Why Strong Leaders Sound Different | David Pope

Your voice tells the world who you are before your words ever land. In this MarketPulse conversation, executive voice coach David Pope reveals the surprising truth about leadership communication: the sound of your voice shapes trust, confidence, authority and emotional connection long before content does. After more than 30,000 hours inside recording studios, David has developed a rare ability to diagnose the habits, fears and subconscious patterns that limit leaders. His story takes us from the BBC’s editing suites to working with global executives, TEDx speakers, founders and professionals who want to speak with clarity, presence and impact.

Across the episode, David explains how childhood experiences shape adult communication, why certain voices feel instantly trustworthy, and what your vocal tone is really telling people. He explores the emotional mechanics behind fear of public speaking, the powerful link between voice and identity, and how unprocessed trauma quietly holds leaders back. His insights blend psychology, behaviour, performance and sound engineering – a combination that offers leaders a practical roadmap for building presence from the inside out.

This episode dives into the three pillars of leadership communication, the small adjustments that create breakthrough moments, and the body-language patterns that influence how people feel when you speak. You’ll hear why comedians make exceptional communicators, how culture influences vocal style, and what separates the leaders people listen to from those they tolerate. David shares stories from the studio that reveal the hidden side of confidence – the part most people never consider.

By the end of the episode, you’ll understand how to sound more credible in the boardroom, how to speak more naturally under pressure, how to reduce vocal tension, and how to rebuild confidence if past experiences have made you doubt your voice. This is a conversation for anyone who presents, pitches, leads or simply wants to communicate with greater influence and authenticity.

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Transcript

Paul 0:02

David Pope believes your voice is more than sound. It's your story, your confidence, and your ability to lead. David began his career in the editing suites of the BBC cutting documentaries TV series and feature films, learning how sound could shape emotion and meaning long before he ever stood behind a microphone. That early training gave him a lifelong fascination with how people listen. And how powerful a well-crafted voice can be today as founder and executive voice coach at all voice talent, David draws on more than 30 years of experience in recording studios to help professionals around the world communicate with clarity, confidence, and presence. He's coached CEOs, lawyers, business leaders, and TEDx speakers guiding them to use their voice as a tool for influence and connection. His workshops, which are CPD accredited by the law Societies of Hong Kong, Singapore, and New South Wales, and recognised by the Legal Affairs Department of the Government of Dubai, they blend science, performance, and psychology, whether working one-to-one, leading a group or creating online training. David helps good speakers become great ones. David, welcome to the show.

David 1:20

Thank you so much, Paul. Thank you for that wonderful introduction as well. Thank you.

Paul 1:26

It is fun. I genuinely, I love this podcast because we get to speak to so many amazing people who have phenomenal stories and even just having the opportunity to share a small part of those stories, a genuine privilege. David and your story's no different from what I can see.

David 1:42

Thank you. You.

Paul 1:43

when did you get. When did you realise that the BBC was something that you wanted to do, and was it intentional?

David 1:49

Well. First of all, when I graduated, actually my first job was working for a video production company in London, In the late 80's And so I was working in pop videos and just to put myself in the age so that people understand how old I am. I was working as a runner for this production company working on pop videos for groups like. Aha. Dire straits. Wham. So the younger people know George Michael. That was wham. And I started BBC, because actually what I realised was I was just rubbish at making coffee. Now the reason I say that is because as part of my role as a runner, I had to make coffee for said pop stars. Directors and producers, I just couldn't get it right. So thankfully I was offered a job at the BBC as a, as an assistant film editor, and that's really where my love of voice began. Working for TV series and also documentaries, and very lucky to be part of the beginning of the feature films as well that the BBC started doing. This was in the late 80's Yeah, so that's really where my love of voice began.

Paul 3:02

Amazing. So fortunately you were crap at making coffee, which meant that you could actually have a, otherwise you'd be stuff doing that. Now, David, you could be like a senior coffee maker at the BBC.

