What's in a Leader's Voice?
/Several years ago, I worked with a colleague who was being groomed for a senior executive position. He’d had a successful career in multiple roles with assignments in different parts of the world. He was wicked smart, generous and charming, and devilishly funny once you got to know him. He asked if I could be his communication coach as he prepared to step up to the new role.
Initially, he was focused on polishing his communication skills and becoming a better presenter. We worked on that through a series of sessions and he became visibly better and more confident, but something was missing. He felt it, and I could see it. He was articulate and engaging, but he didn’t know what he was talking about.
I don’t mean that he wasn’t knowledgeable; he was very knowledgeable about a surprising range of things. What he lacked, though, was a clear understanding of his unique point of view. I challenged him to clarify his perspective and, as a result, to discover his voice as a leader.
I challenged him to clarify his perspective and to discover his voice as a leader.
Once we agreed that this was a gap, our work together accelerated. We focused on defining what he had to say by first understanding how he tended to see. I pointed to another colleague of ours as an example. She, too, was highly regarded, and she had a very clear point of view. She had a remarkable ability to see things through an external lens and to bring the outside in, to ensure that decisions made inside the company were informed by the ripple effects they would create outside, particularly unexpected effects. CEOs and other top leaders tended not to make major decisions without seeking her perspective.
We wanted to achieve this same clarity for my friend. He also looked through an external lens, but it wasn't quite the same as the lens our colleague looked through. Where she tended to focus on how decisions would play out in news media, for example, he focused on how decisions would be interpreted differently in various cultures, which reflected the years of insight he’d gained from living in so many parts of the world.
With that clarity, he began to understand his voice as a leader and to use it more intentionally. He developed a signature point of view about communicating effectively in different cultures and about the impact of culture on communication. He animated his speeches, panels, videos, and posts with stories from the many places he'd lived throughout his life.
In short, he’d defined his voice as a leader.
When we use the way we see to define what we say, we communicate more effectively because we communicate more authentically.
Achieving this clarity is important for leaders at all levels and in every part of an organization. Our voice is far more than our vocabulary or speech patterns or body language. It is, essentially, our emotional and intellectual fingerprint. It’s the combination of our knowledge, insights, experiences, relationships and values — essentially, the way we see the world. When we use the way we see to define what we say, we communicate more effectively because we communicate more authentically.
How do you define your voice as a leader? Ask yourself these questions:
What is the one thing I am intuitively great at? (Don’t be modest. Be honest.)
What do I stand for? What do I stand against? Why?
What lessons and insights come from the experiences I’ve had (good and bad)?
Which relationships have had the greatest impact on who I am and how do I draw on them to lead?
What aspirations and fears motivate me most?
Typically, patterns emerge as you answer these questions — and as you ask the same questions of others who know you well.
Our voice is our emotional and intellectual fingerprint.
In my friend’s case, he was intuitively great at assimilating into local cultures everywhere he traveled and lived. He believed deeply in respecting individual cultures. He had a treasure trove of on-the-ground experiences that yielded insights and lessons he could apply to a wide range of business topics. He had a global web of close relationships with people he admired and had learned from. And after some meaningful introspection, he was able to articulate the aspirations and fears that drove him.
As we mapped all this out on a wall one afternoon, capturing stories and insights along the way, his point of view became clear and his leader’s voice took shape in a way that it had not before.
Your voice clarifies the promise you make to others as a leader.
Understanding what’s in your voice — how you see and what you have to say — is essential. It clarifies the promise you make to others as a leader.
It focuses you on insights that will be of greatest value to the people you engage.
It helps you earn trust.
And it strengthens your influence -- and impact -- by revealing both your capability and your character.
In short, your voice is a lot more than how you speak or write. It's your leadership DNA.