Heather R. Younger One of the World's Leading Experts on Caring Leadership® and Active Listening at Work; Founder & CEO of Employee Fanatix

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The Unshakable Leader: The Leadership Challenge That Turns Individual Growth into Enterprise Success
The Unshakable Leader: The Leadership Challenge That Turns Individual Growth into Enterprise Success

Self-leadership is the foundation of resilient, high-impact influence. It's what allows people to navigate uncertainty, bounce forward from setbacks, and model the kind of adaptability their teams need now more than ever.

In this transformative keynote based on her book, Heather R Younger empowers leaders to trade perfectionism for progress, fear for flexibility, and burnout for balance — without sacrificing performance. She’ll share actionable strategies to help leaders harness resilience as a competitive edge and unlock their full potential in the face of constant change.

And the results speak for themselves:

90% of top-performing employees demonstrate high emotional resilience (Harvard Business Review)

Organizations that invest in leadership development see 2.4x higher revenue growth and 3x better retention (Deloitte)

Because when leaders lead themselves well — they elevate everyone around them.

Ideal for leaders and team members who:

Want to develop resilience strategies to fuel agility, adaptability, and sustainable success

Are navigating rapid change, uncertainty, or high-pressure environments and need a mental framework to thrive

Struggle with perfectionism and want to shift their mindset to prioritize progress over unattainable ideals

Are ready to step into greater ownership as a leader, by fostering a growth mindset and self-empowerment

Want to inspire teams to stay engaged, motivated, and high-performing—despite obstacles

The audience will walk away with:

The Self-Leadership Framework – A proven model to stay strong, flexible, and focused through change

Progress Over Perfection – A mindset shift to embrace growth, adaptability, and continuous improvement

A Self-Empowerment Toolkit – How to take control of your career trajectory and leadership influence

How to Foster a Culture of Resilience – Inspire teams to become adaptable, solution-oriented, and engaged

Emotional Agility & Decision-Making Mastery – Strengthen clarity, composure, and effectiveness under pressure

This keynote equips leaders to redefine challenges as opportunities, embrace change without fear, and step fully into their leadership power—turning personal growth into enterprise-wide success.
The High-Performance Culture Code: Where Compassion Ignites Engagement and Results
The High-Performance Culture Code: Where Compassion Ignites Engagement and Results

The leaders people remember most aren’t just smart — they care.

They create cultures where people feel seen, heard, and valued. And when leaders lead with care, it doesn’t just feel good — it delivers results.

In this powerful keynote backed by her book, Heather R Younger reveals how compassion, accountability, and a deep commitment to belonging fuel innovation, boost retention, and unlock peak performance. It’s a blueprint for building energized, high-performing teams — even in times of uncertainty and change.

Because here’s what the data shows:

Companies with high engagement and a culture of care outperform competitors by 23% in profitability and 18% in productivity (Gallup)

Perfect for leaders and teams who:

Want to build an agile workplace that attracts and keeps top talent

Are navigating change and looking to keep employees engaged and motivated

Believe well-being is a strategy, not a soft skill

Want to elevate their presence, emotional intelligence, and ability to inspire

Know leadership rooted in compassion, resilience, and purpose is the future

The audience will walk away with:

A High-Performance Culture Roadmap – Practical steps to create an engaged, results-driven workforce

Proven Strategies to Improve Employee Retention and Productivity – Reduce burnout, turnover, and disengagement

Tangible Actions to Drive Employee Motivation & Peak Performance – Unlock discretionary effort and build loyalty

Leadership Presence & Influence – Techniques to communicate with authenticity, empathy, and authority

The Power of Recognition & Coaching – How small, intentional actions drive long-term commitment and success

This keynote will ignite a culture shift where compassion and high performance are not at odds—but instead, the secret to lasting success - because when people feel cared for, they care more — about their work, their team, and your mission.
The Art of Active Listening: The Key to Making Anyone Feel Valued and Engaged
The Art of Active Listening: The Key to Making Anyone Feel Valued and Engaged

Active listening is the doorway to increased belonging, loyalty, profitability and innovation. It is the difference between thinking we understand what people want and knowing what they want.

