When you finish one book and you send it off to the publisher, there’s a sense of accomplishment, but also of loss.  The manuscript has become your companion on a long journey, and you’re sorry to part company as you near journey’s end.  So naturally you look around to see if you can spot another book on the horizon.

When I started Can You Hear Me?, it was the result of an insistent question I was asked at virtually every talk on body language I gave.  And it was almost always the first question.  “Dr. Morgan, this body language stuff is all very interesting, but I manage a team of people who are spread all over the world, in Singapore, Switzerland, and California.  How do I connect with them, if I can’t see their body language?  What’s the online equivalent?

That’s how the journey with Can You Hear Me? started, and now that it’s almost done and it’s time to launch the book into the world, the next book has shown up, not as a question other people ask me, but as a question I’ve been asking myself more and more often in my coaching work.

Why has the 21st century voice become such a problematic thing?  The question has urgency for anyone who cares about public speaking and communication, but your voice is the single most important aspect of your work if you’re a speaker, or even just someone who talks during the course of a normal business day.  That voice conveys enthusiasm or ennui, leadership or passivity, energy or cynicism.  But more and more I see two issues with the voices that I meet.

First, technically the 21st century voice, especially post-invention of the mobile phone, has become more and more limited and cramped as an instrument.  When I started in the business of coaching speakers, and working with them on their voices, as an actor and singer it was natural for me to listen to their voices and help them get stronger and better.

Twenty years ago, voices typically had a two-octave range.  Today, an octave and a half is more typical.  Anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but a consistent pattern.  When you narrow the range, you limit the instrument and thus the effectiveness of the speaker.  So the loss of half an octave is a serious restriction.  Why is this happening?

Second, more than just technical vocal prowess is required of speakers.  Speakers have to express their passion, their charisma, and their souls first through their voices.  If those voices are limited, that means less of the speaker will come through.  What’s the pattern I’m seeing?  Instead of 100% we’re typically getting 50-66% percent.  Again, that’s alarming because it means that these speakers’ careers as motivational forces to be reckoned with are limited even before they’ve begun.

So my next book is going to tackle the subject of voice for speakers; how to develop a strong voice, what you need to do technically to create a great voice, and what you need to do spiritually.  That’s the next one; for now, I’m going to focus on Can You Hear Me? and the deeply urgent problem of how we communicate effectively in a virtual world.