Henna Pryor – Personal Development & Change

#1 leader at a $2B executive search firm for over 14 years before becoming a top-rated global keynote speaker.

She writes a popular column for Inc. Magazine, and is frequently tapped by top media like Forbes, NBC, Washington Post, Business.com, HuffPost, and Fast Company.

She was named a SUCCESS Magazine Woman of Influence and is a favorite of global organizations like Google, Workday, Johnson & Johnson, and JPMorganChase.

She’s also an incurable chocoholic and a 32nd generation Pakistani princess, which means absolutely nothing anymore and comes with zero perks, but is still pretty cool.

Finally, she’s a 2x TEDx speaker and her best-selling book, Good Awkward, was endorsed by NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson and former HBR editor Karen Dillon, and was named a Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Book of the Year.”

About Henna

Henna Pryor is an award-winning TEDx and global keynote speaker, virtual presenter, author, professional executive coach, and dynamic workplace performance expert.

As a workplace performance expert, Henna Pryor’s keynotes and workshops take a science-based approach to improve strategic risk management and workplace success.

Her talks blend 2 decades of work experience with a playful style and high-impact takeaways.

Biography

High-Performance Career

After graduating with an honors degree in Finance from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Virginia, Henna Pryor initially began working in external auditing for Ernst & Young LLP before pivoting into her 14-year career in staffing.

During that stage of her career, Henna broke multiple records and successfully matched thousands of finance and accounting professionals into new opportunities, with companies ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 global organizations.

While there, she won Rookie of the Year, Performer of the Year (#1 in the firm), and was a perennial top 10% performer, earning the attention of several top media outlets.

But her heart broke every time she helped a high-performing employee exit their high-potential team.

Over and over, these high achievers left those teams – often leaving the leaders and colleagues scratching their heads.

They couldn’t figure out why their people were so unhappy.

She told them: “Maybe you’re not repelling anyone…but you’re sure as heck not compelling anyone either.”

Eventually, she decided that it was time to use her years of expertise and education to change this paradigm.

Accomplished Keynote Speaker

Since then, Henna has become an accomplished speaker and author, been invited to speak at SXSW and TEDx twice, and brings her expertise to a variety of global organizations including Google, Workday, Johnson & Johnson, and JPMorgan Chase.

SUCCESS Magazine recognized her as one of their 2024 Woman of Influence, and she has been featured in Forbes, NBC, Washington Post, Fast Company, Inc., Business.com, HuffPost, and many more.

Today, her clients call her their “secret weapon for impossible change.”

Other Ventures

Henna also founded Pryority Group to realize a vision that transformational speaking, coaching, and performance growth workshops should be available to everyone, and because she believes the key to most people’s success is learning to strengthen mental and social muscles to boost risk-taking, maximize influence, and be braver in the work that we do.

Her best-selling book, Good Awkward, was endorsed by NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson and former HBR editor Karen Dillon, and has won a host of prestigious awards including Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Book of the Year.”

Awkward and Upward!

Your surprising secret weapon for taking more professional risks

Advances in technology have made it easy to avoid real human interaction.

While texting, online ordering, and “swiping right” are 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 weakening of our social muscles is slowly destroying our ability to take smart risks at work – like collaborating with colleagues, initiating tough conversations, speaking up, and sharing new ideas.

Risk-taking sounds good in theory, but most of us have a hard time moving from wishful thinking to execution.

Why?

When we have a chance to take a risk, in that moment, we feel awkward – and that awkwardness bumps up against our deep desire for others to approve of us and what we do.

However, the fastest path to major improvement comes from strengthening what’s weak, rather than what’s strong.

In this keynote, Henna Pryor teaches audiences how embracing the Good Awkward is your secret weapon for skyrocketing teamwork, speaking up boldly, and strengthening your risk-taking muscle.

Key Takeaways:

• Pinpoint the exact reason it’s been difficult to take risks – and how to move past it.
• Use deliberate discomfort and strategic micro stressors to rebuild our social and risk-taking muscles
• Create a custom plan for collaborating, speaking up, sharing ideas, and being brave and risk-ready whenever the chance arises

The Changing Psychology of Influence in the Modern Era

How to overcome resistance to move your ideas forward

In the modern era, the psychology of creating action, influence, inspiration, and navigating through uncertainty has changed.

We need to take a new approach to ignite action in our teams, persuade prospects, have difficult conversations, and maximize partnership opportunities.

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.

In this interactive session, Henna Pryor uncovers the 4 specific reasons why people resist change, and more importantly, concrete strategies to overcome them so we can move our ideas, initiatives, mission, and team members forward.

Key Takeaways:

• 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.

Pushing Limits, Igniting Excellence

Unlocking the New Mindset of Success

With changing landscapes, tough competition, and information overload, winning market share is harder than ever. We may have high levels of excellence, but that excellence comes at a surprising cost – it keeps us stagnant and quietly discourages taking the risks we need to grow. Why?

The dark side of success is we often focus on what we already excel at instead of leaning into the discomfort of what today’s success requires: more innovation, creative collaboration, and thinking outside of the box.

But fear not – we already know the fastest path to major improvement comes from strengthening what’s weak, rather than what’s strong.

Today, that means we need to become excellent at being uncomfortable.
In this keynote, Henna Pryor will share the modern mental skills for skyrocketing your team’s performance, frontloading discomfort, and unlocking the innovation needed to tap into new sources of success.

Key Takeaways:

• Cultivate innovative, outside-the-box thinking.
• Use the tools of neutral thinking and deliberate discomfort to expand mental muscle.
• Formulate a personalized game plan to be risk-ready whenever the chance arises.

Additional Content

Henna also offers additional content in other critical Workplace Performance buckets like:

• Presence, Communication, Empowerment, Persuasion/Influence, and Elevating Impact
• Professional and Personal Mindset Growth
• Time Management and Productivity
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging