Heather R. Younger

Navigate high-stress situations, rebuild trust after setbacks, and sustain performance without losing focus

Only 27% of managers feel enthusiastic about their work. Over 40% of workers are experiencing significant stress, and just one in five feels fully engaged. The numbers tell the story: Today’s teams are operating under sustained pressure-constant change, higher expectations, fewer buffers, and faster decision cycles.

When leaders are running on empty, teams feel it. And telling people to “be more resilient” without changing how they lead, decide, communicate, and recover only fuels burnout and disengagement.

n this keynote based on Heather R. Younger’s forthcoming book by the same title, she draws on 20+ years of leading teams through reorgs, mergers, acquisitions, technology shifts, and layoffs to show what actually builds team resilience: a practical system for leading sustainably under pressure.

Audiences walk away with a clear framework, shared language, and repeatable tools to navigate high-stress situations, rebuild trust after setbacks, and maintain focus without exhausting people.

The audience will walk away with:

• A practical framework for resilient leadership under pressure that helps teams tackle high-stakes challenges together
• Strategies to sustain high performance without burnout
• A shared language for how teams move, decide, and recover together—so resilience becomes a team practice, not an individual burden
• Tools to reduce ambiguity and increase clarity, even when certainty isn’t available
• A repeatable approach for rebuilding trust and momentum after setbacks