David 3:11

Exactly. going back to those days, do you remember it wasn't things like, you know, frothy lattes with oat milk and this and that. I couldn't even make an instant coffee. So

Paul 3:22

Nescafe gold blend! i think my

David 3:23

calling Was something a bit better. Yes. So thank goodness. Thank goodness. The, you know, the universe moved in a brilliant way for me.

Paul 3:31

I remember my dad lecturing me on how to make proper tea and mam and dad you know, this proper pit tea. My dad was determined that if you didn't bend the spoon, you weren't trying hard enough.

David 3:42

Oh

Paul 3:42

We had a proper, we had a special spoon for it that withstood the pressure of squeezing my dad's tea back. Honestly, I could go on about that for ages, but that's another story for another day, David. But yeah. so was there a moment early on in that, that BBC atmosphere and in that environment where you realised that voice could really change how people do things like lead teams persuade people, connect people, what's, how did you figure out that voice was that important?

David 4:07

I think because a lot of the times that I was working with actors at the BBC, so, you know, as my role, I was there to mix the sound and I was listening to some incredible actors voices and this is what really. Made me understand the connection between the way that we are leading, right? People leading with their voice, the way that actors, they could inhabit a character and they could use their voice to connect in, in, in this respect, it was connecting to, to audiences on film or in TV series and using that experience. I think as well, you know, moving to Hong Kong. And then working as a director with professional voice talent. So underpinning that idea of the way that we use the voice to connect and then to lead, and then taking that experience and using that now with the people that I'm working with in, in the executive corporate world. So it really started from an interest and understanding how people can really use their voice to empower. To engage to, to, you know, to win people starting with actors. But moving through now to the work the work that I do in the corporate space.

Paul 5:22

And you've mentioned there that you are you're out there in Hong Kong now, right? What point of the career did that happen? Was that part of the BBC journey or did that come on your own?

David 5:31

So what happened was, actually I was in between contracts at the BBC and I came out to visit a friend that i At university with who had studied Chinese so I went here. Well here I say running this in Hong Kong now. So I came to Hong Kong in 1995 and I decided to stay. I was really fortunate actually because I managed to pick up work as a producer and a director for all of the major publishing companies. So, you know, back in the day we had Oxford University Press, Pearsons McMillans. So I was employed as their producer and the their director. Working with professional voice talent. And from that, I then moved into working with the same voice talent or different crews on tv commercials, corporate videos, toys, games, apps. So that's really where the whole thing began. And I actually worked out the other day. Somebody asked me as a dare how long, how many hours I'd spent in recording studios. And I worked out that I spent over 30,000 hours in my career as a director sitting in recording studios, either as a direction producer or as a voiceover artist. But the way it all changed and move, shifting into the work that I do now. Was because I started getting calls from people saying, you know, I see the work that you do around voice. I work in corporate communications. I'm in business. I'm in legal. I'm in finance. I've been told that I need to improve my communication skills. My boss has given me a review and said that if I want to get promoted, I have to speak with more confidence. I've just been given a new job. and I'm in Asia and I've got to fly to New York to present to the board, and I'm terrified of public speaking. And so what I realised was with all of that experience that I had in the recording studios, I could easily segue. using that as a solid foundation to be able to use the skills and the techniques that I'd learned by really putting in the graft as a director to be able to help people in the corporate space. And so that's really how everything began in this iteration of my business.

Paul 7:52

Interesting. So what are we saying that the interest from people to work with you came first and that spurred the business idea on, or were you kind of already looking to do independent coaching at that point and advertising that?

David 8:05

No I wasn't actually the way it started was because actually written a course for people who wanted to become professional voiceover talent. So I was running courses in, in the recording studio. Teaching, want to be voiceover actors about the different genres of voiceover work. So as I said earlier, you know, using a voice to sell a product, using a voice for an educational tool, a toy film dubbing was very big in the early days in, well in the late 80's So I was doing that specifically around voice actors, but it was kind of my, name got out there, and people in the worlds of corporate, you know, training and development were looking for something which wasn't just your presentation skills.

