You Don't Need More Words to Sound Professional. You Need to Find Your Voice.

For years, I believed that to sound professional and confident, I needed better words.

Better pronunciation. More sophisticated expressions. More confidence in speaking English.

Perhaps I even needed to sound a little more like a native speaker.

I speak four languages every day. And yet, I haven't always felt confident speaking in any of them. Not even in my own language.

You can imagine how challenging that can be when your work involves presenting, delivering workshops and speaking with potential clients.

I thought I needed to become better at speaking.

But what I actually needed was to stop trying to sound like someone else.

And storytelling helped me do exactly that.

When trying harder made me less confident

When I started working as a trainer and consultant for an international company in Berlin, I wanted to make a good impression.

It was my first job in this profession. I wanted people to see me as professional, knowledgeable and capable.

So I did what I thought was necessary.

I prepared every meeting and every workshop in detail. I read more, wrote scripts and memorised them. I practised difficult words and looked for expressions that would make me sound smarter.

The result?

More preparation. More anxiety. And less confidence.

I constantly had this thought in the back of my mind:

What if they actually see me working and realise they've made a mistake by hiring me?

One moment made me realise just how deeply I believed this.

Someone responsible for editing recordings of my workshops called me and said something like:

"Magda, I've spent the whole day with you. How did you manage without me there? How is that possible?"

He had been watching recordings of my workshops.

And my reaction wasn't just in my head. It was in my body.

I couldn't breathe. I wanted to hide. I felt like that little girl who used to hide under the table whenever we had guests at home.

That's when I started questioning what I was doing.

I started observing other speakers

When something isn't working for me, I usually start observing other people.

This time, I noticed two things.

First, confident speakers often took their time. They paused. They spoke more slowly.

That made me uncomfortable because I thought I could never do that.

Second, I noticed something even more interesting.

Some of the speakers I found myself comparing myself with were non-native speakers. They had strong accents. They made mistakes. Sometimes they spoke quickly.

But they didn't seem to care.

They were confident in what they were saying.

And I realised that what bothered me wasn't their accent or their mistakes.

It was that they were doing something I didn't allow myself to do.

They were speaking without constantly correcting themselves.

I was spending so much energy trying not to sound foreign, trying not to make mistakes and trying to sound smart.

I was afraid of being myself.

The moment I decided to stop trying to sound like someone else

I remember sitting in an armchair in my house in Berlin.

I had a deep conversation with God, but also with myself.

I decided to surrender.

I didn't know exactly what the alternative would look like. I only knew that I wanted to stop trying to sound like someone I wasn't.

I started to understand something:

Maybe being professional wasn't about hiding the pieces of me. Maybe it was about learning how to use them.

That decision took me on a different journey.

During the pandemic, I spent months writing my stories. I went back to stories I had written before and started writing new ones.

And something unexpected happened.

I started discovering my own way of expressing myself in English.

I started recognising the value of my experiences.

They weren't necessarily stories about leading huge companies or making extraordinary transformations.

They were my experiences. They had shaped me. And they could be valuable to someone else.

Three things storytelling changed for me

Storytelling became much more than a way to structure what I wanted to say.

It helped me change how I saw myself, how I prepared and how I connected with other people.

1. My stories reminded me who I was

When I started writing my stories, I remembered things I had forgotten about myself.

Before becoming a consultant, I had worked as a language teacher with young children and adults.

I was good at engaging people in conversations. I knew how to capture the attention of a two-year-old. Surely, I could also engage a 48-year-old!

I was good at making people feel safe. I was highly sensitive and had learned to notice what was happening around me.

These weren't random personal qualities. They were part of what made me good at my work.

I had been so focused on what I lacked that I had forgotten what I already brought to the table.

2. My stories gave me structure

I love speaking, but I'm not always good with words. Scrabble is probably the last game I would choose!

So I started using a simple structure based on four pictures:

• Challenge: What happened?
• Realisation: What did I notice or understand?
• Shift: What did I decide or do differently?
• Result: What changed?

This helped me focus on moments rather than perfect sentences.

I don't have to tell the same story in exactly the same way twice.

I know which moments matter and where I'm going.

3. My stories changed how I connected with others

I also started asking different questions.

Instead of simply asking, "How was this for you?", I might ask:

"What seemed impossible five years ago and is now completely normal for you?"

Or:

"What was impossible ten years ago and is now an easy solution?"

Suddenly, we weren't just exchanging professional titles.

We were discovering each other.

When I delivered workshops, I started sharing smaller stories from my own experience, even when I felt inexperienced with a topic.

For example, when discussing team management, I could share a story about managing a small international team of teachers and discovering that each person had different talents that could help the others.

I didn't need to have managed a team of a hundred people to have something valuable to share.

I also started creating more dialogue in my workshops.

Instead of waiting for people to tell me I was doing a good job, I became curious about what they already knew, what they had experienced and what they could teach each other.

And the engagement changed.

How to start finding your own voice

If you have big ideas, a lot of experience and a strong desire to help others, but sometimes struggle to express what you bring, here are three things I'd invite you to try.

1. Start writing your stories

Don't wait for an extraordinary achievement.

Think about small moments that changed something for you.

A difficult conversation. A decision you made. Something that used to feel impossible but is now part of your everyday life.

Write it down.

2. Record yourself telling your stories

You don't need to prepare a perfect speech.

Choose one story and record yourself telling it.

Listen to it afterwards.

Notice how it feels to hear your own voice. Notice when you sound natural and when you start trying to fit in.

It might feel strange at first. That's okay.

Give yourself the chance to become more familiar with your own voice.

3. Find a safe place to practise

Don't wait until you have to speak at a conference or in front of an important client.

Start with one person you trust. A friend, a colleague or a group where you feel comfortable.

And if you can, find other women who have big visions, big hearts and sometimes the same insecurities.

Share your stories with each other.

Listen. Ask questions. Encourage each other.

You don't have to practise everything alone.

Professionalism doesn't mean perfection

I want you to remember something.

Confidence and professionalism don't come from using the most impressive words or having perfect pronunciation.

They come from knowing who you are, appreciating what you offer and learning how to bring that value to other people.

The more you trust what you bring, the easier it becomes to share it.

You don't need to become someone else to sound professional.

You need to discover what makes your voice yours.

And remember: there are people who are looking forward to hearing your story.

Want to practise sharing yours?

That's why I created Share Your Story — a monthly gathering where women can meet, prepare their introductions and connect through storytelling.

You don't have to walk into a networking event and figure everything out by yourself. I guide the conversation and create the space for you to practise.

Come as you are. Bring your story.

I'd love to hear it.