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Leadership Peak Performance Personal Development,

Do Deeper Voices Win?

It’s not a question any more.

Everyone knows deeper voices get advanced faster in career, more votes in political campaigns and more sales in business. Researches after researches have shown that people tend to relate a deep voice with higher competence, more credibility and stronger leadership-capability.

A team of researchers from Duke University and the University of California found out that a decrease in the voice pitch of 22.1 Hertz corresponded to an increase in the size of the firm to $440 million in assets. The same level of decrease — 22.1 Hertz — resulted in higher compensation of $187,000 per year. Wow!

The results not only apply to male leaders, but also female leaders. Researches also showed that deeper-voiced women have election advantage. It’s time for Hillary Clinton to consider taking voice coaching sessions with me, haha, in case you haven’t heard the news that she’s running for President. Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, knew how important the voice was in her political career. She went through voice training and dropped her screechy voice almost half an octave to a deeper voice that projected more authority as a female leader.

What is this deep voice all about? Does everyone have to work on getting a deeper voice?

Many of my clients who wanted to project more credibility and authority had tried to press their voice down for a lower voice before they met me. This is the biggest mistake.When you press your voice down, you are damaging your vocal cords, which are delicate and need more care. Moreover, when people meet you on the street and find out that your voice is no longer deep, your credibility is right away gone with the wind.

The real objective is not to get a deep voice, but a full voice, i.e. a voice that’s projected with the full body, not just the throat, the voice box and the mouth. When the voice is full, it’ll go deep by itself. The depth of your voice is not what you chase after, but what you’ll get when you work on your full voice.

It’s not necessary for everyone to get a deep voice, but a full voice brings a multitude of improvement and enhancement for everyone in one’s life.

How could it be?

Voice is vibration. Vibration is physical.When you start to feel vibrations in your full body, it changes your frequency (yes, you have a frequency ;-). You’ll feel better physically. A full voice sounds more open, relaxed and authentic. It indeed reflects who you are, as in this process you are cultivating your body and your mind to be more open, relaxed and authentic.

As a Voice Coach, I don’t see my work as just working on the “voice”, as if it was just another tool in the communication toolbox. Voice work is also not just changing the tones to beat the monotone and present with an interesting voice. This is important to get your message across, but it’ll not help you use your voice to reflect who you are, neither will you experience a fundamental uplift in both your professional and personal development. Voice work is a holistic way of helping you to be more open and show up in life fully and wholeheartedly. With that change in your body, you’ll sound more open, authentic, credible, respectable and influential.

Article by Cynthia Zhai

Cynthia is a Voice Coach, Speaker, Trainer and Author of the book Influence through Voice published by McGraw Hill. Cynthia helps C-suite Executives and professionals with their voice and speeches to speak with impact and conviction, engage and inspire people to embrace change and take action. Cynthia has worked with clients from 32 countries across 5 continents. 

Cynthia has been a professional speaker and coach for the past 14 years and her engagement spans Singapore, United States, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, India & Brunei.

Cynthia has appeared on Singapore Radio Program 938Live 3 times, Hong Kong Radio 3, and Malaysia Business Radio Station BFM, as a guest speaker on the subject of Voice and Speech.

Find out how Cynthia may help you and your company on her website: http://powerfulexecutivevoice.com

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