Paul 8:54

Yeah. they were

David 8:55

looking for something which was much deeper, which was about embedding that confidence of being a strong and confident communicator. So it was really, I wasn't planning it. This is how it happened. So it was, you know, serendipitous really.

Paul 9:09

And we say this all the time on the shore, right? Like I must say this phrase more, more in my professional life than I've ever said anything else is that we very rarely end up where we thought we'd end up when we first started out, but we absolutely end up where we're meant to be.

David 9:23

believe that. I absolutely believe that. Yeah. Yeah. I discovered it's something that I love doing and something that I'm good at, you know, and that's a wonderful thing. I enjoy getting up in the morning to go to work basically.

Paul 9:36

And that's when it stops feeling like a job, right? Like it's just it's more like a hobby that you get paid for, which is a lovely place to be and where we all want to be ideally. I talk a lot to young people about, you know, we, talk about what's a, what's the best job in the world? Quite often the answer comes back as a footballer.'cause I get paid a fortune. I earn so much money. And yes, but only you can only be a footballer who earns that sort of money if you really enjoy being a footballer. And that's the difference between a good job and a great job is you enjoy it. And I think that's something that we. Certainly in Western education we struggle to convey that to the young, to the next generation very well. You know, we talk about career paths and always you want to be a lawyer and where you want to be a professional accountant and all of these things and scientists, that's great. What do you enjoy? What parts of what you are doing in your day do you enjoy? And how do we put those together to help you find a career that you actually are good at and enjoy? And I think. I think that's something that, that a lot of the next generation could benefit from under again. I could probably do a whole podcast on that as well, David.

David 10:39

I

Paul 10:39

It's another one of my rants.

David 10:40

coming out of this, Paul. Yeah.

Paul 10:42

It's another one of my favorite rants. So coming back to it then you've coached everyone from lawyers, TEDx speakers, CEOs of small and large businesses, large organisations. What patterns have you noticed in kind of how confidently leaders Use their voice both before they've come to you and once they've worked with you. I guess it leads into what difference does it make in the end?

David 11:06

Think it's, yeah voice, but it's more than voice as well, so. I've been very fortunate because I've, over my career, I've worked with thousands of people globally and across a huge range of industries as well. So, and I think from this experience, I know that really there are three things that can really turn you into a great communicator. The first one is voice. Definitely. So this is having a voice that's engaging, it's inspiring. It gets people to, you know, get up and listen. Right? But of course it has to be authentic as well. It's not coming back to the actors. It's, you know, it's not an actor's voice. I'm not getting people to pretend to be something that they're not. The second piece is presence. So. This is about how we can command the attention of single listeners or maybe if you are being asked to speak at conferences, entire rooms. And the third piece is around the delivery. The delivery of a message, being able to. Craft and deliver a message that really moves people to take action, to inspires and to educate. And so what happens is people will come to me and they think that they're looking for one particular thing, but what we're doing is we start unpicking it and actually realise. That there are many areas, many attributes that need to come together. And so for me that the confidence piece that I get from working with people is that we align the voice, the presence, and the delivery. And when you put those together. In a natural and an authentic way. That is really where the confidence comes from and that comes from, you know, you mentioned that Yeah. I've worked with senior leadership. I also work students and fresh graduates. It's the same thing. people come to me, they have an idea, oh, David, you know, I think that I speak like this and I want to speak like that. I work with them and they realise that actually it's something different or it's a lot more. And that is really, you know, for me, this is what keeps me coming back is that transformational piece as well. I just love seeing the changes in people when they get that like light bulb

Paul 13:23

Yeah,

David 13:23

Yeah.

Paul 13:24

it really makes a real difference and I imagine it makes such a huge difference to their professional and personal life, right? It.

David 13:32

Definitely

Paul 13:33

everywhere.

David 13:34

absolutely. Absolutely. We all have to be good communicators basically. You know, so, so much now is reliant on us being good communicators. Yeah.

