Something Sounds Different

I didn’t think it was a big deal and quite honestly I wasn’t sure why anyone else did either.

Being part of a TV broadcast is nothing new for me and something that happens every single day during the baseball season. Being part of an all-female broadcast team during Spring Training this season was a new experience. 

Heading into the broadcast I was most excited to work alongside very talented women I call friends. At dinner the night before the game I expressed my dismay that people were making a big deal out of it. After all, I pointed out, we go to work every day and do the same thing we’ll be doing tomorrow. It shouldn’t be a big deal that we’re on a broadcast together. Except it was. And here’s what drove that point home the day of the game – every single voice I heard, both on the air and behind the scenes, was female.  

Here's why that was so significant, in college I was told that men don’t want to hear women talking about sports. Most women were discouraged from even trying.  

I thought that was a tired narrative that didn't exist anymore, until some yahoo on Twitter proved me wrong. There's a value in having different voices in the room both in broadcasting and business. 

As I mention in the video, having “different voices in the room” is a catch-all phrase in business that usually refers to diversity of thoughts and ideas, but I want you to think about it differently.

Listening to the actual voice of the person speaking is an important part of practicing leadership and encouraging others to speak up.