Page 177 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

168 DELIVERY

afraid, will not only diminish what they have to say but also heighten
the potential that the audience may take away an incorrect percep-
tion that the woman speaker lacks leadership, strength, or other
qualities. These concerns are all understandable and legitimate. But
they are also manageable.
First, it is true that any speaker, male or female, who seizes and
practices the simple protocols in this book, can fare better than all
but the most dynamic speakers—sometimes even without formal
training. That’s the fi rst point.
The second point is that the soft voice, if used correctly, can be
as imposing as the deepest of baritones. That’s why we’ve got micro-
phones. I encourage my female clients to make certain in advance
that the microphones work well wherever they have to speak. Some
of the better mikes do not have to be any closer than two feet to pick
up and amplify even the gentlest voice. If my female clients have to
speak without a mike, I ask them to get as physically close as possible
to their audiences and then bring their voices up “short of a shout”—
that is, speak loudly enough so that they can still look and sound
natural and at the same time be heard by even the people in the back
rows. A number of experienced women politicians know how to do
this very well. Naturally, if you go beyond “short of a shout,” you
will, in fact, be shouting, and that is not desirable.

Volume and projection, then, are fixable. But a slightly tougher
problem is presented by the client whose voice falls into a soprano
register—what one woman client ruefully calls her “Mickey Mouse”
voice. The truth is she does not sound like a Disney character, but
her voice is by nature more highly pitched than the average female
voice and stands out sharply in every business meeting and every
presentation.
In the end, I referred her to a voice coach, who changed my cli-
ent’s breathing and rate of word delivery and helped her come down
a notch or two on the falsetto register. This added depth and also
beefed up her volume, so that today she feels a lot more self- assurance
when she’s called on to speak.