For the last 12 years, Heather has reviewed over 25,000 employee engagement surveys as well as facilitated numerous listening sessions. She has distilled that knowledge into actionable insights that equip your people with the interpersonal skills they need to make others feel seen, heard, and valued in every interaction.

In this keynote, Heather introduces a new change model for organizational listening which she illustrates in five steps through an interactive experience.

The audience will leave with:

The understanding of how to practice active listening with those who look to them for guidance

A listening process that will unlock valuable insights and deliver desired outcomes

The one success characteristic they need to reach their goals and create win-win scenarios at work

Perfect for: cultural change, interpersonal skills, workplace engagement

Select Book Titles

2025 The Art of Self-Leadership: Discover the Power Within You and Learn to Lead Yourself
2023 The Art of Active Listening: How People at Work Feel Heard, Valued, and Understood
2021 The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading with Heart Uplifts Teams and Organizations
2017 The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty: Fascinating Truths About What It Takes to Create Truly Loyal and Engaged Employees

Heather R Younger, J.D. is a trusted contributor to leading news outlets, like Forbes, Fast Company, Bloomberg, NBC and ABC and one of the world’s leading experts on Caring Leadership® and active listening at work. She is the visionary Founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, a preeminent employee engagement and workplace culture consulting firm to Fortune 100 companies. Employee Fanatix

conducts annual research on workplace culture, relying on employee voices for what is relevant now, to help companies redefine their culture strategy. Heather has personally read over 30,000 employee surveys and facilitated over 100 employee focus groups, including her signature “Art of Active Listening Sessions.”

With over 25 years of successfully managing teams, she has worked in customer experience, sales, and large account management for multi-million dollar accounts within multiple industries such as tech, staffing, healthcare, professional services, the public sector, and the financial sector. She's a renowned keynote speaker, drawing insights from current data and putting into practice what she teaches in her Caring Leadership Transformation Model™.

Heather’s strategies yield tangible business results, including heightened employee engagement, unwavering loyalty, seamless collaboration, and robust connectivity. One of her clients, a leader at a bank, continues to win Top Workplace awards, and the feedback from employees is that they are connecting the dots and making employees feel informed and engaged. Another one of her clients, a leader at an oil and gas company, says employee feedback shows an increased sense of trust about voicing concerns without fear of negative consequences. This all results in better outcomes in our everyday work.

Heather is a former practicing attorney turned award-winning leader in the area of Employee Engagement as recognized by Inspiring Workplaces, is a LinkedIn Learning course partner, 3-time best-selling author, TEDX speaker and host of the popular, Leadership with Heart podcast. She is also an Adjunct Organizational Leadership Professor at University College at Denver University.

Her accolades include being a best-selling author of three books: "The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty," a Forbes Must-Read List topper for HR professionals, "The Art of Caring Leadership," wherein she shines a spotlight on the radical potential of compassionate leadership, and her latest best-selling book, "The Art of Active Listening," through which she equips individuals with the interpersonal skills required to make others feel seen, heard, and valued.

Heather's personal journey, rooted in her challenging experiences growing up as the only child of an interfaith and interracial marriage and being excluded because of her race, fueled her unwavering determination to ensure that workplaces around the world make both employees and customers alike feel heard, valued and seen.

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Heather R. Younger One of the World's Leading Experts on Caring Leadership® and Active Listening at Work; Founder & CEO of Employee Fanatix

Select Keynotes

Select Book Titles

Business Topics

Culture & Society Topics

Healthcare

Motivation & Achievement

Topics

Photos

Heather R. Younger One of the World's Leading Experts on Caring Leadership® and Active Listening at Work; Founder & CEO of Employee Fanatix

Select Keynotes

The Unshakable Leader: The Leadership Challenge That Turns Individual Growth into Enterprise Success

The High-Performance Culture Code: Where Compassion Ignites Engagement and Results

The Art of Active Listening: The Key to Making Anyone Feel Valued and Engaged

Select Book Titles

Business Topics

Culture & Society Topics

Healthcare

Motivation & Achievement