WOMEN AND VOCAL AUTHORITY

 After blogging about Vocal Fry, I had a few requests to write about the role of the voice in a women's desire to be taken seriously.  Being that I am a HUGE proponent of how you say something being more impactful than what you say, it starts with the voice.   My female clients consistently approach me with a familiar challenge: how to sound authoritative and powerful, without coming off like a ‘you-know-what.’ 

I’m going to speak in some generalities here, so let me say right off the bat I don’t mean to say that ALL men do this and ALL women do that.  But I have seen consistent behaviors in both sexes.  Today let’s look at VOLUME.

            Whether working shoulder to shoulder with men or not, women often make the mistake of “competing” – especially vocally.  And most often they will lose.     

The male voice may naturally deepen or resonate with added volume.  On the other hand, women who push vocally most likely pitch higher.  They may sound shrill and screechy.  This has to do with the amount of air being pushed through the throat and vocal coaching may be necessary to learn techniques for maintaining consistent pitch, while adding power.  Just take my word for it: volume is not always a girl’s best friend.    

The best illustration I can offer are news anchors.  I have coached in the broadcast industry for 15 years.  The idea is to sound conversational, warm, and approachable, yet, even while wearing highly sensitive microphones, anchors tend to throw their vocal energy to the camera, which may be anywhere from 12 - 30 feet away, depending on the shot.  The Viewer perception is more like 3 - 7 feet.  It definitely requires a certain mind set to keep the voice conversational regardless of camera distance.  Those microphones are capable of picking up whispers, but one of the biggest challenges, for men and women, is finding power through other means, besides volume. 

Typically men speak louder than women.  Period.  This is not necessarily true for me as I have been told my voice can be heard two New York avenues away.  Ahem!  But it is challenging to sit next to a booming male voice, night after night and NOT want to compete or imitate.  This does not happen only with Anchors.  Women in corporate board rooms all over the country may feel like screaming, believing they must yell to be heard, but in truth, very different techniques should be employed for channeling the power within. 

I'll be back next week. Stay tuned for more on women and vocal power.