How Voice Shapes Leadership Across Cultures: Lessons from a Year of Travel
- Susan Room
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
2025 saw me on the road in Europe and the Middle East - Dubai, England, France, Germany, Greece, Madeira, Malta, Scotland, Sicily and Spain - coaching and studying how people think, move, speak and sound. Fieldwork like this keeps my work grounded and practical. It reveals what travels well and what people might want to adapt so they can communicate authentically across cultures without losing their individuality.
I've also deepened my cross-cultural learning by coaching remarkable international leaders such as Mathilde Thoonsen-Bentz, Tamara Kurz, Didem Ün Ateş, Céline Delacroix and Ansa Javed and cohorts of Swiss Re colleagues in Canada and Turkish female leaders in AI amongst others.
And working across cultures also shows me how often we misread vocal habits - speed as confidence, loudness as authority, pitch as competence - when none of these impressions are reliable.
Because there’s plenty written about how people think, move and speak, I’m focusing this post on the often-neglected topic of voice in leadership communication.
Why Voice Matters in Leadership Communication
Your voice is often the first thing people notice and the last thing they remember about you. It signals your state of mind, shapes how quickly trust forms and how confidently ideas land, and gives you insight into how others are thinking and feeling. Yet many business people overlook their voice as a strategic asset - one that can influence relationships, perceptions and outcomes.
Culturally Diverse Behaviours, Universally Shared Challenges
Coaching global teams and cross-cultural leadership communication reinforces my belief that while body language and speech are culturally diverse, the vocal challenges leaders face are surprisingly universal. HR and L&D leaders frequently tell me about global meetings where fast, loud voices dominate; quieter speakers hold back; tone leads to conflict; and pitch and accent undermine credibility. These are just a few of the vast variety of voice behaviours that can be coached - and when they are, leaders communicate more authentically and teams collaborate with far less friction.
Cross-Cultural Voice Behaviours Every Leader Should Understand
Here are five common voice behaviours - each one simple to notice, and all of them coachable.
1) SPEED (talking too fast is a top cause of misunderstanding - and a common barrier to clarity under pressure).
The habit of speeding up when we’re nervous showed up everywhere. And, as I travelled further south and east, average pace quickened. Shared speed can bond a group, yet when native speakers talk fast, non-native speakers can feel excluded.
In Malta's capital Valletta, a car's number plate reminded me that - like a performance engine - controlling the speed of your voice can be more effective than constant revving.
Top tip: Drive your pace. To slow down, practise punctuating your speech as you would your writing. If someone is talking too fast, invite them to do the same.
2) PITCH (set by anatomy and emotion, not competence - but often misread as authority or confidence).
Voice pitch isn’t a proxy for intelligence or capability.
Some of the most successful people I know have naturally high-pitched voices, yet their credibility means their pitch doesn't undermine their impact.
They understand that tension increases pitch, so they focus on quietly releasing it and connecting with their audience instead - techniques I saw the singer Julia Kurig Yazaki employ brilliantly at the Paxos Music Festival.
Top tip: Stop fixating on pitch. Release tension - jaw and tongue free, shoulders down, long out-breath - then focus on your listener, not yourself.
3) INTONATION (helps messages land, and signals intent).
Intonation - pitch rising and falling - varies across cultures. In England, I heard more leaders using “uptalk” to sound polite and collaborative than in Germany, where a firmer falling pattern at the end of statements signalling completion and decisiveness was more common.
In France, I heard rises draw attention, falls close a point, and both, in quick succession on Paris Métro trains, to help passengers hear and register where to get off.
Top tip: Use intonation to signal intention. If speaking British English, rise when you genuinely want input; fall when you’re making a decision; vary intonation to keep others engaged.
4) LOUDNESS (volume is cultural - and resonant is better than loud).
The more we push our voice, the higher and tighter it can become. Hearing my husband’s voice ring round the Oracle Chamber of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta, which can make a typical male voice sound two to three times louder without extra effort, was a vivid reminder that skilled communicators vary their volume not by whispering or shouting, but by using natural resonance.
Top tip: Use resonance, don't push. To support resonance, do a stifled, closed-mouth yawn to release your throat and jaw, then use your tongue and lips more deliberately to shape your words.
5) Tone (the hardest to control - and the fastest way to build or break trust).
Tone of voice reveals our attitude to our words and powerfully affects how others feel.
On several flights this year, some in quite bumpy conditions, I was reassured by the calm, confident, grounded tone of airline pilots who are highly skilled as this short clip shows...
I see the same in organisations: a leader’s tone can steady a team or unsettle it, regardless of what the leader says.
Top tip: Think about the tone you’re setting. Focus on how you want colleagues to feel—calm, valued, confident—and your tone will often adjust to match.
Voice: the Key to Effective Leadership Communication
When I look across these five elements - speed, pitch, intonation, loudness and tone - I’m reminded that effective leadership communication isn’t about sounding like someone else, but about using your own voice with more choice and ease. Leaders I work with around the world learn to notice and adjust these behaviours. With support and practice, they find they can express themselves more confidently and authentically and build credibility and trust faster - to everyone's benefit.
The Business Voice Coach
On the Road in Asia 2026: Interested in Leadership Communication Sessions for Your Teams?
I’ll be on the road in Asia in 2026 - in Singapore for week commencing 2nd February, and in Hong Kong week commencing 13th April. If you’re an HR or L&D leader based in either city, working with international teams and wanting to strengthen their confidence, presence and leadership communication skills that help global teams collaborate more effectively, get in touch to explore a talk, workshop or coaching session while I’m there.
I can also share details of my forthcoming Make Your Mark for Teams self-study programme, designed for global and hybrid teams and launching later in 2026.
My work is practical, high-impact and rooted in a framework and toolkit leaders can apply immediately, helping global teams turn awareness into everyday communication habits.
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