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Henna Pryor, CSP | Workplace Performance Expert

@hennapryor

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💥 Boosting your influence + mental skills!
🗣 2x TEDx, SXSW + Global Keynote Speaker
✏️ @incmagazine + @cnbc
📚 Good Awkward | The Signal Gap out 11/10!

POSTS STORIES REELS

I wrote a book about how hard it is to be believed right now... and then handed it to some of the most skeptical readers in publishing. 🙈

And then last week, we found out The Signal Gap earned herself a rare Kirkus starred review. 🥳🙏🏽

If you don't live in book-world, a quick decoder on why that's a big deal:

⭐ Since 1933, Kirkus’s reviews can be glowing, brutal, or ANYWHERE in between. They don’t play!
⭐ The reviews aren’t signed, which is great for integrity and terrible for my urge to send someone a box of chocolates as a thank you. 🤣
⭐ The star is Kirkus's top honor for a standout title, and it only goes to ~ 10% of books they review.

A few kind things they said:

- “An incisive primer on workplace communications that mixes sharp insights with hands-on advice.”
- “Pryor’s shrewd analysis of workplace messaging and its discontents deftly combines sharp observations of office culture, tech-centered communications theory, and illuminating dashes of psychology.”
- “Written in elegant prose studded with pithy aphorisms, the book serves as a revealing study of how everyday rhetoric functions and malfunctions.”

I share this for 2 reasons:

1) Most books in this genre aren't written by women, let alone women of color. And I think women need to share wins way more than they do, so hey! CHECK IT, FRIENDS! 🎉

2) The whole book is about how we decide who to believe when polish is cheap and every claim can be fact checked mid-burger bite. A review from a stranger who doesn’t owe me a lick is exactly the kind of signal I can't manufacture myself, so I'm letting it do the talking. :)

It's the 2nd time (Good Awkward too!) - and if you're still reading, thanks for celebrating with me instead of forcing me to do one of those faux "I'm so honored and humbled and blah blah blah" - yes, I'm absolutely all of that AND we worked our butt off on this, so I'm ALSO excited as hell!

Thank you to my amazing coaches, editors, and @ideapresspublishing team… couldn’t have done it without you.

The Signal Gap is out Nov 10th! If you haven't pre-ordered yet, what are you waiting for? :)

thesignalgap.com

#Believability #Influence #Trust #Sales #Leadership by @hennapryor

I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies to Carol Dweck, but we really need to stop. If I hear the phrase “growth mindset” in one more hotel ballroom, I’m going to lose it. 😅

Here’s the problem: EVERYONE in the room thinks they already have one. It’s like “good taste.” Have you ever met a human being who admits to having bad taste? Heck no. Even the dude buying the inflatable sofa is thinking, “Finally, someone with some vision!”

🧠 We all think we’re evolving, but most of us are just victims of our own competence. You aren’t “fixed-minded” - you’re just too good at what you do, and it’s hard to see that sometimes.

🧠 Your brain has built a high-speed, 8-lane neural superhighway to “The Way We’ve Always Done It.” And even when you’re handed a chance to take a big swing, your brain just shrugs and says, “Meh, we’ve got cruise control on. Let’s just see where this road goes.”

🧠 You’re not stuck. You’re just over-optimized for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

To celebrate my own inability to follow a simple One-Reel Rule (I never was much of a rule follower anyway!), I’m dropping TWO speaker reels for 2026. PART 1 is about the “Inner Game” - how to operationalize the mental skills to adapt faster, take more risks, and dominate disruption.

An event planner told me recently, “Henna, you know what your *thing* is? You productively call people out, and make them feel happy that you did.”

Sounds about right. 😇

Huge thanks to my buddies Marc Bjerring and Andre Bellerive for always making me look much cooler than I feel in these clips.

Check it out below and let me know what you think! Is your team actually managing change and pushing limits, or are they just driving on cruise control with a “Growth Mindset” sticker on the bumper? Let’s talk. 🌶️ 👊🏽

(PART 2 coming soon!)

