DEFINING PROFESSIONAL VOICE

Truly speaking the concept has been very occasionally discussed in public discourse.

Have you ever heard of it? Possibly not. Nobody has ever spoken about it. This is not the voice of a compere or master of ceremonies or newscaster or these days the anchors.The voice that lends credibility to what you talk, maintaining its robustness, poise, consistency, modulation, language and undoubtedly the narrative is a professional voice. The voice that smacks of reason. What has happened in the present day world is “that voice has been treated as an independent product and what the professional speaks in whichever way, it becomes our job to make a sense of it”.That is the tragedy. The synthesis of the two is the professional voice.

The biggest lenders of voice in the public domain are the politicians but how many of them have a professional voice? The other group is the teachers, one of their major skills has necessarily to be a professional voice. How many of them have it? It is not brilliance that makes you a great teacher, but your capability to upscale the child to a different level and in that, professional voice can be the main killer.If the student does not get enticed, how would he hold on to the teacher and by extrapolation, learning and knowledge. We are certainly not talking about the the fields where voice is a product; singers, voice enabled mass media,poem recitation and might be even pujaris and the like.

When a scientist, writer, technologist, free lance professionals, CEOs and heads of academic institutions follow the true regimen which is being talked about here, they create in themselves this compelling professional voice. What would be fleeting across your mind now would be the professional voice of your Prinicpal either in school or college. Unlike the MCs and the comperes the voice can be radically different in every single characteristic but what really counts is its capability to create that genuine charisma, that pull, the willingness to be part of it or at least spread the good word around. You can think of APJ Abdul Kalam, in his teaching voice laced with humility was that real professional voice, which enticed the country, the way we did.

There is likelihood of a perception that every successful or a well positioned person would have a professional voice, that is not the case. Huge amount of effort goes in creating it, outside of the public eye, but as it blends with the personality so well, that it is treated to be a part of the same package.It’s goes on to become the voice of knowledge and finally the voice of wisdom. The world is really devoid of such voices, those voices are change makers, they catch people’s attention, they also create change makers and as expected make change happen. It’s is not an ordained human existence but a well chosen path to deliver the best they can to the world, the first and most effective tool being the professional voice.

THE PROFESSIONAL VOICE IS THE VOICE WITH A DIFFERENCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Blog by- Dr. Parvez Hayat

Former DGP/ Advisor Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management JMI -A-Central University