice is a monotone. Should this
apply to you, you must first give yourself permission for your
emotions to be heard and seen. A flat or boring voice does
not sell.
While this study only dealt with the male voice, the results
they found are also true for the female voice. The most
effective female broadcasters, for example, have voices which
are deeper in pitch and warmer in quality than the average
female voice. They sound authoritative; they sound
professional; and, given the right tone, they can sound very
alluring.
 Nancy daniels