Fake it till you make it. That is the motto American entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes followed to lead her lab testing company towards acquiring quick fame and meteoric financial rise. The scam didn’t last and she currently faces up to 20 years of prison on several counts of fraud, so I’m not suggesting that you should be more like Elizabeth Holmes! However, she did do one thing right- one thing we can learn from- and that was the way she used her voice to her advantage. If you’ve never much thought about your voice and it’s potential to help (or hurt!) you, you 100% should. Because Elizabeth Holmes’ story proves that being aware of how you sound and how you present yourself  can actually help people to be more successful and to climb the social ladder.

We know that Holmes did, in fact, lower her pitch and deepen her voice considerably, but the question we should be asking is, ‘Why ?’ Joey Cheng of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne asked the question as well and he’s found the answer. In the course of his research, Cheng learned that a lower pitch of voice (lower pitch makes your voice sound deeper) has a considerable impact on people’s social ranking, earning power and their perceived dominance. So, yes, your voice can affect your career! And amazingly, rhe pitch of your speech may determine your earnings.

Cheng attributes this to nature. He notes that in the wild, primates often lower their pitches during fights to show dominance and imply a position of superior strength. And as you’ve probably already noticed, there are a lot of parallels between the corporate world and the animal kingdom. Cheng’s further research discovered that the same patterns found in aggressive primates can also be found in the business sphere, and other researchers back that up. For example, a study at Duke University revealed that CEO’s with deeper voices achieved higher levels of success.

Just like animals, we respond to displays of dominance, sometimes without question. And because deeper voices tend to make the speaker appear more competent, dominant and authoritative, we tend to give them our attention and obey them more easily. If that still sounds like pseudo-science, consider that same study’s recent discovery that just a 1% decrease in a person’s pitch could translate into up to $30 million more in assets for that individuals’ company.

All this explains why Elizabeth Holmes was faking a deeper voice. She was building her company Theranos lie by lie. The deep voice was her cover to appear mature, reliable and in the lead. No wonder she made it to the Forbes list of most influential people. Well, there was certainly more than her faked deep voice that went into the making of the scam, but honestly, she did seem to know what she was talking about and we wanted to believe her. And her fake deep voice played its part in the whole fiasco.

Through her rise and fall, we’ve learned more about the power of your voice in your career, and now we also know how to duplicate it. So, if you’re looking for tips to mimic her secrets.. keep reading! Obviously, you can’t change your voice completely, but there are some things you can do to lower it. Just take a look at some of these handy tricks.

1. Breathe properly: When we are short of breath we tend to sound shrill and the voice tends to break. Breathe properly to give yourself ample air to produce your sentences fully and at an optimum volume.
2. Talk clearly and deliberately: This has the same impact. It helps you to relax, immediately lowering the pitch and pace, making you sound more mature and in control.
3. Formulate your words properly: Don’t be in a hurry to deliver your message. Speaking clearly automatically causes us to lower our pitch.
4. Speak in a breathy voice: Breathy voices tend to sound deeper and more mature.
5. Speak in less animated tones: Speaking in a flatter general tone makes you appear mature and serious, as opposed to impulsive and emotional. It is also a good tip for using in professional situations. Just make sure that your voice sounds less animated and not monotonous to the point of sounding menacing.

6. Once you have arrived at which techniques work best for you, practice every day.

These tricks should absolutely work for you, but if what you’re really looking for is a way to boost your success and confidence, you can head over to my site, www.instantkharismaseminar.com for life coaching and confidence training! I’ve helped thousands of people just like you to unlock their full potential and I can do it for you too! Wondering how? For the full story, you’ll have to check out my site, but basically… I teach you how to use your body language to sell more products and services- no matter what line of work you’re in! I’ll show you how to make a greater impact and skyrocket your influence even if you hate public speaking or feel awkward in front of a camera! If that sounds like what you need, then what are you waiting for?? Let me help you yourself today!