Paul 13:44

Amazing. And like I would imagine that there's a lot of people that come to work with you who are also being asked to or want to speak in public in large meetings at events, and. I know from personal experience, that can be a terrifying thought. Probably not so bad once you get up there, but the thought of getting up there is terrifying. How do you work with people in that situation? What's the process to break that down?

David 14:09

So the process, a lot of people get in their head about that. And one of the things that I've noticed actually, when I start talking to people about this fear, but they say, I dunno if you've heard this thing, they say that people fear

Paul 14:22

public

David 14:22

speaking more than they fear death.

Paul 14:25

Sure

David 14:25

that's a nice thing. So, you know, I'll usually lead with that. No, I don't lead with that. But it's. Death and spiders, apparently death, spiders and then we've got public speaking. right at the top. yeah. What happens is it, in a way, it's kind of an irrational fear and sometimes we will take it back right to primary school. school, right, where they maybe were standing up in front of a group and they were shamed. They were shamed either by the people in the class, or sometimes you hear stories about the teacher, you know, oh, you are not very good. You are a terrible speaker, and they carry this through. So this fear of public speaking, it's called gloss phobia. And a little bit of fear is good. You know, the adrenaline

Paul 15:09

fear Yeah.

David 15:10

keeps you going, that's really good. But when it's crippling you, when it's really stopping you from going out there being able to spread your message, to tell your story, people get passionate about something that they want to share. But when it comes to actually speaking in front of a large group. They can't do it. I actually had people again in the C-suite who have said to me that they actively choose roles which you know, shifting across to companies, that means that they won't need to do the global town halls, for example. And I just think, wow, you know, you are in that senior position and yet you're shunning

Paul 15:49

Yeah.

David 15:49

all of that And so again, it comes back to sometimes this early on, effectively it's trauma. And so what I'm doing when I'm working with people is I'm getting them to understand. The power of their voice. I'm getting to understand nuances of their voice. And really, because my whole system is about recording the voice, playing it back, and analysing it, and bit by bit what I'm seeing is when people have this irrational fear, they're starting to get more confident. I, not only am I doing that, but also I have a whole series of exercises that I take them through, which is about. About grounding, about relaxing. Everything is about the breath, bringing the breath down. This gives you the powerful voice, but it also calms you. It it lowers your heart rate. It lowers your blood pressure. And so I do a lot of visualisation exercises. So if people are coming to me and they've got this real fear of public speaking, I go at it from many different angles. And really it's trying to help'em, to nurture to, to put that trauma from maybe many years ago aside, because it's just irrational. And Yeah. And that's really how it works. And then to get them out on the stage. And that's what I love seeing that we just recently had a big TEDx event here in, in Hong Kong, you know, 3000 people. And I was working with some of the people there, and it's just amazing seeing them. They get out on the stage. When I saw them like four months ago that when they were starting, it was like, oh, you know, Just very slow process, but it can be done. And that again, is just that transformational thing. I absolutely love it. Love it.

Paul 17:32

That's amazing and to come at that from a different angle. You obviously, you've. been in a professional position where you've been learning how to help people with these things, you've been experimenting over time. But it's also something that you've had to come to be good at as well, right?'cause you've gotta lead by example and be able to exemplify that. So

David 18:26

Yeah.

Paul 18:27

What's the journey that you've been on with your public speaking?

