Paying attention to the voice of a person provides us valuable information about him/her.

The voice tells us about:

• The mood the person is in
• How confident he or she is 
• How much conviction s/he has in what was just said

Most often, by interpreting the tone of someone’s voice, we get to know what that person really thinks or how s/he really ticks.

What forms our “gut feel” or impression of someone is basically taken those cues in and interpreting them subconsciously.

It helps a lot in conversations to make this more conscious and be aware of this. On the other hand, we can use our own voice more effectively.

The 7%-38%-55% rule

Some smart Harvard professor once found out that when we communicate 55% is communicated through body language, 38% through the tone and voice and only 7% through the spoken word.

Meaning if you want to get a message across, it’s really less about what you say but how you say it. I knew about the importance of body language, but was still pretty surprised that almost 40% is carried through our voice - good to pay attention to our voice then…

My partnership manager had this problem of not “being heard” in one of the meetings. She then focused on two simple things:

• Putting energy behind her voice and speaking up
• Evening out the tremble of her voice and instead speak steadily & calmly

Needless to say, even if she felt insecure, it worked.

As we strive for perfections (I know you do my beautiful ladies), it is good to be reminded of this significant part of ours (our voice!) and use it to our advantage.