Why Your Best Employees Stop Believing You (And How to Close the Gap) with Henna Pryor

In today's hybrid and digital workplaces, the instinct for many busy managers is to rely on quick tech tools like AI or generic emails to communicate care. Henna Pryor argues this approach is actually backfiring. She challenges leaders to recognize that we are living in an "age of doubt" where skepticism is the default posture, urging them to close their "signal gaps" by aligning what they say with how they actually show up. Joe Mull sits down with Henna for a conversation about workplace trust and leadership skills. As a workplace performance expert, speaker, and author of Good Awkward and the upcoming book The Signal Gap, Henna brings a wide-ranging career background. From surviving the grueling hours of Big Four public accounting to spending fourteen years in executive search, she uses her front-row seat to team dynamics to help leaders build trust at work and become more believable and impactful. Henna breaks down the difference between cheap and costly signals, explaining why simply expressing gratitude is no longer enough to make employees feel valued. She shares stories from her own career (including her first job at a diner and the sting of being ignored as a high-achieving employee) to illustrate the importance of leadership communication. She also warns against "intent smuggling" and the dangers of public microclaims in the digital age. In this episode, you'll learn: 🔹 The difference between gratitude & appreciation.🔹 Why leaders need to move past "cheap signals". 🔹 What a "signal gap" is & how it destroys a leader's believability in the modern verification era. 🔹 Why relying on AI to send quick, personalized responses can lead to "intent smuggling".🔹 The reason you need to "choose your channel" carefully when recognizing & retaining high achievers. 🔹 How to avoid the "blast radius" of missing the mark on your searchable, public microclaims. This episode is for managers and leaders focused on employee retention, employee engagement, and team building who want to foster genuine workplace trust, believability, and connection in an increasingly skeptical world. Episode Resources: Check out Henna's website: https://hennapryor.com Pre-order her upcoming book The Signal Gap: How to Boost Believability and Influence in the Age of Doubt: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1646873092 To subscribe to Joe Mull’s BossBetter Email newsletter, visit https://BossBetterNow.com For more info on working with Joe Mull, visit https://joemull.com For more info on Boss Hero School, visit https://bossheroschool.com To email the podcast, use [email protected] #leadership #management #toxicworkculture #teambuilding #workplaceculture #conflictmanagement #employeeengagement #motivation Joe Mull is on a mission to help leaders and business owners create the conditions where commitment takes root and the entire workplace thrives. A dynamic and deeply relatable speaker, Joe combines compelling research, magnetic storytelling, and practical strategies to show exactly how to cultivate loyalty, ignite effort, and build people-first workplaces where both performance and morale flourish. His message is clear: when commitment is activated, engagement rises, teams gel, retention improves, and business outcomes soar. Joe is the founder of Boss Hero School™ and the creator of the acclaimed Employalty™ framework, a roadmap for creating thriving workplaces in a new era of work. He’s the author of three books, including Employalty, named a top business book of the year by Publisher’s Weekly, and his popular podcast, Boss Better Now, ranks in the top 1% of management shows globally. A former head of learning and development at one of the largest healthcare systems in the U.S., Joe has spent nearly two decades equipping leaders—from Fortune 500 companies like State Farm, Siemens, and Choice Hotels to hospitals, agencies, and small firms—with the tools to lead better, inspire commitment, and build more humane workplace cultures. His insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and more. In 2025, Joe was inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame (CPAE). This is the speaking profession’s highest honor, a distinction granted to less than 1% of professional speakers worldwide. It’s awarded to speakers who demonstrate exceptional talent, integrity, and influence in the speaking profession For more information visit joemull.com. Timestamps 0:00 The Age of Doubt 0:22 Introducing Henna Pryor 2:03 Maximizing Bad First Jobs 4:29 Loving the Telemarketing Grind 8:06 The Public Accounting Crucible 9:37 Genuine Leadership Availability 11:00 Ignoring High Achievers 14:09 Gratitude vs. Appreciation 16:33 Choosing Your Communication Channel 19:58 Mastering the Career Pivot 22:18 Navigating the Signal Gap 26:51 AI & Intent Smuggling 31:13 The Danger of Microclaims 36:44 Secretive Workplace Rules 38:04 Banning Corporate Platitudes 38:53 Nobody Is Watching You 40:13 Micro Shifts for Leaders