David 18:29

Wow. Good question. Okay, so coming back to the fact that I said that I spent a lot of time in recording studios, right? Recording studios. What are they? Like the booth, right? It's soundproof. The door closes. I'm sitting there on a stool. I've got the script in front of me. I've got headphones on, a very small light, womb light. That to me is my safe, happy space. So I was working, this was like about 20, 20 years ago, I was working with a client specifically on them, getting them to be better public speaker. And this said, client said to me, you know, David, you need to increase your visibility and one of the things that you need to. Do is you should think about workshops, delivering workshops. Now, my self saboteur immediate was like, no, I can't do that. I can't do that because I'm very good at sitting in a small space directing people. But the idea of getting up on a stage, you are imparting knowledge. You are a trainer. You know, you've gotta be funny, you've gotta tell stories. do that. I can't do that, but. I put that self saboteur aside. I said, David, you've gotta do it right. You know, the next phase for your business, you've gotta ramp it up. So I said, yes, 20, 25 years down the line. I speak at conferences, I speak at town halls, I speak at, you know, very big events. Don't have that irrational fear anymore. I have nerves, but I think that's good because that keeps me in the zone. you know, and I say this to every person, especially like people starting out in their career, say yes to things. Say yes to. If somebody wants to, you know, the group to do a presentation, put your hand up. I will do it. I'll do it. Say yes. If somebody in the company wants somebody to mc the event, even if it's it's in the pantry, the canteen, and it's a birthday speech, it's a member of staff's birthday, get up and make that speech. You've got to train that confidence muscle so you know. I'm a prime example of somebody. I had to get through that. And now it's like public speaking. I firmly believe that if you've got the right mindset and you have the techniques to be able to develop into a good communicator, the whole public speaking thing can go from something that's. worse than death, you know? Terrifying

Paul 20:56

Yeah. into

David 20:56

actually something that's really quite enjoyable. So yeah, I think, you know, that's the way forward. Just say yes to it. Get through it.

Paul 21:05

I think that's something that, that can apply to so many things as well. David I think that's a great lesson to, to take away from the episode for a lot of people is, you know, we mentioned before about you often get where you're meant to be, but that only happens if you're brave enough to walk through the door when it opens. Otherwise you'll be stuck where you thought you would be. And you know what? We talked before the episode started. I remember running online networking events when I first left Corporate World during COVID. Everybody's in lockdown, and I remember 700 people turning up to my online networking events. It was absolutely terrifying, but once I'd done two or three of those, it became a bit more normal.

David 21:44

That's it

Paul 21:44

Yes, absolutely. But it was fun and focus shifted from, my goodness, how terrifying is this, to how can I actually help 700 people get better at their jobs as a result of what we're offering here? I love that.

David 21:58

I think kind of make it all about themselves. It's like my fear. My fear. It exactly. If you spin it, and that idea of what knowledge have I got? What can I give to people? And that's, you counteract that fear and that's where you get that boost of confidence. Wow, I have got something to say. Yes,

Paul 22:17

Yeah. I. have

David 22:18

got that experience. I do have that knowledge. I can help people. And you know, people are always rooting for somebody and if you screw up, it doesn't matter. I've

Paul 22:28

been with Yeah.

David 22:29

people, I've watched them on the stage, they've made a mistake, they've laughed. Some of them have got terrified and the crowd is with them. You know, in our world, people aren't there to sort of, you know, punch them down, beat them down. They're there to build them up and support them. Really?

Paul 22:44

Yeah.

David 22:44

Yeah.

Paul 22:45

Yeah, probably don't wanna do that if you're a onstage comedian, but otherwise you are. All right. Yeah. And it's interesting. I remember one of our guests he became a ironically also out in Hong Kong, who was a, a very senior sales leader for his corporate business. But in, on his his hobby was being a comedian on stage and he'd done tremendously well as a comedian and he realised the power of. Being able to take people on that journey as a comedian relayed into his professional life, made him extremely successful as a salesperson.

David 23:14

Absolutely. Yeah.

Paul 23:16

we've had magicians for the same thing, right? Like they're now business coaches and they understand how to help. It's that telling of the story and it's the optical presentation of what they're doing but also how they talk about that and how they present that. And I think there's so many alternative career paths from people who are good at something else because they've found how to present themselves, how to talk, how to communicate more effectively, how to tell their story or the story of something they're passionate about. I love it. I it's so. Rewarding to be part of that journey. And it's why I love podcasts because I'm helping share so many other people's journey through interview, through asking the right questions and just being curious. So what was the point then, David, where you decided that actually you're gonna take the leap and go all in as David Pope and run all voice talent? Like what was the crucible?

