Kapp 1

Nick Kapp

POLI 215

Dr. Randazzo

10 April 2017

Connection Essay

People can use their voice in a multitude of different ways in order to convey a specific

message. Barbara McAfee, in her book Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence,

provides specific methods to harness the power of your voice to become an effective

communicator. She has been a singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and speaker with over twelve

years of experience in organizational change. She identifies five distinct vocal sounds – earth,

fire, water, metal, and air – and gives examples of how to activate them and when to use them.

As discussed in the Student Leadership Challenge written by Kouzes and Posner, there are

different steps one must take to become an effective leader. These steps each require different

abilities and your voice can accomplish these in different ways. Throughout this essay, the five

step leadership process will be assessed in terms of the vocal tones – earth, fire, water, metal, and

air – and explained which tones work best in various situations.

Modeling the way is the first step in the leadership process which is centered on

credibility. During this process, people often clarify values and communicate their values to their

team to establish an authentic value based leadership (Kouzes and Posner). The earth tone of

voice is the most effective tone to use throughout this step in the process. The earth tone

possesses a gravelly, deep sound that is sourced from the feet or gut. This tone conveys a sense
 Kapp 2

of authority and is extremely grounding. It is used to establish a firm boundary and project

authority (McAfee). It is useful in this step in the process because it is important to be grounded

in your values. When someone sets the example they are grinding to complete the task. The earth

voice is best when confronting a challenge or managing a crisis (McAfee). With that aspect of

the leadership step, the voice can be used to manage because of its authoritative message. In this

step, it is important to be firm in your beliefs and cannot be compromising on your values. The

earth tone will effectively convey this message.

The next step in the leadership process is inspiring a shared vision. This step involves

ideas about the future and requires you to think about new possibilities. The air voice is the clear

choice for this step as it conveys a sense of inspiration and conveys possibilities of the future

which align exactly with the goals of inspiring a shared vision. This type of voice comes from

the top of your head and is also best used during depressing mood to being a lighter atmosphere,

or to bring a sense of intimacy (McAfee). Enlisting others is a crucial section in this step of the

leadership process (Kouzes and Posner). To do this you must animate the vision and be uplifting

and encouraging. Genuine enthusiasm and excitement along with a positive attitude make this

step possible. It is important to relate hopes, dreams, and successes into this step to get the team

on board. This is often viewed as one of the more difficult aspects of leadership because people

do not want to open up completely or may feel that they are being arrogant. In order to overcome

this the air tone can be used to express intimacy, openness, and spirit that will defeat the fears

you may have.

Challenging the process is the next step in the process. This step embodies innovation as

its core value. This step steps away from the status quo and focuses on change (Kouzes and

Posner). The fire voice is a good tone of voice to use for this step in the process. For example,
 Kapp 3

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was innovative, different from the status quo at

the time, and pushed for change in the social norm. This speech was given in a fire tone to

convey passion, power, and vitality, all which are necessary to go against what is considered

normal and be innovative. This tone comes from the solar plexus and will physically heat up

your body when using it (McAfee). Seizing the initiative is an important aspect of challenging

the process and in order to do that certainty and routine are not keys for success. In order to make

something happen you must be passionate and command power and attention which are all

characteristics in the fire tone of voice.

Enabling other to work is the second to last step in the leadership process. This section

focuses on empowerment and community. It is important to foster collaboration, build trust, and

strengthen others to act during this step (Kouzes and Posner). Voices that are best used to convey

information during this step are the fire and air voices. As stated previously, the fire voice is

good to command power, attention, and passion. This can be useful to strengthen others to act as

we saw with the Martin Luther King example. His fire voice conveyed a powerful message that

enabled others to act and fight for equality during the Civil Rights Movement. The air voice is

useful in this section because it draws on fostering collaboration and building trust. It gives off a

sense of inspiration and spiritual connection (McAfee). Using this voice during interactions with

your team will help them feel inspired, thus making them more likely to act or increase their

willingness to strive for the goal. The connection that it provides will increase trust throughout

the team and increase effort because when people trust others to do something, the other person

does not want to let them down and will be more likely to put in the effort to succeed.

The final step in the leadership process is encouraging the heart. The key concepts in this

section are expectations and recognition. Encouraging the heart is about setting up clear and
 Kapp 4

responsible expectations and acknowledge good results (Kouzes and Posner). It is important to

reinforce positive performance whether it is simply saying thank you or a celebration or

ceremony when a more major success happens. The tone of voice that can be used during this

section is the water voice. This voice comes from the heart and carries a warmer, softer tone than

fire or earth. It conveys a sense of caring, compassion, and affirmation. It is best used when

delivering difficult news, cooling tension during conflict, but most importantly for this

discussion, offering a sincere welcome (McAfee). That is exactly what encouraging the heart is

about and the water voice compliments the goals in this section really well. Sincerity is a key

word that is repeated in both the encouraging heard section and water section of the books

discussed in class. The water voice conveys that sincerity and that is often why people cover

their heart or hold their hands when speaking in the water tone.

As famous singer Roy Hart once said, “The voice is the muscle of the soul.” McAfee

certainly agrees and explains how important voice can be. People tend to listen to your tone and

expression before they even process the meaning of your words. As discussed throughout this

essay, different vocal tones convey information that is useful in different situations. The earth

voice is grounding and authoritative, fire is passionate and powerful, water is caring and

connecting, and air is inspiring and spiritual. Each of these tones can be connected to different

aspects of leadership that was discussed in Kouzes and Posner’s leadership book. When utilized

correctly that will increase the success of the leadership process. Modeling the way is about

credibility which is enhanced with the authoritative tone of the earth voice. Inspiring a shared

vision is, of course, enhanced because of the inherent inspirational quality of the air voice.

Challenging the process is about innovation and can be very successful when using the fire

voice. For enabling others to act, it can be beneficial to use fire and air because of the concept of
 Kapp 5

empowerment and getting people passionate and inspired. Lastly, encouraging the heart can be

enhanced when using the soft, kind water voice to convey a sense of compassion.
 Kapp 6

Works Cited

Dr. Kirk Randazzo, Class Discussions: POLI 215-Introduction to Leadership Studies.

Kouzes, James M., and Barry Posner. Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practice for Becoming

an Exemplary Leader. Place of Publication Not Identified: John Wiley, 2015. Print.

McAfee, Barbara. Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence. San Francisco, CA:

Berrett-Koehler, 2011. Print.