Henna Pryor

Henna Pryor

Henna Pryor, PCC is a dynamic Workplace Performance Expert who speaks and writes about performance mindset, interpersonal dynamics, high-impact communication, and embracing bumps in a world that keeps optimizing for smoothness.

She is a regular Expert Columnist for Inc. Magazine, 10x award-winning author of Good Awkward, and an in-demand global keynote speaker. Her playful personality and insightful talks blend 2 decades of working with corporate leaders and teams with a fresh, science-based approach to taking more strategic risks and boosting social and mental fitness for success at work. Her clients call her their “secret weapon for impossible change,” an honor she wears proudly.

In addition to speaking for TEDx, SXSW, and being frequently tapped by media outlets like Business.com, FastCompany, INSIDER, HuffPost, NBC, FOX, and more, she’s been named a SUCCESS Magazine Woman of Influence and her book was named a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of the Year.

Most Requested Programs

AWKWARD AND UPWARD!
Your surprising secret weapon for navigating uncertainty, rapid change, and the future of work

Advances in technology have made it easy to avoid real – and sometimes difficult – human interaction. While texting, online ordering, and “swiping right” is convenient, we’re losing the skills of relating to others, building trust and connection, and enduring the critical friction and messiness we get from being in proximity to each other. This new reality is weakening our social muscles and slowly destroying our ability to have the conversations needed to connect at the highest level, take smart risks, and navigate today’s increasingly complicated world of work.

Navigating uncertain times sounds obvious enough, but most of us have a hard time moving from wishful thinking to execution. Why? Because when we stumble through those moments, we feel awkward – and that awkwardness bumps up against our deep desire for others to approve of us and what we do. As it turns out, it’s what we improve in the face of these moments – often despite others’ judgment – that leads to the greatest growth.

Join world-renowned keynote speaker, Inc. Magazine columnist, and Workplace Performance Expert, Henna Pryor, to learn how embracing the Good Awkward is your secret weapon for skyrocketing teamwork, speaking up boldly and effectively, and strengthening your adversity muscle.

Good Awkward helps you unlock your highest level of power and influence to navigate the world around you. Audiences will leave feeling more confident, equipped to build stronger teams, and ready to lead to their highest potential, all wrapped in the laughter and relatability her audiences can’t get enough of.

After this keynote, you’ll be able to:
Pinpoint the exact reason it’s been difficult to take risks and embrace change – and how to move past it
Use deliberate discomfort and strategic microstressors to rebuild our social and risk-taking muscles
Create a custom plan for collaborating, speaking up, sharing ideas, and being brave and change-ready whenever the chance arises

THE CHANGING PSYCHOLOGY OF INFLUENCE
How to overcome resistance to move your ideas forward in the modern era

In the modern workplace, the psychology for creating new actions, influence, inspiration, and navigating through uncertainty has changed. We need to take a new approach to create new actions in our teammates and in ourselves, to persuade prospects, to have difficult conversations, and to maximize opportunities for partnership.

If you’ve ever found yourself facing resistance to your ideas – you’re not alone. Even when we have a great idea that will affect enormous change, we don’t always get the reaction – or action – we’re hoping for.

That’s because we spend the majority of our energy making our ideas and changes more compelling, more interesting, more attractive — pouring on the fuel — that we rarely discover the frictions that are working against us, and all humans have them.

In this interactive session, join world-renowned speaker, author, Inc. Columnist, and Workplace Performance Expert, Henna Pryor, to uncover and explore the FOUR specific reasons why people resist change, and more importantly, concrete strategies to overcome them so we can move our ideas, initiatives, team members, prospects, and mission forward.

After this keynote, you’ll be able to:
Shift away from problem-solving to a more valuable strategy
Understand how being the “expert” is hurting your influence instead of helping
Position your idea from several new angles that increase trust and get the green light you need for people to say yes

DOMINATING DISRUPTION AND IGNITING A NEW STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
Unlocking the mental and social skills of success in a fast-changing world of work

With the changing world of work, tough competition, and information overload, pushing
for growth and inspiring teams feels harder than ever. We may have achieved high levels of excellence, but that excellence comes at a surprising cost – it keeps us stagnant and quietly discourages taking the risks and tackling the problems we need to tackle to grow today. Why?

The dark side of success is we often focus on what we already excel at instead of leaning into the discomfort of what excelling today requires: heightened adversity tolerance, escaping silos, and thinking outside of the box. Luckily for us – we already know the fastest path to major improvement comes from strengthening what’s weak, rather than what’s strong. Today, with change around every corner, that means to learn new ways to become excellent at embracing the discomfort of disruption.

In this keynote, world-renowned speaker, author, Inc. Columnist, and Workplace Performance Expert, Henna Pryor will share the modern strategies and skills for skyrocketing your team’s performance, frontloading the new mindsets needed to embrace disruption, and unlocking the innovation needed to tap into new sources of success.

After this keynote, you’ll be able to:
Pinpoint the exact reason it’s been difficult to take risks and embrace change – and how to move past them
Use tools like ostentatious objectivity and deliberate discomfort to expand mental muscle
Formulate a personalized game plan to be change-ready whenever the chance arises

Not only will you feel more empowered to stretch into new spaces personally, but you’ll walk away with specific mindset tactics and strategies for your teams to be more resilient, less stressed, and more empowered by disruption in your own lives.

Testimonials

From the moment Henna took the stage, our audience was hooked! She was not only entertaining and energetic, but she also shared timely and relevant insights to help us navigate the discomfort we're all experiencing in these uncertain times.

We're still getting feedback from attendees about the impact of her talk weeks later. We loved working with Henna and would strongly recommend her for anyone looking for a captivating keynote!
– Elli Reges, PhD, Director of Learning and Development, Security Industry Association

If you are looking for a speaker to light a fire in your growth team —Henna is who you should book. Her session gave our team so much energy (as in, I had to cut my team off and move on to dinner at the end of the day).
– Rebecca Black, Marketing Director, AcreTrader

Her energy was contagious and her competence shined through from the very first call! Not only was she spot on with her content and messaging, but we couldn’t have asked for a better partner in the process.
– Robyn Ginese, Global Head for Executive Leadership and Development, FIS Global

If you want an engaging speaker who is authentic, motivational and understanding of what it takes to have a bias for action, then HENNA IS IT.
– John Dougan, Senior Director, Global Sales Delivery, Workday

It's been nearly 3 months since we had the pleasure of Henna speaking to our group at an organizational launch event and many of the nuggets she shared still stick with me! What I appreciate most, however, is learning that I'm not the only one who remembers those pearls of wisdom... barely a week goes by where someone doesn't mention something Henna shared with us. This broad, large scale impact she had with our team impresses me even more than the way her messages resonated with me. That, is true organizational impact and I couldn't recommend Henna more. She hit an absolute home run for our team and organization!
-- Parker Richardson, VP Omnichannel Strategy & Operations, Astellas