Giving Voice to Good People: A reflection
Finding and Giving Voice: A Reflection on Leadership
Yesterday, I shared a short video introducing a model that’s emerged through years of coaching good people leading great things. If you haven’t yet seen it, you can watch it here.
In the video, I spoke about something I see time and again in my work with leaders across sectors: the profound importance of voice.
Not just speaking. Not just messaging.
But the deeper, more human journey of finding your own voice, sharing it with integrity, and making space for others to find theirs.
This work matters — because voice is how we connect.
It’s how we lead.
And when done with care and congruence, it’s how we create real, lasting change.
I believe in helping good people lead great things.
And I believe that begins by helping them — and those around them — find, use, and give voice.
The 7 Stages of Gaining and Giving Voice
Here is the framework that has surfaced through this work.
You may move through it linearly, or loop back at different points in your leadership journey. Each stage invites reflection, alignment, and action.
(Insert infographic/visual here: The 7 Stages of Gaining and Giving Voice)
1. Listening to Your Own Voice
All leadership starts with deep listening — not to others, but to yourself.
What are you really thinking, feeling, believing, hoping?
What sits well? What doesn’t? What is your voice whispering when the noise dies down?
2. Articulating Your Voice
Once you’re listening, you begin to shape what you want to say.
What’s the voice you’re stepping into?
What narrative feels authentic and alive — not just in the future, but today?
This is the move from insight to clarity.
3. Sharing Your Voice
We don’t lead in isolation.
This stage is about sharing your voice with:
The communities you’re already connected to
The communities you long to reach
And the systems connected to the change you care about
It’s the beginning of visibility.
4. Becoming a Voice
As you consistently share with courage and care, something shifts.
You become a voice: a trusted presence, a narrative holder, a storyteller.
Others look to you — not for answers alone, but for coherence, hope, and possibility.
5. Using Your Voice
With growing presence comes responsibility.
You now use your voice intentionally:
To strengthen your own resolve
To inspire and uplift others
To shape decisions, direction, and culture
Voice becomes an instrument of leadership.
6. Giving Voice to Others
True leadership isn’t about dominating the conversation.
It’s about making space for others to speak.
You now help those around you find their voice, articulate their truth, and step into their own leadership story.
7. Recalibrating Voice
And finally — again and again — you return inward.
What is your voice saying now?
How does your internal truth align with your external narrative?
What wants to shift? What needs to be reclaimed?
Voice is never static.
A living, breathing part of leadership; voice is never static.
Over the years, I’ve watched countless leaders move through these stages — each one finding a new sense of clarity, conviction, and contribution.
When your internal voice aligns with your external message, something remarkable happens:
You feel more grounded and alive.
Others trust you more.
And change starts to ripple — from within you, through your team, and out into the wider world.
A Closing Word
If you’re a good person trying to lead something meaningful — a team, an organisation, a cause, or a movement — I invite you to pause.
Not to hesitate, but to listen.
Not to retreat, but to realign.
Because your voice matters.
And so does the voice of those around you.
This is the heart of my work: helping good people lead great things — by helping them, and those alongside them, find their voice.
To hear it clearly.
To speak it bravely.
And to use it to create lasting, human and planetary change.
If you’re curious where you are in the journey, return to the 7 stages above — and ask:
What’s calling me now?
Stefan
If this resonated with you…
If this message resonates with you, and you’re one of the good people leading great things, let’s talk.
Get in touch—Book an inquisitive call here.
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For now; thank you
I am…
An executive coach who specialises in helping good people lead great things.
Good people care about others, our planet and beauty. Great things are changes for the betterment of society and all that lives within an around it.
It sounds big and fun - it is.
I'm also an endurance racing cyclist and a go. getter.
You can read more about me and what I do; how I work here