Having objective awareness of your character/style as well as the external perception and biases is super important but it in my humble opinion, it also comes down to practice! I had a similar struggle as a young BA at McKinsey but have always tried to centre myself around building inner confidence and flexing different communication styles based on the situation. For example, how I speak when I'm presenting in front of a group is different to when I am having a 1-on-1 conversation with a C-level client, etc.

My favourites would be Christine Lagarde and Jacinda Ardern, amongst many. I love how they are genuine but also articulate, engaging and thoughtful in what and how they communicate. If you're looking for a consultant, Lareina Yee who is McKinsey's Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer is also a great speaker and a wonderful leader and role model in many ways.

(editiert)

Here are my top three tips:

1. Be yourself while you work on improving your body language and communication skills- plenty of books, sites and TED talks are available for this.

Don't try emulate consultants or someone else. Get inspired but be original. Its in being original that you get people's attention given so many fake people around these days anyway

2. Learn to storytell. Think of yourself as a lead actor/actress in the film your life/event/situation. There is start, middle and end. Convey joy and happiness in telling your story. If you structure your answers this way, trust me you will go places

3. Learn to be structured which is a criitcal skill of good speakers (and consultants)

Good luck

I agree with Ken. There is no silver bullet or The 3 things you need to do to speak like a consultant. Being articulate, concise and on point is something that takes years of practice and being in an environment with many people around you who are already more advanced than you.

I would say that it goes both from inside and from outside.

Inside - you have a clear purpose of saying smth, You have clear understanding of why why you are doing so, you are confident and calm from inside. It's very important. Every person can feel if you are insecure from inside

Outside - there are tone of your voice, your posture, your eyes, speed of your speech.

As a part of preparation to the interview we gothrough all these moments. Or you can find some courses of speaking.

Does it make sense to you?

GB

This is a tough one! As you've indicated, some people naturally talk loudly and confidently, while others don't.

That being said, you absolutely can change this. You can employ some of the following to help:

• Come into every meeting with an objective/point to make
• Learn to counter gracefully "Excellent point, but how do you account for x"
• Learn how to "get" more from meetings i.e. "Tell us more about x"
• Sit upright with a strong posture/frame
• Use eye contact (not too much)
• Speak succintly/clearly
• Speak at a "strong" but not loud level

Some fantastic femal speakers include:

• Sallie Krawcheck
• Greta Thunberg

Hello!

Unfortunately, there is no recipie here. There are though great pieces of advice from coaches on specific points you can be specially focused on (tone of voice, etc.)

However, it is fundamental that you don´t feel the need to change who you are and the way you communicate, and this is something very common for women tbh. We communicate differently, which is totally fine. Trying to sound different than who you are would be, in the long term, detrimental, experience talking here.

If you have the change, Iwould recommend you the I am Remarkable course.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Clara