David 24:10

So I founded All Voice Talent in 2010, what I realised was that I was actually the only person who was running these specific training courses for executives for corporates. So in other words. Inviting people to come to our professional recording studio and working with people on the voice intensive program, which I developed subsequently, to be able for them to really understand how they sounded. So there were many courses around presentation skills, for example, but nothing which really honed into the intricacies of voice and from that voice, the presence, the storytelling piece, but really doing a deep dive into it. And so that's where I realised I was onto something because I started picking up some very good contracts with very prestigious companies, global companies. So. I realised that there was definitely a need so I could grow the company through that.

Paul 25:09

Amazing. And so. How's the business kind of evolved since those early days? Because obviously at the beginning it's just you, right? Is there is it still just you or has it grown?

David 25:20

It is the problem is, and I dunno if this is about, you know, the own business owner, I've sort of become the brand I did try several years ago to sort of move away and to train people up. But what I found is that, and you know, I don't wanna say this in an arrogant way, but because I've been doing this for a long time, people just wanted to work with David. It sort of, you know, it's a great thing, but it's also an annoying thing'cause I kind of sometimes need a break. But basically what happened was, so as I said, I started running these sessions, the one-on-ones in a recording studio, then I moved it into a boardroom situations. So giving people the choice. So I go into a boardroom. of like a global bank or a law firm, and I bring all my audio equipment, and then of course COVID happened, and then I started adapting this and running it online. So typically now what you will find in any one month, I am running sessions either in the studio or in boardrooms or online. But then what happened was that the workshops, so this person, as I said that I was working with, this client, said, you know, you need to ramp up the business. So I started developing workshops and as I got more confident in doing workshops, and then as you said in the introduction, I was very fortunate. that Two of them got CPD accreditation, and because of that, they had added credibility. So then what I found myself doing was delivering the workshops around the APAC region. So from Tokyo. To, Seoul, to Beijing, to Singapore in Hong Kong, and then expanding that as well. So, in a few weeks time, I'm going down to Australia. I'll be working in Sydney and Melbourne. I've been doing that for a few years, and then. going into the Middle East as well. I've been working in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. And then just before Christmas, I'll be back in the UK working in London. So these sort of developed, and again, you know, it scaled. It scaled. But then the final piece was actually somebody that I was working with and she was the head of, or she is the head of learning and development for one of the big fortune five hundreds she said. David, the next thing that you need to do to scale your business is to create online video courses. So I did that about five or six years ago, and those are a cost effective way because you know, I can't be

Paul 27:56

everywhere at Yeah.

David 27:57

once. And so basically people who are wanting to work on the areas that I coach on, they can actually download, they can work with me. On these videos, there's workbooks. So we've done all, you know, it's modular, they get to do tests, they get to record themselves, all of that. So they're getting that experience. So, that's how it started. It started small. I listened to the market. It then built into workshops, which got my name into the sort of bigger arena. And then now I've broadened it, the scope to, to do online videos. So I think that's it. I think there's no more to come. I think I've

Paul 28:34

enough It is efficient and effective, right? Yeah. But that's lovely to hear. And I think that's a, again, that's what so many business owners need to be doing is we kind of get stuck into our business and we're very rigid about what we want to do at the beginning. And some people never move beyond that.

David 28:48

Yeah.

Paul 28:48

it's sad to see because there's so much more evolution to those businesses and quite often they end up failing if they don't move with the market. And, you know, again, similar story for myself. You know, we started out and I thought the majority of our work would be content interviews

David 29:02

Right.

Paul 29:03

So creating kind of, if you like a fake podcast series for business owners to share their story and their vision and journey. And actually where we've ended up is much, much more focused on podcasts themselves. And it's fun. I enjoy it and it's what the market wants and needs, so why not move with it?

David 29:19

Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's also, I think as well is, you know, the learning through And I think listeners as well, my learning from this is listen to people. i

Paul 29:30

did Yeah.

David 29:30

was listened to key people. In my space, giving me advice, and I've listened to the market, I've listened to those key people. So it's really, for me, it's about getting trusted advisors around you. You know, people in my area working in learning development, working in training, working in video production, who can I call on? So

Paul 29:51

listening Yeah.

