Unless you’ve been under a stone, you’ll have heard the buzz about the new app Clubhouse.
It’s like an audio ONLY version of the break out rooms function of Zoom, with the emphasis on chatting to strangers and less on looking cool and using funny animated filters. Initially released as a Beta version only to iPhone users, membership was regulated by empowering participants to invite their friends through a limited number of tickets.
In the space of a few months the numbers have surged from a meagre 1,500 in May 2020 to over 6 million AND counting in mid-February 2021.
Notable recent users include industry powerhouses like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Plus intellectuals like Malcolm Gladwell, celebrities like Kanye West, Kevin Hart and famous You Tubers like Mr Beast.
The big boys are definitely taking notice and coming out to play.
But where are all the famous women?
I may have been in rooms with comedy actress Tiffany Haddish and soap princess Tori Spelling, but they are not Beyonce or Oprah.
You have to look much closer for the real revelations to show up on your radar.
The biggest celebrities are a new breed of female moderators of whom you’ve never heard.
Not yet anyway.
They are talking up a storm and gathering a steadily growing following from big and small rooms alike.
Sure there are plenty of men dominating the big discussions and talking about the size of their 7 – 10 figure business empires and offering to share their secret formula for a fraction of what they will give to you.
Or at least they say they will.
Occasionally, they are also joined by their female equivalents who echo the claims and suggest you pay to join their sales funnels instead.
But it’s the smaller and more intimate rooms that are really starting to catch fire on Clubhouse.
The sweet spot room size is roughly up to 100 people.
That number will allow everyone to speak ‘onstage’ who wants to do so (if the moderators don’t hog the mike.
It means that there’s far less pressure to impress and much better discussions that flow like the cups of tea or glasses of red wine enjoyed by contributors depending on their particular time zone and state of mind.
Rooms can run literally for days at a time when the moderators select and pass the controls to another person before they bow out for bedtime (remember this is global so utilises multiple time zones).
Basically, less of ‘me me me’ comes out in these by growing communities who prefer their audience to unify under the same banner and talk about ‘we we we’.
This is where the ladies are doing their best work.
Effortlessly connecting, nurturing, leading, empathising and encouraging their new found flock of homebound castaways, enthusiastic experts and reluctant first-time contributors. I’m not saying the guys aren’t doing well here too, but the very nature of an audio only arena means to succeed, you have to be able to understand every speaker’s point of view on many levels. Conversations and exchanges can be very subtle. Clues to the actual state of mind of each voice you hear can be hidden unless you know what to look (or listen) for.
Some chat threads run very deep emotionally and can last for days.
They’re not just positional and transactional.
They are a snapshot of people’s lives and often the men running the rooms miss the clues and lose the opportunity to convert a nice discussion into a life-changing revelation.
It’s more rare for the women to do so.
So to explain in more depth, let’s look at the natural gender skillsets.
Let’s compare some factual differences between men and women to see how real this gentle battle of the sexes really is.
- Men – logical.
- Women – emotional.
- Men – slightly harder to show or interpret others feelings.
- Women – generally reading everybody on multiple levels when they speak.
- Men – seeking resolution, solutions and concluding end results to every problem.
- Women – the discussion, the stories and the conversations ARE the end results.
What do I know?
Not much. That was until I discussed the gender differences at length with experts Dr John Gray and Allen Pease (respectively best selling authors of the ‘Men are from Mars’ and ‘Why women can’t read maps and men don’t listen’ books).
Women are just better equipped to manage and lead in many cases than their male equivalents.
A ton of surveys show that female leaders are better at nurturing superstars in the workplace.
It’s also evident that the response to the Coronavirus pandemic was notably better, on average, in countries with women in charge. They chose to prioritise health and safety concerns OVER financial ones to make their populations protected and eventually get their economies moving forward again.
Jacinda Ardern from New Zealand, Angela Merkel from Germany, Sanna Marin from Finland and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen all achieved better results in the initial crisis periods than their male counterparts.
