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meaning of the words they say or the ideas they express.” 67While some people areborn with charismatic voice qualities that inspire trust, UCLA acoustic scientist RosarioSinorello says, “You have the capacity to shape your voice in a way that makes peopleperceive you a leader.” 68You can learn to speak like the men whose voices arecharismatic, who tend to use lower-pitches and, when speaking to crowds, a wide rangeof frequency variation. They stretch their voices less when speaking to other leaders.Whether woman can use the same techniques to alter how audiences perceive themhasn’t been studied yet. 69Through practice, we can alter our voice patterns, increase the amount of eye contactwe make with the audience, and alter our levels of testosterone and cortisol before apresentation. By doing those things, we can exude confidence, which is far moreimportant to persuasion than the words we use or the facts we present. A cautionthough: confidence isn’t a synonym for arrogance. Empathy matters, too.D. EmpathizeWe respond positively to people we think are like us. When students read that theyhappened to have been born on the birthdate of Rasputin, the Mad Monk of Russia,they thought of him more positively than did the students who read Rasputin’s actualbirthdate. 70Readers process messages containing sports metaphors more carefully67 Robert Lee Hotz, “Hear, Hear! Scientists Map What Charisma Sounds Like,” Wall Street Journal D1(December 2, 2014).68 Id.69 Id. at D2.70 Dutton, supra note 5 at 188.34