Heidi Connal: Adversity Speaker
Leadership expert, executive coach, and keynote speaker Heidi Connal helps organizations navigate change, strengthen emotional intelligence, and build resilient, high-performing teams through human-centered leadership.
- Highlights:
- Former Vice President at Salesforce
- 25+ years of experience in leadership and organizational change
- Expert in emotional intelligence and team dynamics
- Trusted by global organizations and enterprise leaders
- Formats:
Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, and Leadership Strategist
- Audiences:
Executives, leadership teams, and organizations navigating transformation, culture change, and high-performance leadership.
- Outcomes:
- Lead effectively through change and uncertainty
- Strengthen emotional intelligence and team connection
- Build resilient, collaborative, and high-performing cultures
- Travels from: Bend, OR
- **Fee range: On Request
Keynote Topics
Bouncing Back: Resiliency in Trying Times
Life often throws us situations—personal and professional—where we are caught off guard or knocked off our feet.
During these times it’s easy to lose our stride and our confidence, but there are ways to get back on our feet quickly, spending less time on the down and more time in creative action.
In this talk, Heidi shares the latest in neuroscience, behavioral psychology, mindfulness, and coaching techniques so that you can rewire your own brain for positivity, self-compassion, and a strong sense of purpose.
Key Takeaways:
- Calm your nervous system in stressful situations
- Regain control of your creative mind when caught off guard
- Stay open to possibilities
- Take action with confidence
- Grow from failed experiences and get better faster
- Learn to tolerate ambiguity
- Develop realistic optimism
Leading Through Traumatic Times
The workplace is no exception to the human existence of change, loss, and grief.
This talk dives into how loss and trauma impacts an employee, and how we as leaders can understand what they’re going through, support them in their journey, and help them build their resilience.
Key Takeaways:
- Defining leadership moments
- This is our brain, on grief
- What makes resilience, resilient?
- The mindfulness of words and actions
Further Topics
- Leading Change and Winning Over Resistance
- Career Reinventions and Epiphanies
- Storytelling For Leaders
- Resolving Conflict
- Influencing Without Authority
- Managing Bias
- Personal Branding
- Negotiating Adeptly
Talent Short Bio
Heidi Connal is a globally recognized leadership expert, executive coach, and keynote speaker specializing in organizational transformation, team dynamics, and emotional intelligence. With over 25 years of experience, she has guided leaders and teams through complex change, including hyper-growth, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and digital transformation.
A former Vice President at Salesforce, Heidi has worked with some of the world’s most influential organizations, including the U.S. Navy, Bank of America, LinkedIn, Workday, and PwC. Her expertise lies in helping leaders build stronger executive relationships, improve collaboration, and lead effectively in high-pressure, fast-evolving environments.
Heidi’s work is deeply informed by her personal journey. After the sudden loss of her husband, she developed a profound understanding of grief, trauma, and resilience—insights she now brings into her leadership work. She helps organizations address the human side of change, equipping leaders with the tools to support their teams through uncertainty, stress, and transformation.
Read Full Bio
Heidi Connal loves the adventure of change. For the last 25 years, Heidi has guided leaders and teams to navigate the organizational and emotional transformations of hyper-growth, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, and technological reboots.
She’s a recognized global expert in team dynamics, emotional intelligence, and executive relationships, and uses her skills to build healthier, more effective and collaborative leaders within the corporate world. Says one client, “Heidi has an uncanny ability to distill elusive personal aspirations into actionable, achievable plans and certainly made me feel a newfound sense of self-efficacy and confidence.”
Heidi is known for her strategic expertise in large global enterprises. A former Salesforce Vice President, Heidi has developed leaders and teams at organizations such as the US Navy, Salesforce, Bank of America, LinkedIn, Digitas, Workday, TIAA, Capital One, Wells Fargo, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Roblox, Logitech, Veeva, the Skoll Foundation, and Marketo.
Heidi Connal insatiable thirst for learning and exploration began as a child of an Air Force family and later developed into a passion for travel and adventurous experiences. One snowy night, two months after returning from a year-long round-the-world trip, Heidi Connal’s husband died unexpectedly.
Faced with sudden, inconceivable grief and post-traumatic stress, Heidi transformed her heartache as a young widow into a deeper understanding of tragedy, anxiety, and trauma as an executive and leader.
An expert in leadership and change, Heidi Connal guides executives on the impacts of grief, trauma, mindfulness, and empathy on their employees, their teams, and their peers. Moving, thoughtful, and humorous, Heidi will take you on a journey of deeper insight into the human condition in the workplace.
Heidi holds an MBA in finance and marketing from NYU Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Virginia. Heidi is a certified executive coach through the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute.
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Summary of User Reviews:
This workshop has received high praise for its targeted focus on specific outcomes that directly contribute to job success. Attendees, such as a Technology Partnerships Executive, appreciate the practical skills and insights gained, which are seen as highly beneficial for their professional development. However, no weaknesses or areas for improvement were mentioned in the review provided.
Overview:
A highly effective workshop that prioritizes tangible outcomes for career advancement, making it a valuable experience for professionals seeking to enhance their skills.
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