David 29:51

to those people, what are the trends, what's going on? And then basically making yourself accountable. to them aswell you know, and so hitting those levels that, you know, they're saying, okay, have you done this? Have you done that? Yeah. And that's really what's kept me going. Yeah.

Paul 30:08

And you mentioned that you've delivered these workshops and coaching across the world, right? So what are some of the kind of cultural differences that involve like the communication style shifts across those regions and geographies?'cause I can't imagine. Is it the same communication styles that you see in Seoul and Hong Kong that are valid in Europe, or is the difference

David 30:31

Yeah, I mean there, there are definitely differences and it's to, it is to do with sort of introvert, extrovert, it's cultural implications as well. So I was recently in Dubai and I was

Paul 30:42

invited

David 30:43

to run a workshop for a select group of Emirati women nature of that workshop, it was much quieter. It was more reserved. Prior to that I had come from Singapore and I was working with a group and a marketing group of people and you had a mix of sort of extroverts and introverts, but you know, many different nationalities within that workshop as well. So Emirati women and specifically their culture. And then you had a mixed group. And then, as I said, I'm going down to Melbourne and Sydney in a few weeks, and I've been going there for a few years now. Very typically outgoing, you know, a bit mouthy and they sort of, you know, they come back with, yeah. But yeah. But, so it is very different. But what I've learned as a trainer as running these workshops specifically around communication, I always respect the cultural norms. So as you said, you know, Seoul very different, Tokyo very different to maybe a workshop in London. I always do that. But we need to ask ourselves in a business context around communication. It's basically two questions. Can I be understood? Am I engaging? Because typically the people I'm working with, whether they're in Seoul, they're in Tokyo, they're in Dubai, whatever, in their positions, especially if it's like a multinational company, they are going to be talking to people from different regions globally. They're gonna be reporting back in teams, so. We all have specific issues around the way that we speak. So it's not so much the cultural thing. Yes, we communicate in different ways, but the fundamentals, are we speaking too quickly? we be understood? You know, is this is about articulation? Are we being very monotone in our delivery? So can we spice it up a bit by having a little bit more intonation, being more engaging. These are all universal. It doesn't matter what language, what culture. These are universal themes and that to me, Paul is the core of it.

Paul 32:49

I love that. I love that. And I think there, there is so much that people can take away from this episode. If you are, if this is something that you are struggling with, I think that, you know, if you. Play this back and listen to the individual elements of what David's talked about there. I think there's so much that you can pick up on and take away. And I guess before we go, David, I'm just curious is there a moment from your coaching career that's really stayed with you that's empowered you as you moved on? Is there somebody that you've seen transform particularly that, that blew you away with the transformation process that's made you even more passionate about what you do?

David 33:26

In truth There've actually been so many over the years and I think I think there's pressure within this corporate world. There's pressure not only to perform well at your job, but to actually sound good while you are doing it, but you don't have to make drastic changes. Even these small changes can have a big impact. So there was a particular person I was working with about, about 10 or 12 years ago. She was in a senior leadership role, but she was actually quite timid she'd risen up into this role, but she was now needing speak to the global teams. she approached me and she basically said, you know, I need to have more gravitas. I need to be more grounded in my delivery. I worked with her specifically on that area. So to move from being timid in the voice, to having more volume, not shouting, but having that projection, being more

Paul 34:24

grounded Yeah.

David 34:25

thinking about a little bit about depth the pitch of the voice, but at the same time, keeping it natural, not going too low. So it sounded really phony. So we were playing around with many different. Context, many different recordings. So as I said, you know, my whole process is record play by analyse and we were doing this. And at the end what happened was I played her voice and I'm always trying to find like the. recording that sweet spot where everything comes together. So I'm playing her this voice, and she broke down. She broke down in tears, and I was saying, what's going on for you? she was so happy that she'd unlocked something in her. So she'd found like her true, authentic voice, you know, that it wasn't naturally timid, but she was keeping it down. She found that power. But also Paul, what I noticed was something that happened with her physically, because as the session was unfolding, I was noticing body was rising, the chest was coming up, the shoulders were going back. It was like, you know, the neck, everything was aligned. I was watching her body opening up, and so you have this voice. Then you had this presence and then you really had this executive presence, this gravitas, this authority. That to me is probably the most memorable, this incredible transformation. So, and

Paul 35:50

I love that.

