Right out of college, Henna Pryor started her career at the biggest of the big companies, working for Ernst & Young, one of the top four public accounting firms. Later, she pivoted to staffing, where she spent a 14-year stint at award-winning Technology and Finance staffing agency, Kforce Inc. There, she received many accolades, including Kforce Diamond Club Performer of The Year, Gold Level Performer, and Rookie of the Year—chalking the recognition up to being an insatiably hungry person, always seeking the next opportunity and wanting more for herself.
Continuing the conversation around professional attributes, the pair discuss the book “How Women Rise,” which details the 12 habits holding women back from their next raise, promotion, or job. When asked which of the 12 attributes she identifies with and how she overcomes them, Henna admits that, like many other professional women, she suffers from all 12. But, getting a handle on a few of them completely changed her life.
Moving on, Henna shares three of her favorite pieces of advice around leaning into your confidence at work. The first is using humor (the correct way!) to help you say what you want without worrying about the outcome. The second is interrogative self-talk to help you realize the steps you can take to execute in any scenario, making you more comfortable. And her third tip is a reframing process called “anxious reappraisal,” a process where you reappraise what feels like a threat into an opportunity.
As the conversation continues, Henna and Leslie also discuss how fear is a mask for desire, why every female leader should remove the phrase “work-life balance” from their vocabulary, and how our communities can help develop our personal brand. We hope you enjoy this episode.
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Book Resources:
- How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
- Life’s Great Question, Tom Rath
- Atomic Habits, James Clear
- Humor Seriously, Naomi Bagdonas and Jennifer Aaker
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