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Outspoken

Why Women's Voices Get Silenced and How to Set Them Free

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A big think, conversation-changing book, full of practical advice, about how women can learn to claim the power of their voices in the workplace and at home, and what needs to change so they can finally be heard.

From the Supreme Court to the conference room to the classroom, women find themselves interrupted much more often than their male counterparts. Worse, a 2015 Yale University study revealed that women executives who spoke more often than their peers were rated 14% less competent, while male executives who did the same thing did enjoyed a 10% competency bump. And a 2016 study from USC found women account for only a third of speaking roles in top U.S. movies.

It's undeniable: women's voices aren't being heard—at work, at home, in every facet of their lives. The fault lies not with women, but in a culture that seeks to silence women's voices. However, there are skills every woman can harness to understand her own voice and learn how to use it with confidence.

With Outspoken, Veronica Rueckert—a Peabody Award-winning former host at Wisconsin Public Radio, trained opera singer, and communications expert—teaches women to speak with the confidence, clarity, and authority that will get them heard. Outspoken provides readers with the insight, guidance, and encouragement they need to use their voice to successfully communicate in meetings, around the dinner table, and during future political debates.

Written with a warm and engaging tone, brimming with practical advice and accessible stories, Outspoken is a substantive yet entertaining analysis of why most males—and many females—don't grant women the power to speak. Most importantly, it includes solutions for change. Positive, confident and supportive, this welcome and much need guide will help reshape the world and make it better for women—and for everyone.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author/narrator Veronica Rueckert is an outspoken woman who wants to help listeners find value in their own voices and start speaking out. As a public radio host and trained opera singer, Reuckert's own voice is the perfect choice for narration. Her tone is friendly, conversational, and exceedingly encouraging throughout. Her performance of vocal fry and uptalk help to cement her examples, a valuable asset that a print book cannot convey. Her continuous positive regard keeps listeners actively engaged and ready to fight a culture of silence. This audiobook is an especially great choice for women who are tired of constant interruptions in a male-dominated world that would rather keep them speechless. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 10, 2019
      In her delightful debut, Rueckert, voice coach and former host on Wisconsin Public Radio, explores the power and diversity of women’s voices and presents a dynamic how-to guide for making those voices heard. Rueckert begins by explaining how the gender pay gap, higher number of men than women in leadership positions, and women’s propensity to be interrupted in conversations are issues that can be traced back to the perceived value (or lack thereof) of women’s voices in society. In response, Rueckert offers no-frills strategies (doing away with open offices, which she believes cultivates a stultifying “cubicle voice”) and physical exercises (breathing techniques and tools for overcoming stage fright) that will help strengthen women’s speaking voices. Pulling from personal anecdotes and academic studies, she, at times, portrays a hopeless world: talking too much at a board meeting, for instance, can cause a woman to be deemed chatty or inattentive, but talking too little can lead her to be deemed submissive. Yet, Rueckert’s overall tone is optimistic. This helpful guide, filled with Rueckert’s sage advice, will be a great resource for any woman struggling to find or express her voice.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from June 15, 2019
      A radio personality, communications coach, and trained opera singer convincingly argues that learning to use their voices properly will take women surprisingly far. In her debut book, grounded in her own experience and her work with others, Peabody-winning communications specialist Rueckert makes her case clearly and concisely, drawing on sound research without becoming bogged down in it. The author begins by telling readers how to start from wherever they are with their voice and make it bigger and better. Then she moves on to social and business situations in which that voice might be suppressed. On the physical level, Rueckert goes through the mechanics of the breathing process and advises women not just to learn to breathe more fully (no Spanx), but to take up more space, emulating the "manspreaders" who have taken up their fair share. She considers the pros and cons of the politically fraught question of whether women should modulate their voices to please others, and she suggests ways to raise girls who are comfortable speaking out loud and in public. On the social level, the author covers the many ways in which women are silenced by men interrupting them and by the pressure to be "the good, quiet girl," and she offers techniques on how to avoid being interrupted and how to interrupt a conversation--or monologue--successfully. Most of the chapters culminate with a list of exercises--how to transcend "cubicle voice" by lying on your back with a book the size of a "Nordic cooking compendium" on your belly and project: "Don't push from the throat but from the lower abdomen, the seat of vocal power." Rueckert's own literary voice is encouraging, supportive, and cheerful, and it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't benefit from her advice. In a sea of self-help books for women, this one stands out both for its unique perspective and its concrete recommendations. A practical and fascinating guide to liberating the female voice as a key to liberating the self.

      COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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