How to Speak So That People Want to Listen
Takeaways:
The human voice is the most useful sound on earth. Thus, it benefits us to leverage the power of our voices. Making our speech more effective is a buildable skill.
To start, founder and speaker Julian Treasure presents the 7 Deadly Sins of Speaking– the common mistakes that makes blocks effective communication. These sins are:
- Gossip: Longterm, gossiping hinders relationships and affects others’ trust of you.
- Judging: To make someone feel evaluated or criticized will hinder effective, transparent communication.
- Negativity: People do not want to engage with those who are dominated by negative thoughts.
- Complaining: Complaints push conversation down a negative, unproductive road. Positivity is productive.
- Excuses: An effective speaker will look to take responsibility, not run from it. To do so is unappealing and diminishes trust.
- Embroidery/Exaggeration: Excessive exaggeration or embellishment creates the appearance of dishonesty and small mindedness.
- Dogmatism: Opinion is not fact. Aggressively imposing personal beliefs makes it difficult to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Instead, Treasure presents the H.A.I.L. framework for powerful and impactful speech, based on these principals: honesty, authenticity, integrity, and love.
Treasure then urges us to increase connection and clarity when we speak by focusing on these qualities in our vocalization:
- Register: The pitch level of your voice, with lower registers often conveying power and authority.
- Timbre: The quality or texture of your voice, with warm, smooth tones being more appealing and trainable.
- Prosody: The melody or rhythm in speech that adds meaning, avoiding monotony and excessive questioning intonations.
- Pace: The speed at which you speak, using varying speeds and pauses, including silence, to emphasize points and engage the audience.
As you build these qualities in your speech, your influence will grow and your trajectory will improve.
By Julian Treasure, for The Singju Post
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