Curiosity Builds Your Signature Voice. One InsightComparison steals energy. Curiosity compounds it. When you catch yourself asking “Why not me?” you’re feeding envy. When you flip to “How exactly did they do that?” you’re feeding growth. And here’s the bonus: curiosity doesn’t just dismantle comparison, it helps you discover your signature voice. Because the more you study others with curiosity, the more clearly you see what’s repeatable, what’s useful, and what’s uniquely you. You don’t need thirty communication tricks. You need two or three repeatable moves that you borrow, adapt, and eventually own. Repetition isn’t boring. It becomes muscle memory. It becomes trust. It becomes your voice. One StoryEarly in my speaking life, I judged. I’d watch champions and mutter: Too slick. Too dramatic. Too perfect. The judgment felt righteous. But it kept me stuck. Then I tried curiosity. Instead of who, I asked how. What triggered that laugh? What shifted in the room after that pause? Why did people nod at that exact moment? That’s when I noticed something: not everything landed with me but some things did. A crisp pivot phrase. A grounding stance. A gracious hand gesture. I started borrowing. Testing. Repeating. And over time, my borrowed experiments became my signature. Not a copy, not a collage, but a pattern of moves that people began to recognize and trust. Curiosity killed comparison and built a voice people could quote back. My role models: With gratitude to Olivia Schofield, who showed me how warm vulnerability can touch an audience, and to Carla Harris, whose structural clarity and eloquence continue to inspire me deeply. One Tool: Curiosity-to-Signature BlueprintNext time you watch a talk, read a memo, or sit in a meeting, run these prompts. They’ll both sharpen your analysis and help you identify signature moves to test for yourself. What problem are they solving? If you can’t name it in one line, the message is noise. How did they open? Image, question, confession, statistic? Borrow the category, not the content. Where did emotion spike? Pinpoint the sentence or beat. Was it a reveal, a callback, a pause? What did they not say? Which clichés did they avoid? What details did they withhold to build tension? What’s the one move I can test today? Choose from three buckets: Phrase (e.g., “Here’s the good news…”) Gesture (e.g., open-hand reveal for transparency) Stance (e.g., small step forward on the ask)
Make it stickKeep a How Journal. One sentence per prompt. Five lines max. Capture both what you notice and what you try. Over time, you’ll build a reference library of repeatable, testable moves your blueprint for a recognizable voice. Try it this weekPick one leader you secretly compare yourself to. Run the prompts. Steal one move maybe their opener phrase, maybe their pause before the close. Adapt it to who you are! Never Copy/Paste! Use it in your Thursday meeting. If people lean in, smile, or even echo your words back, you’ll know: curiosity is paying dividends, and your signature voice is forming. Et Voilà! NEWS!: Monday 29th September 2025, I am moderating an event for Feminin Pluriel and ZFF, "Women in Film and Beyond" with Reta Guetg: Vice Festival Director of ZFF, Sophie Toth: Visionary producer at Shining Nice and Lara Wolf: The radiant Swiss-Iranian actress based in New York. Register here |