#DominatingDisruption #ChangeManagement #OperationalizingMindset by @hennapryor

Have you ever explained something perfectly - with logic, data, and hand gestures - only to have someone look at you like you’re pitching a pyramid scheme? Yea, me too.

I decided to release a 2nd speaker reel because I’m the person who brings two desserts to a potluck. This one is about INFLUENCE - which today means, “How to get people to actually do the thing you’re talking about.”

I see this all the time. Smart people with smart ideas who are just... ignored. It’s like when you’re trying to give someone directions and they just keep looking at their phone. You’re like, “I’m literally telling you how to not get lost,” and they’re like, “Yea, I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing.”

🪵 We think we need better data, and we think being RIGHT is enough. But adding more data and logic to a room full of skeptics is like trying to put out a fire with more wood. I tried that once with the kids, and trust me... it just makes a bigger mess. (0/10, do not recommend.)

🪵 We’re currently living in a Crisis of Believability. Skepticism is the default. People don’t ignore you because they’re mean - they ignore you because their BS meter is dialed up to 11 and you’re just background noise. What you need today are tools for detecting friction and closing your signal gaps. Right now, dumping on more case studies is just making people feel annoyed.

🪵 The inner game helps you manage change in YOURSELF. The outer game creates change in OTHERS. You need both. (Hence, two reels! 😉)

Massive thanks to my friends at Speaker’s Cut / @mohovideo for always making my chaos look so crispy.

You’re communicating more than ever, but are people actually BELIEVING you? Because that’s the step to influence most people are bungling, and we can do so much better! 😬 👊🏽

Check out the reel and let’s talk about what you’re seeing around believability - would love to hear your thoughts!

#Influence #Communication #TheSignalGap #PART2

(Book 2 launching this FALL! 🥳) by @hennapryor

Loved getting to do a little press for The Signal Gap while in Chicago for an event!

Thanks for having me back for another round, @wgnnews and @dinabairwgn! 🙏🏽

thesignalgap.com

#TheSignalGap #Influence #Believability #Sales #Leadership by @hennapryor

Feeling awkward is human. But having a strategy to move through that discomfort and recover? That’s the confident move.

So, what’s your go-to recovery strategy when you’re feeling awkward? by @hennapryor

Henna Pryor calls herself an AI super user. She runs sections of her book through it and asks it to read them like a highly skeptical reader. So this isn't an anti-AI take.

Here's what she told me when she joined me on FRIED. AI is getting pretty darn good at word choice, so word choice isn't what gives you away anymore. What gives you away is the moment someone says "tell me more about that LinkedIn post you wrote yesterday," and you can't. That's where your believability takes a dive.

Use the tool. Just don't let it skip the thinking that gets you to your next level.

More in Henna's new book, The Signal Gap. Free first chapter at thesignalgap.com/fried. Full episode at the link in bio.

@hennapryor

#ai #linkedin #thoughtleadership #trust #friedtheburnoutpodcast by @hennapryor

Let’s give it up for the leaders in healthcare! 👏🏽

First time in Boise (what a CUTE downtown!)… and hopefully not the last: What a gift to pour into the leaders at St. Luke’s Health System’s Leadership Conference last week. This one-day conference is a long-standing tradition that brings almost 1600 St. Luke’s leaders together to renew their purpose, invest in their leaders’ development, and encourage innovation and growth. They came hungry to learn!

It was an honor to share the day with two gentlemen I admire greatly - @suneelgupta and @ryanleak - and together, teach this group new tools for mindset, communication, and how to navigate what’s next - even when it feels harder than ever to see around corners. (The “other” hospital corners? #MomJoke 🛌)

My lane was to provide new tools for data-driven decision making to drive results. I can’t say that 5 times fast, but I CAN say that these folks rocked it and came to play!

Thank you to the incredible @melissamannchicago from @speakinc_ for the trust, and to the whole St. Luke’s team for being such warm hosts. It’s always a tough one to leave when the clients feel more like a new best friends. 😊 You all are 10/10. See you soon!

