In this episode of The Backbone Leader Exchange, SGT Cashe and SSG Jones dive into The Tone Range Fan, a framework developed by COL Ed Arntson and LTC Erik Miller (From the Green Notebook, 2025). Tone is more than sound, it’s leadership presence in action. The way you speak shapes how Soldiers trust, follow, and perform.

Together, they break down the three positive tones—best tone, coaching tone, and compassionate tone, and expose the danger tones that erode credibility and create toxic climates. Along the way, they share personal stories of when tone built trust, when it destroyed it, and how NCOs can deliberately practice tone awareness to master influence.

This isn’t just theory, it’s a call to leaders to choose tone with intention, because mastering how you speak may be the key to unlocking how your Soldiers perform.