Your Voice is Everything
It’s never been easier to write something that sounds perfect.
That’s not always a good thing.
We’re in the age of artificial intelligence, where with a few keystrokes and a vague prompt, anyone can generate a paragraph—or a novel—that reads cleanly and ticks all the boxes. No typos. No grammatical misfires. And yet, something’s missing. You can feel it. You read something and think: this is… fine. But it doesn’t breathe.
Voice—real, human voice—is becoming the rarest commodity. And I don’t mean the sound that comes from your throat. I mean the essence of you that leaks onto the page when you’re not trying to sound smart or polished or marketable. The messiness of your phrasing. The rhythms only you hear. The odd words you choose instinctively. The parts that make your writing unmistakably yours.
But this isn’t just about writing.
Because AI might be able to string together a decent sentence, but it can’t walk into a room and light it up. It can’t pace a stage, read the mood of an audience, or shift energy with a pause. It can’t look someone in the eye across a conference table and connect, human to human. Public speaking—whether in a team meeting or in front of a packed ballroom—has never mattered more, because it’s one of the last places where your real voice, presence, and energy can’t be faked.
This is exactly why Ali Hoyt and I wanted to include communications coaching as a service when we founded Larkspur Hospitality Consulting. We believe the most powerful thing any leader, speaker, or professional can offer right now is their authentic voice. Through our communication coaching, we help people find that voice—clarify it, strengthen it, and learn how to use it with confidence. Whether it’s writing a keynote or walking into a boardroom, it all comes back to the same thing: who are you, and how are you showing up?
Voice doesn’t just appear. It takes time. Years of writing clunky emails, giving awkward presentations, bombing on stage. It takes being brave enough to keep doing it anyway. Voice comes from that place. From experience. From being real.
I’m not against AI. I use it. I use it to brainstorm. To test out bad ideas. To ask dumb questions in private. But when it comes to the final work—whether I’m writing a novel, a newsletter, or speaking in front of a group—I want me to show up.
That’s all any of us can offer right now: our actual selves. Our voice. Our style. Our presence.
Because the more generic everything becomes, the more powerful it is to sound like someone instead of something.
Here are some articles that caught our attention this month.
Our featured story is Hotel News Now’s Day One coverage coverage of the NYU conference. Our take? Hotel execs are almost always optimistic on day one at the big conferences--been that way through every economic struggle (AKA “uncertainty”). It's part of the job. But reading this recent (and always good) HNN coverage of NYU, I kept thinking: optimism doesn’t cancel out reality.
Yes, there’s some hope for the back half of 2025, but we’re still looking at real headwinds—labor issues that haven’t gone away, international travel concerns, subinflationary ADR growth, and continued economic uncertainty. Costs are up, margins are tight, and no one’s working with the same playbook they had even a year ago.
Optimism’s great. But it works better when it’s paired with realism and solid planning.
Other articles worth your time:
Each month we feature a quick, practical communication tip designed to help you become a more confident, compelling speaker—whether you're presenting to a room of executives, leading a team meeting, or just trying to make your point clearly over email. These insights come straight from our coaching sessions and live workshops, and are meant to be immediately useful—no jargon, no fluff, just tools to help you communicate with impact.
Click on the video to watch this month’s tip.
Whether you’re looking for data-driven insights to guide your hospitality strategy, want to explore our communication coaching programs, or have a question about one of our forecast products, we’re here for it. Reach out to see how Larkspur can support your work in hospitality through sharper storytelling and smarter data.