Early in my career, I was a rabid cold caller. Rain or shine, I’d be dialling numbers at 9 AM sharp. Cold calling taught me several valuable skills: confidence, assertiveness, time management, work ethic, staying organized, mastering sales techniques, improvising on the fly, handling rejection, and tackling objections with finesse.
But above all, it taught me the magic of good spoken skills. I quickly learned that if you’re well-spoken, people are more likely to listen, if not buy. A solid command of English could get you a foot in the door, if not a sale.
If they were even a tad receptive, good verbal skills and sharp sales techniques could easily bridge the gap between initial interest and sealing the deal.
This brings me to a broader point Peter Thiel made about AI and job skills. He suggested that while AI might replace jobs requiring strong math skills, it would also create new opportunities for those who are good with words.
You can check out his Q&A on AI here: Peter Thiel on AI.
I’m not entirely sure if Peter’s intuition will unfold as he predicts. However, I do know that, AI or not, people who are good with words will continue to shine, both in the corporate and startup worlds.
As a recruiter, I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates and can say with authority that verbal prowess sets people apart. Good pronunciation, a wide vocabulary, and correct grammar can make a candidate seem more competent. And if his resume clearly articulates his value, the second round is a given.
An interview is essentially a business conversation. The question that follows: can the candidate converse fluently? If he can answer functional questions and weave his experiences into engaging stories, he’ll shine and advance. Fluency in speech can turn any interaction—personal or professional—into a powerful display of capability and confidence and make the person memorable.
Unfortunately, many folks invest heavily in functional knowledge but overlook the importance of verbal communication skills. You can have the best engine in the world, but if your car’s wheels are wobbly, you won’t get far. Similarly, without strong communication skills, your technical or functional expertise won’t move your career forward smoothly.
Verbal Fluency Triggers an Instant Halo Effect
1] Polished sound = smarter speaker: A March 2025 PNAS study by Yale & UC San Diego [1] researchers played identical 30-second clips through either a broadcast-quality mic or a tinny laptop mic. Listeners who heard the low-quality audio rated the speaker as less intelligent, less credible, and less hireable than those who heard the high-quality version—even though the words were identical. The authors argue that smooth, easy-to-process audio triggers a “fluency halo” that we subconsciously equate with competence.
This is precisely why you’ll see in my videos that I have made no effort to decorate my backdrop with fancy plants or bookshelves—whereas I have spent close to ₹90,000 on my audio chain. A fuller, rich-sounding voice is more persuasive than cute and expensive decorative items.
2] Vocal fluency = credibility: Cross-cultural work in Nature Communications (Feb 2021) recorded speakers in five languages and then tweaked pitch, pacing, and loudness [2]. Across all languages, a single prosodic* signature—steady pace, controlled pitch glide, moderate loudness—made speakers sound both more certain and more honest. What’s interesting is that the effect held even when listeners didn’t understand the language. This is strong evidence that shows that vocal fluency itself—not content—drives credibility judgments.
That said, substantive content still matters—fluency gets people to listen, but substance keeps them engaged. Work to strengthen both.
*Prosodic relates to the rhythm and intonation of a person’s voice; that is, the smoothness with which a speaker’s voice rises and falls.
3] We can “dial up” intelligence with our voices: A 2024 study in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review asked 40 speakers to intentionally modulate their voices to sound confident, dominant, or likable [3]. Listeners rated the “confident” and “dominant” versions as significantly more intelligent and leadership-ready than the speakers’ neutral voices—and chose those voices for promotion-type scenarios.
As I have said—repeatedly—deliberate, intentional tweaks to vocal fluency, such as a slightly lower pitch and smoother cadence, can create a positive halo.
For anyone who doubts the results of the above studies, consider this: People judge you according to the clothes you wear. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube—social experiments—that prove this. If you dress well, people will treat you better.
Right or wrong, moral or immoral—is beside the point. Perception is reality, and in today’s fast-moving world no one has the time to sit back and deeply analyse your behaviours or speech patterns. What they see and hear, is what they believe. If you’re smart, you’ll use this to your advantage to get ahead.
3 Proven Ways to Upgrade Your Speaking Skills and Rise Faster
I’ve put together three practical, research-backed ways to train your voice and build fluency. If you make a sincere effort, these methods will rapidly improve your speaking skills.
1] Mimic and Master: Pick your favourite English speaker and listen to them everyday—YouTube videos, Spotify, and such. Pause after a two-minute chunk, copy the speaker’s rhythm out loud, record it, then replay it to check your performance.
A 10-week study with Spanish high-schoolers [4] showed that using podcasts lifted their speaking scores. Apps (such as YouTube and Spotify) that show transcripts and let you slow the audio to 0.75× speed make the mimic-and-master routine easier.
2] Write—then Read it out: Keeping a short, 250-word journal or writing a LinkedIn post every day forces you to organize your thoughts in clear sentences.
When an Iranian study ran 20 sessions of guided writing practice, students’ speaking skills rose alongside their writing [5]. Start by writing for an 18-year-old reader; simple words improve your persuasion, and reading the piece aloud improves your delivery.
3] Debate and get Feedback: Most can walk, but few can sprint. Same goes for speaking and debating. Sprinting demands your best and taxes you, which improves your physical condition. Similarly, debating forces you to stretch yourself by seeking out the best arguments, choosing precise words, and organizing your speech. Debating will, without doubt, make you a more powerful and persuasive speaker.
A study led by MIT Sloan, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (March 2025), tracked 471 employees from Fortune 100 companies [6]. They were randomly put through a 9-week online debate training course. What happened next was impressive: 18 months later, those who took the course were 12% more likely to be promoted into leadership roles.
The training helped them become more confident and assertive in how they spoke at work. Basically, learning how to argue clearly and speak fluently gave them a real career boost. It shows that strong communication skills don’t just sound good; they actually help you move up the corporate ladder.
Talk Your Way to the Top
I don’t think there’s any dispute that being smart isn’t enough if you can’t sound smart. If you are smart, so is your competition—and thus, you need every possible advantage to defeat them.
In today’s hyper-competitive world, ideas alone won’t take you to the top unless they’re delivered with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
Being well-spoken gives you leverage. Whether you’re meeting senior stakeholders, negotiating, or giving interviews, it amplifies your presence and makes you appear larger than life.
Too many professionals pour years into technical mastery but treat speaking skills as optional. That’s a blunder. The data is clear—fluency, vocal control, and persuasive delivery don’t just change how others see you; they alter your career trajectory.
The world today is noisy and chaotic, but strong speaking skills can cut through that noise and chaos, and help you command attention and earn trust. As I wrote earlier, people will treat you differently and more positively if you acquire this key skill. `
If you’ve been putting this off, you’ve likely already paid the price.
Dither no more.
References
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40127262/
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20649-4
[3] https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-023-02333-y
[4] https://slejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40561-023-00241-1
[5] https://www.academypublication.com/issues2/tpls/vol08/12/16.pdf
[6] https://mitsloan.mit.edu/press/debate-your-way-to-top-secret-to-attaining-leadership-roles
