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Many people have run the gauntlet of personality tests and have come away feeling labeled as a color or a set of letters or some animal, without proper understanding of how personality wiring is mixed with historical experiences and personal choices. The truth is that we are amazingly complex people, much more so than a simple online test can show us.

All people should be able to contribute freely using their authentic, natural voices without being marginalized or maligned. Not the voice they feel they ought to or should use but the one that truly reflects who they really are. But this rarely happens. In this book, we attempt to help you do two distinctly powerful things: discover your voice and communicate more effectively.

And so, we have simplified the complicated personality process by creating the 5 Voices – the Pioneer, Connector, Guardian, Creative, and Nurturer – to help you understand who you are and what it sounds like to be on the other side of your voice. We will help you explore your natural wiring along with your historical upbringing and how your personal choices affect the way you behave today. The 5 Voices gives you room to understand your voice order and explore how each different voice contributes to what people actually hear and experience. The intentional change that happens first in you will impact all those around you, whether you are a leader or simply a busy adult who wants to improve your influence and effectiveness.

In this book, we attempt to help you do three distinctly powerful things: discover your voice, build your team and change your world.

Listen to Steve Cockram describing how he created the 5 Voices and the intent behind it:

As an immature Pioneer, I had no idea what it was like to be on the other side of me. Many years ago, friends of mine, Michael and Lily Newman, encouraged me to qualify in MBTI [Myers-Briggs] and Firo-B, and that began a journey of self-discovery and profound change in my own life. But while I found that I could help others grow as well, there was a twofold frustration.

First, what I was teaching was transformational for all those who engaged with it but they couldn't do it themselves. They always needed a “guru” like me to make sense of their reality. While there were financial and egotistical benefits to me in this, I always wondered whether it was possible to take the profound insights of 16 different personality wirings and repackage them in a way that kept their power but made them accessible to ordinary people, to make them simple enough to be scalable. 5 Voices was the outcome of that process, a desire to make the complex simple so that others could truly know themselves to lead themselves.

Second, I married my amazing wife Helen who turned out to be my complete opposite in every dimension of personality and wiring. Over the past 23 years we have learned to celebrate our diversity and differences but it hasn't always been easy. The 5 Voices has given us a vocabulary and language to truly understand and appreciate each other. My desire is to change the world by helping people understand each other and communicate more effectively. I truly believe there is huge, latent potential in every team and organization that remains untapped. Unleashing the full wisdom and power of the 5 Voices has the potential to change many people's worlds.

If you want to see what it looks like after someone has gone through the 5 Voices process, then read how Colonel Bill DiMarco, U.S. Air Force, describes it:

It's been an almost three-year journey now. As a military leader, I have always been fascinated with all leadership assessments, but the 5 Voices have clarified so much for both the teams I serve with and more importantly, for me.

As a Pioneer/Creative, I have always believed the status quo exists simply to be smashed. Permission is really not the issue. We can always ask for forgiveness. A strong vision for the future is the driving force toward success. The biggest insight for me is not everybody lives by the same mantra.

The aha moment when it comes to leadership is that it takes a team of all 5 Voices to truly enjoy success. Ponder DC Comic's Justice League – an amazing team of super heroes that can conquer any villain. The Justice League's real strength comes in the diversity of the team. Many comic book fans are drawn to Superman or Batman and might scoff at a hero like Aquaman, but without Aquaman the team won't get much done underwater. Consider the 5 Voices. As a Pioneer, I can establish a profound vision for the future, but without the Guardian or Nurturer, our team will quickly fall apart as we forget the needs of our people or the history, rules, and governing bodies of our organization.

Simply put, the biggest lesson as a Pioneer is to hire my weaknesses. Recently we put together a team of young leaders for mentoring purposes. I reached out to a few fellow officers to see who was interested. When we went through the 5 Voices, I was shocked to find all six had serious Pioneer, Creative, or Connector tendencies. We were missing our Guardians and Nurturers. Why? I unconsciously sought out leaders who thought like me – a huge mistake. Our conversations are a bit flat, we find we agree more than we disagree, and we see most every problem from the same vantage point.

It seems I am drawn toward those who share a strong vision for the future, but without our weaknesses represented on the team, we face certain failure. I now understand that all 5 Voices are inside of me, and I have spent a good deal of time working on my Nurturer voice – even when it feels awkward. I honestly care greatly for the people I work with, and that voice feels so hard to access at times, but practice is paramount. I have found those who are closest to me and know me best are kind, patient, and understanding when I work on my secondary voices. That is the strength of the 5 Voices and why everyone needs to understand them.

Batman needs Aquaman on the team!

Why We Need the 5 Voices Vocabulary

For the past few years we have been teaching the 5 Voices, we have had the privilege to work with leaders in many sectors and contexts. Almost all had taken multiple personality tests before, but few could remember their results, so their “personalities” were even more confused than before because they didn't know what to do with the information they received in a one-time event. The 5 Voices have proved simple enough that everyone remembers them and can actually begin to use them from the moment they first hear about them.

And not only is this simple language of 5 Voices memorable and easy to share, it also makes transformation possible. Here is how one leader has implemented all of the 5 Voices into his organization, as an example. You'll read about many more throughout this book as well:

I have seen major impact in my life, my family, and also at work. After learning about the foundational voices and how to access nonnatural voices, I understand more about how it feels to be on the other side of me (a Pioneer).

Our whole company now speaks the 5 Voices language. This is really amazing, and I see a big transformation in our teams by using a new language and mind-set for promoting innovative leadership tools. The main change I saw in all the teams in our organization is how long-term relationships evolved in such a positive direction.

Finally, we will introduce you to a concept called the 100X Teams. This is for those serious about getting teams on the right page, becoming healthy, and then learning how to multiply that health throughout the organization or family.

Our goal here is clear. We want to help you:

1. Discover your foundational voice and learn how to master it.

2. Understand why certain voices speak and act in a certain way and give you tools to not only handle them, but help them thrive.

3. Shape your culture, communicate with clarity, and build a team that is aligned, healthy, and excels.

4. Change your personal world, from the way you communicate with your family to the way you relate to those you spend most of the day with.

The 5 Voices as a concept is simple yet profound. It is designed to help you multiply healthy leadership practices and principles throughout the whole team or organization. If you practice it, your communication will go to another level with everyone you lead, both at work and at home.

We hope you enjoy unpacking the truths and insights contained within this book. It has changed our lives, it has affected the lives of all those we have worked with around the globe, and we believe it can impact yours, too. Let's get started.