Why?
In my opinion, it’s primarily because they ignored their egos and listened to their emotions.
Here’s my workflow of the empathetic decision making process:
- Recognising a situation.
- Taking stock of all of the contributary factors.
- Analysing the personalities and characters involved.
- Gathering intel from all sides about their concerns.
- Getting a buy-in from everyone that this will be a joint effort.
- Making a balanced emotionally intelligent decision to move forward (or not).
- Keeping everyone safe even though they might not agree with the choices made.
- Measure impact and readjust accordingly.
- Rinse and repeat.
- Celebrate each little together and in grander style once it’s finally over.
Sound like familiar skillsets?
Not so much if you are a man.
However they are essential when running a team, hosting an event AND running a family.
They are ALSO excellent techniques for moderating a room of relative strangers on Clubhouse
I have watched many women grow in confidence OVER A SINGLE SESSION and position themselves as a very familiar and friendly voice for the next time you need a place to chat.
You can follow anyone, and the app lets you know when someone you truly like has entered or started a new room.
Stalking?
Yes and no.
It’s more like connecting with a ton of new potential friends, clients and business partners.
The platform is filling that gap for these things:
- People feeling isolated in lockdown.
- Those needing to talk to someone OTHER than the members of their immediate family.
- Coffee shop chats, gossip and connection sadly missed in quarantine.
- Training, coaching and mentoring on EVERY subject you can think of.
- Anyone who loves collecting fans, followers and influence across new social media platforms.
- Those with something to sell.
- Those looking to buy.
- Viewers wanting to go cold-turkey after too many Netflix ‘box-set’ binges.
- Social media advocates wanting to add a third interactive dimension to their text only messaging.
- Anybody looking to practice the art of public speaking.
Yes, that’s the kicker.
Every room allows you to get better at public speaking in a safe and nurturing environment. Trolls and haters are not tolerated, and short concise statements are encouraged to let everybody get a chance to speak.
Think of it like a radio beauty pageant with a growing global group of participants, Clubhouse users are able to refine their communications skills, witness other experts, drive fresh and fascinating conversations and see first-hand what often goes wrong in a boardroom without the consequences to their careers.
You can practice and learn daily how the art of business speaking can all have been done so much better.
You should meet some of the women who are now speaking up and growing their reputations, their confidence, their tribes and their personal brands.
From experience as a motivational keynote presenter, virtual broadcaster and public speaking coach and mentor, I can see them all taking the first steps on the path to a potentially successful future speaking career?
Clubhouse helps you start one.
You can get practice at everything.
You can argue like kids in the playground, tease like team members in the sports locker room, debate like politicians and make valid points like a new arrival on the board of directors.
It’s all free (for now).
It’s open for business 24/7, 7 days a week for the foreseeable future.
You can bond instantly In a room full of complete strangers.
PLUS you can also leave immediately if you get bored, teleporting magically to another room of your choice in a matter of seconds at the press of a button.
It’s no accident that Twitter has ‘Spaces’ in beta mode, Facebook is working on their new competitor to this platform and experts are valuing this fledgling app in the billions of dollars already.
But that’s not the important bit.
What does matter is the new confidence, the rising superstars and the fresh generation of female speakers who are ready to take their newfound communications skills combined with their lifetime of business experience to global stages and conferences in the future.
I have already signed up 19 new clients to launch help their own TV online streaming shows.
The buzz of communicating and sharing your insights, stories and experiences is intoxicating.
And addictive.
Mark my words, once the pandemic is over and the dust settles, those who spoke and helped others during the lockdown darkness will be first to be recognised and rewarded in the light of a global business and artistic renaissance.
The clock is ticking.
It’s time to talk…
See you in da club!
ps: if you're already in the club, look for me @_davecrane and click on the bell so you'll get notifications whenever I'm hosting a room.
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