Henna Pryor Keynote Speaker

  • Workplace Performance Expert
  • 2x TEDx Speaker
  • Author, Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You

Henna Pryor's Biography

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, 5x award-winning author of Good Awkward, and an in-demand global keynote speaker. Her playful personality and insightful talks blend two 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.

  • She does not accept excuses and believes that the very qualities that have led high achievers to their current success are precisely what hold them back from even greater levels of accomplishment and personal fulfillment. She is known for her science-backed approach to improving the performance, habits, and actions of hungry high achievers – in her fun, no-nonsense, no-jargon way – to move them from their first level of success to their next one.
  • An accomplished speaker and writer, she has been invited to speak twice for TEDx and on the Workplace track at SXSW, and brings her expertise to a variety of global organizations including Google, Workday, Johnson & Johnson, and JPMorganChase. She’s also recognized as a SUCCESS Magazine Woman of Influence and is frequently tapped for her fresh perspectives by top media outlets like INSIDER, NBC, Washington Post, Fast Company, Business.com, HuffPost, and more.
  • Henna 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 in order to boost risk-taking, maximize influence, and be braver in the work that we do.
  • Throughout a 14 year career in staffing, 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, and was a perennial top 10% performer, earning the attention of several top media outlets.
  • She’s a lifelong learner – she’s been studying human behavior and performance for over two decades and loves to bring a fresh energy to business practices and conversations. Her best-selling book, Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You, was endorsed by NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson and former HBR editor Karen Dillon, and has won a host of prestigious awards including being named a Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Book of the Year.”

She graduated with honors with a BS in Finance from the University of Delaware and her MS in Accounting from the University of Virginia. She also earned her Coaching Certification from American University and achieved her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential through the International Coaching Federation.

Finally, she loves traveling the world with her husband and two kids and spoiling the Cavapoo puppy that she swore she never wanted (and now can’t get enough of).

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Henna Pryor's Speaking Topics

  • 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” 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 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? Because when we have a chance to take a risk in the moment, 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 taking risks – often despite others’ judgment – that leads to the greatest growth. After all, the fastest path to major improvement comes from strengthening what’s weak, rather than what’s strong.

Join 2x TEDx Speaker, Executive Coach, and Workplace Performance Expert, Henna Pryor, to learn how embracing the Good Awkward is your secret weapon for skyrocketing teamwork, speaking up boldly, and strengthening your risk-taking muscle.

After this keynote, you’ll be able to:

  • Pinpoint the exact reason it’s been difficult to take risks - 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 speaking up, sharing ideas, and being courageous 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 new 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 2x TEDx and Global Keynote Speaker, Author, and Workplace Performance Expert, Henna Pryor, to uncover and explore the 4 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
    • 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 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: 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, author and 2x TEDx and Keynote Speaker, 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.

    After this keynote, you’ll be able to:

  • Pinpoint the exact reason it’s been difficult to take risks - and how to move past it
  • 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
  • Not only will you feel more empowered to stretch into new spaces, but you’ll walk away with specific mindset tactics and strategies to be more resilient, less stressed, and more inspired by change in your own life.

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    Videos of Henna Pryor

    Henna Pryor - Speaker Demo Reel | Workplace Performance Expert | Social + Mental Fitness for Success
    Why awkwardness is your secret weapon for risk-taking at work | Henna Pryor | TEDxQueensVillage
    Is there such a thing as "good bragging"? | Henna Pryor | TEDxWilmingtonSalon
    Henna Pryor - WGN9 Chicago Morning News

    Articles, Media & Podcasts

    Books by Henna Pryor

    Good Awkward

    Comments & Testimonials

    Smart, witty, and full of fresh insights — Henna takes us on a ride of rediscovering an emotion that we all feel, but rarely give the attention it deserves. Great leaders in the modern era need to embrace their awkward to build communities and make meaningful contributions. Thankfully, Good Awkward is here to show us how to do it.
    Lindsay Kaplan Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer, Chief
    Henna nails it with Good Awkward. Her blend of humor, authenticity, and real world application separates her from other coaches-turned-authors. She makes the Science of Awkward accessible and fun. There is hope for us after all!
    Collin Henderson CEO of Master Your Mindset
    In a world that doesn’t want you to be your most glorious and awkward self, Henna hands us the signed permission slip we all needed to own our cringe. Full of laugh out loud and highly relatable moments, Good Awkward is a must read for anyone looking for an insightful exploration on how those bits we’d rather not show the world are the source of our greatest strength.
    Victoria Melchor Depth Psychology Author
    Good Awkward is a must-read for anyone out there who lets their awkwardness hold them back from being the bigger, bolder, better versions of themselves. Through Henna’s background, research, and most of all, her humor (I laughed out loud throughout!), she teaches that a little awkwardness can go a long way in getting us out of our comfort zones and on the path to success.
    Tracy Pruzan-Roy Former SVP at NBCUniversal + Executive Coach
    Good Awkward is a revolutionary and game changing book. If you get stuck because you worry about saying the wrong thing or the thought of sitting through an awkward silence is unbearable, this book (and Henna Pryor) will change your life.
    Michael Port NYT and WSJ bestselling author of Steal the Show

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