Intentional Communicating

48 million people have viewed Julian Treasure's Ted Talk.

Julian Treasurer is a sound consultant and chair of the Sound Agency, a firm that advises worldwide businesses -- offices, retailers, airports -- on how to design sound in their physical spaces and communication. He asks us to pay attention to the sounds that surround us. How do they make us feel: productive, stressed, energized, acquisitive?

In his Ted Talk, "How to Speak So That People Want to Listen", he evaluates and reflects on the significance of the human voice, the faults and shortcomings that our communication skills can brung as well as the strengths and triumphs.

Here are the cardinal sins of speaking:

1. Gossip

2. Judging

3. Negativity

4. Complaining

5. Excuses

6. Exaggeration

7. Dogmatism

Now here are the 4 virtues:

1. Honesty

2. Authenticity

3. Integrity

4. Love

In addition, Julian discusses the qualities of the human voice and communication that can exemplify and more clearly and effectively impact our ability to connect with others.

• Falsetto

• Timbre

• Prosody

• Pace

• Pitch

• Volume

And then, he breaks out a standard vocal warm-up.

Finally, he summarizes the powerful construct that intentional communication, avoiding the sins and using the aforementioned skills alongside intentional active listening in spaces designed and augmented for acoustic communication can be transformative.

As a sound consultant, Julian is considering effective communication on the scale of corporations, stakeholders, and large-scale institutions. As a speech language pathologist and accent consultant, I think about speech and communication on a one-to-one basis. I imagine what can be done on a case by case basis about the delivery; the pronunciation changes that may result in a bigger impact; the most authentic communication of an idea that best reflects the speaker's desirer.

It's fascinating to imagine the perspective and impact Julian aspires to have on a company, a crowd of people, or the leaders of an industry for optimized communication. This sentiment is akin to the notion that ceiling height can impact our thinking. Rather than thinking about the specific word choice or delivery, even the physical space can impact our understanding and the thinking that our words can evoke.

What would the world be like if we were creating sound consciously and consuming sound consciously and designing all our environments consciously for sound? That would be a world that does sound beautiful, and one where understanding would be the norm, and that is an idea worth spreading.

In that same vein, I ask:

What Would The World Be Like If We Aspired To Communicate Clearly?

What would we focus on in our words to highlight to others? What would we overarticulate to ensure it was successfully received by others? How much would we prepare in order to ensure the ideas were clearly understood? Would we choose the largest, most pretentious words or would we choose the simplest words for the largest audience understanding? Would we focus on the grammaticality of our utterances or focus on the engagement and storytelling?

It can make you redirect your energy and attention to what truly matters in communication - transmitting your thoughts and ideas into the next person.