Accents tell people where you’re from, not how smart you are. Hear people past the sound.
CREATIVITY
WHAT THIS MEANS
People form judgements about intelligence within seconds of hearing a voice, and almost all of those judgements are about geography and class rather than thinking. A strong accent carries no information about what somebody knows, and a smooth one proves nothing except practice. You have been on the receiving end of this, and you also do it.
Catch yourself this week discounting somebody for how they sound, and listen to the content a second time. If you have been made to feel small about your own voice, keep the voice. It is a map of where you come from.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Whose ideas have you discounted because of how they talk?
MORE IN PARADOX, METAPHOR & FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- An old skeleton key opens a lot of doors because it’s so simple. Simple honesty works on more people than clever lines.
- At low tide you can walk to places that were underwater that morning. Some doors only open in the low points.
- A riverbank looks solid until the spring melt. Know what your ground is made of before the high water comes.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.