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👩🏻 Who is she? Henna Pryor, CSP is a Workplace Performance Expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author of Good Awkward and The Signal Gap. She speaks to leaders and teams on mindset, courage, and navigating disruption. Frequently recommended for industry conferences, sales kickoffs, and leadership retreats. Wildly enthusiastic about dark chocolate and 90’s hip-hop.

#MentalSkills #DecisionMakingUnderPressure #LeadershipDevelopment #DominatingDisruption by @hennapryor

"Polish got cheap. Therefore, polish got suspicious."

That's how Henna Pryor named the trust problem on this week's FRIED.

A clean, typo-free, well-designed document used to prove someone put in the effort. Now she could turn our conversation into a branded PDF within four minutes of hanging up. So when something looks perfect, people ask a different question: did a person do this, or did AI?

Henna's new book is The Signal Gap. Grab the free first chapter at thesignalgap.com/fried. Full episode at the link in bio.

@hennapryor

#burnout #ai #trust #communication #friedtheburnoutpodcast by @hennapryor

You don’t want to miss this episode of Workplace Weirdness™ featuring author, keynote speaker and “princess,” Henna Pryor.

🎧 Listen to Workplace Weirdness™ wherever you get your podcasts!

🖥️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OmqbHu7QXz8

📖 Purchase “Good Awkward” Here: https://a.co/d/08xH9EXK

*Free for our listeners- the first chapter of Henna’s new book, The Signal Gap: https://www.thesignalgap.com/weirdness

#princess #pakistan #goodawkward #awkwardmoments #workplacewellness by @hennapryor

I got home from Boise at 1:30am last night and spoke at an amazing event all day today… and just walked into my house feeling both grateful AND a little exhausted. THIS was a fun surprise to come home to! They’re here and I love them so much!

12 DAYS! 🎉

#TheSignalGap @ideapresspublishing @simonandschuster thesignalgap.com

@heylgo I wasn’t lying 🤣 by @hennapryor

Finish this sentence: “Trust, then ______.”

If you said “verify,” so did an entire room of HR leaders… and I had to tell them (lovingly) - that one’s now out of date. 😳🙅🏻‍♀️

For most of our careers, trust came by DEFAULT. You walked into a conversation with a little runway. People assumed you knew your stuff, and unless something smelled fishy, they went with it. Believing you was simply the easier choice.

That social contract flipped. It now runs in the other direction: Verify, THEN trust.

💥 People are auditing you before you walk into the meeting, and again while you’re mid-sentence… before you’ve earned a thing.

💥 It doesn’t even have to have happened to YOU. They saw something on Reddit or their neighbor said something. You’re starting from behind anyway.

I call this the Verification Era, and it’s what underpins everything in The Signal Gap (out Nov 10!). The short version - the benefit of the doubt has EXPIRED. No one gets it by default anymore, credentials included. We need a new set of skills to go along with the change.

What’s something you now check before a meeting that you NEVER used to?

(P.S. The Signal Gap keynote is actively booking for 2027!)

www.thesignalgap.com/keynotes

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👩🏻 Who is she? Henna Pryor, CSP is a global keynote speaker, award-winning author of Good Awkward and The Signal Gap (out November 10!), and leadership and sales strategist. She speaks to high-performing teams on communication, influence, believability, and building trust under pressure. Frequently recommended for leadership summits, corporate conferences, sales kickoffs, and annual meetings. Known to drop a 90’s rap lyric mid-workshop without warning.

#Sales #Leadership #TheSignalGap #Influence #Trust by @hennapryor

Be the person who says you have spinach in your teeth! Tune in to our latest episode of Workplace Weirdness™ with author and keynote speaker Henna Pryor. 🍌✨

🎧 Listen to Workplace Weirdness™ wherever you get your podcasts!

🖥️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OmqbHu7QXz8

📖 Purchase “Good Awkward” Here: https://a.co/d/08xH9EXK

#goodawkward #awkwardness #awkwardmoments #workplacewellness #officelife by @hennapryor