Weekly Voice Insights #64- When Preparation Meets Trust

It’s Wednesday evening, and I’m reflecting on this morning’s conversation with Susan A. Moore, Community Engagement Manager, Certified Business Analyst, and Podcast Host — and the international BAs.

As I was preparing yesterday, I kept thinking about how Leontyne Price took a lifetime of refined skill and made it feel completely human. That connected directly to what we discussed this morning. These are people who work with huge amounts of specialized information every day — tools, methods, certifications — and their challenge is the same one every expert faces: how to communicate what you know in a way that someone else can actually take in.

I had been rehearsing in my head, the way I always do. That kind of preparation helps. It gives me context and helps me find the rhythm. But after a while, you get too many ideas. You start thinking, oh, I could say this, or what if I forget that? It’s not that the ideas are bad — they’re all mostly good — but you can’t say everything.

It’s the same in performing. You prepare, you mark everything in the score, you know every note. But the moment the conductor gives the downbeat, you have to let it go. You trust that the work is there. You listen, and you react.

That’s what I reminded myself to do this morning. I had done the work. I didn’t need to control how it went. I just needed to set a context and respond to what happened.

Most of us talk about things we’ve said many times before — in meetings, in lessons, in directions we give over and over. And because we know where the thought is going, we stop hearing it. You know how that goes — not completely monotone, but flatter, less varied. We do it without even thinking about it, because the content is so familiar, and the sound follows our focus.

That’s where our own awareness comes in. If I listen to myself — really listen — I can hear whether I’m giving an idea time to land or if I’m rushing through it. The subtle changes in pitch, pacing, and tone are tied right to what’s happening inside. When I take a step back and listen the way I’d listen to someone else, I learn what needs more space or what needs more focus.

To let people know about the talk, I posted something on Instagram using one of their music options — a clip of Leontyne Price singing Doretta’s Aria from Puccini’s La Rondine. It was so beautiful and so accessible that it stopped me. The recording fit perfectly with the theme of Authentic Voice, which is what Susan had titled the session.

Singing in Italian, or really in any language that isn’t your own, and doing it loudly enough for a hall full of people — that’s naturally a bit artificial. It’s heightened, even over-the-top. And yet the great singers, like Leontyne Price, make it feel completely personal. They turn something that could seem grand or distant into something intimate and human.

That’s what communication at its best does. It doesn’t matter if you’re onstage or in a meeting — the challenge is the same. How do you make something that could feel formal, technical, or distant sound like you? How do you let your message feel personal enough to connect and resonate with everyone in the room?

That, to me, is what the work of voice really is. It’s not only about projection; it’s about connection.

When I watch people speak — at conferences, in meetings, online — you can tell who’s internalized what they’re saying and who’s still reading it off the page. The ones who’ve really thought it through don’t have to rush. They let each idea land. They trust the content.

That’s what I tried to do this morning. Prepare deeply, then trust what was there. Let the questions lead, and see what came up.

Earlier today, when I opened my planner, the quote for the day, attributed to the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, said, “Don’t just speak your training — embody it, live it.” That hit exactly where I was.

The temptation was to want to remember every single idea from these notes so I wouldn’t forget anything important. But it wasn’t a presentation. It was a conversation.

I didn’t need pages of prompts or reminders — that would have just gotten in the way. The ideas were already in me. I’d thought them through, said them out loud, and they were settled there. My job was to stay present, to listen, and to let them rise when they were needed.

That’s the discipline. That’s the work — showing up, listening, and trusting the preparation enough to let it breathe in real time.

If you’d like to watch the full 45‑minute conversation we did this morning, it’s available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/CnMOGGfk65c?si=U0aOhm43qzcmLyyv

Related Posts
Bias Alert Check‑In: Guarding Clarity in Voice and Awareness
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/10/weekly-voice-insights-59-bias-alert.html

Before You Speak: The Discipline of Intention
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/06/44-weekly-insight-when-voice-advice.html

Finding Steadiness in Uncertainty
https://dyavwithelias.blogspot.com/2025/07/weekly-insight-49-breath-isnt-fix.html

Elias Mokole | Keynote Speaker, BA & Beyond 2025
Voice, Breath, and Clarity | Developing Your Authentic Voice Newsletter

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