White guy who just spent 3 months in the Middle East amongst rich alpha Arabs and it was an eye opener. Recorded some videos of my experience there and noticed though I've gotten better at keeping my voice low, my tone has these southern california, recovering nice-guy affectations that I want to avoid better. I want to be able to keep phrases short, effective, assertive, confident without striking people as overly-serious.

Any tips for cadence, tone, when to shut up and when to speak up, funny and laid back versus assertive balancing, etc?