David 35:51

that really is what, that's what I love about this work is these small transformations. That to me was a big one. But you know, I'm always getting these small changes. And remember, it's just the small changes, the tweaks that we need

Paul 36:04

to make Yeah.

David 36:04

Speak with a bit more volume. People begin to see you as a stronger person. Slow down a bit. People see you, that you have more authority and gravitas, that you are not nervous. Get rid of the uh's the um's the you knows, the sort ofs. It shows that you are more confident as a presenter.

Paul 36:24

Yeah. I love that. I love that there are obviously so many benefits to that and I think that it's interesting to see exactly as you've said, right? It's not a, it's not a fake persona that you're trying to take on. It's unlocking what's already. The real you that sat within that's been beaten into submission over the years. It's letting that free. And I talk a lot to my, you know, when I talk with my clients, obviously I'm in the transcription business, right? So I work with transcript editing and for me, I really, as an ADHD person, I really struggled with the visual editing. I can't take a video and see that's the start point, that's the end point. I have to look at the transcript and it's immediately obvious when I read the transcript. But as somebody who spends a lot of time working with that, certainly for my own content and my own editing filler words are something that I've come to detest massively because I see how much they get in the way of what you're trying to communicate.

David 37:19

Yes.

Paul 37:19

I think back to when I first started, it's almost, it's just that momentary pause where you're giving your brain time to think about what you want to see. That's all it is. And once you come to understand that, you start to combat that and listen to yourself back. I think that's extremely important to, to all of the audience that are listening give you are never going to hearing yourself talk. Probably You are never gonna seeing yourself on camera. Right. We all have that same, it's never goes away. We get more used to it.

David 37:49

Yeah.

Paul 37:49

tolerable. Absolutely. I still think I sound boring and like a foghorn. But it works and I know people respond to it. So I've learned to turn down what I like and what I don't like.'cause it's not about me, it's about my audience.

David 38:04

It's, and being authentic. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. People try too hard. Coming back to the acting thing, people try and pretend to be somebody. Right.

Paul 38:15

yeah.

David 38:15

I will get people calling me up and they'll say, David, can you help me sound like. Benedict Cumberbatch, right? And I go, no, it's not gonna happen. I want to sound like Obama. I want to sound like Michelle, you know, know it's not gonna happen. We've got our own authentic voice and that's that uniqueness. We work from that

Paul 38:37

then we Yeah.

David 38:37

can build. Absolutely. Don't pretend to be somebody else.

Paul 38:40

I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. David, thank you so much for spending the time with us today to share your story and the advice that you've got from that amazing career that you have.

David 38:50

Is there

Paul 38:50

anything that you'd like to leave the audience with before we wrap this?

David 38:53

Well, first of all, I would like to say if you have got anything high stakes coming up, if you've got a job interview, if you've got a pitch or a presentation, just as Paul said about recording, record your voice. And play it back because this is where you're going to pick up all of these nuances that might affect the way that you've come across. So are you doing lots of errs and ums? Are you speaking too quickly? Is your intonation on point? Are you saying something in five minutes when you could say it in two minutes? Being succinct in your messaging? So don't like doing it, but record yourself and play it back. That's the advice I want to give to every listener.

Paul 39:39

Amazing advice. Thank you very much, David, and if you are watching or listening along and you'd like to reach out to David, I'll make sure that his contact details are in the show notes as well. Thank you very much for sharing your time today, David and

David 39:51

Paul, thank you so much for you sharing your time with me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wanna know more about tea though.

Paul 39:57

or we'll do that off air so I don't bother the listeners too much. Thank you very much for watching or listening along, and we will see you next week on the MarketPulse Pros and Pioneers podcast. Thank you. Bye-bye.