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How to create changes in the organization – one micro-action at a time

Henrik Dresbøll

travels from Denmark

Behavior designer, podcast host, and author.

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5 out of 5 stars

It was a massive amount of knowledge, experience, and engagement that took the stage at our central theme day for the work environment organization. With good examples, a twinkle in the eye, and above all, the courage to soberly provoke the classical mindset of both employees and leaders, Henrik Dresbøll created a space for deep inspiration and reflection, which resulted in a strong interaction with his abilities to translate theory into practical understanding with concrete tools, so that no one felt left only with airy theories of change.

Copenhagen Police, HR Partner Section See all references

Why you should book Henrik Dresbøll for your next event

  • An entertaining and inspiring presentation about behavior, habits, changes, and the brain.
  • Insight into the research behind our behavior – and why it’s so difficult to change habits.
  • Plenty of concrete suggestions for creating changes and building new habits in the organization.
Non-binding request for Henrik Dresbøll

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About Henrik

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Keynote

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References

Request fees and availability
Henrik Dresbøll is one of Denmark's leading authors and keynote speakers when it comes to changing behavior, building new habits, and creating organizational change. Henrik masters the rare art of combining deep professional substance with captivating personal narratives. Experience a motivational, inspiring, and, not least, fun evening in the realm of behavior with Henrik.

Why you should book Henrik Dresbøll for your next event

  • An entertaining and inspiring presentation about behavior, habits, changes, and the brain.
  • Insight into the research behind our behavior – and why it’s so difficult to change habits.
  • Plenty of concrete suggestions for creating changes and building new habits in the organization.

Henrik is a sought-after keynote speaker who inspires, motivates, engages, and empowers participants, giving them both the desire and the tools to translate ideas, theories, and inspiration into their own practices and everyday lives.

He was a co-founder of one of the first behavior design agencies in Denmark, thus being involved from the outset in working strategically with behavior, habit disruption, and behavior change campaigns. Henrik holds a Master of Arts degree in cognitive semiotics and has been working with communication, learning, and behavior change for over 15 years. His focus is on how, based on the human factor, we can shape and promote desired behavior – one micro-action at a time.

In 2020, he published the book “Make It Happen,” which is about behavior leadership, featuring a proven systematic method for creating change in organizations. Henrik is also a co-editor of James Clear’s international bestseller “Atomic Habits,” which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide – and he hosts the podcast “Make It Happen.” Henrik has also written the book “Fiasko,” where he has interviewed fourteen human researchers about failure and creativity.

Book a keynote with Henrik Dresbøll and gain insight into human behavior.

See keynotes with Henrik Dresbøll
Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

Intelligent failures and change.

Experience a unique and entertaining lecture with Henrik Dresbøll, guiding you through intelligent failures and their transformative power. This lecture offers a human approach and research-based insights into how failures can be crucial for positive change, both in life and in the organization.

The lecture focuses on the concept of “intelligent failures” and guides you on how to position your organization to commit failures intelligently to achieve success. The background of the lecture is deeply rooted in research on psychological safety and behavior.

When what you want to avoid actually happens, what do you do? Henrik shares his realization from an uncomfortable experience. On the day when the worst-case scenario occurred, and he faced the world-renowned professor in failures, mistakes, and psychological safety, Amy Edmondson, he realized that in this failure lay an important message about how both individuals and organizations can learn from their mistakes to succeed in life and work. The uncomfortable experience, along with the understanding of failures and the language surrounding them, he has gathered for this lecture on how to achieve a healthy failure culture.

When you fail and make a mistake, your body automatically reacts, and you are filled with unpleasant feelings. Here, knowledge and tools are not enough. Training, culture, and an understanding of the context are needed. Based on behavioral research, including Amy Edmondson and James Clear, the purpose of the lecture is to equip you to establish a healthy culture around handling failures.

Henrik shares insight into finding humor and community in the inevitable failures, which can strengthen the organization’s culture of knowledge sharing and create psychological safety. A good start is to find humor in what everyone wants to avoid – namely, failures.

The lecture provides you with:

  • Entertaining insight into intelligent failures and their path to success
  • A different understanding of psychological safety and its role in the organization
  • Insight into why failures never become comfortable due to our human nature
  • A common language for handling discomfort and mistakes, as well as methods for identifying different types of failures
  • Community and humor around the inevitable Henrik hosts the “Make It Happen” podcast on behavior leadership, where he interviewed Amy Edmondson in connection with developing the foundation for this lecture, which you can listen to.
Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

The difficult first step

Why is it so difficult to take the first step in a change – and how can we get better at it? A fascinating insight into the behavior behind changes, and why it doesn’t always go as planned.

On average, we take 84 million steps in our lives. Many are taken for us, and others we take relatively unconsciously – like when an impulsive kiss leads to children, marriage, and a golden wedding anniversary.

But the first step is worth dwelling on.

It’s a difficult step, partly because it takes us out of our thoughts and into the realm of action. And because the first step implies a direction – and thus an ending. A step opens a door and simultaneously closes others.

So how can we become wiser and better at taking that first difficult step?

Behavior designer and author Henrik Dresbøll helps you with that in this lecture. The lecture is based on Henrik’s book of the same name, which is a conversational book with 200 strategies for taking the first difficult step, based on conversations with the most talented, funniest, craziest, and most effective people from the Danish research world, as well as culture and business. The only thing they have in common is their special ability to make things happen.

Prepare for a thought-provoking lecture that includes concrete strategies for taking the first step, tools to go from intention to action, and plenty of entertaining examples.

The lecture provides you with a range of concrete strategies for taking the first step, as well as insights into how we often get in the way of our own changes. Henrik helps to map out the answer to what your first step should be – all through a humorous and educational exploration of humanity’s most important first steps – such as landing on the moon or developing the COVID vaccine.

Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

Change

This is how you create lasting and impactful changes in the organization – gain insight into how the human factor often hinders both large and small changes.

Up to 85% of all change processes fail. There can be many reasons for this. But a problem often overlooked is that those developing the change process are based on an idea of the rational human being.

But humans are far from always rational – neither in our thinking, decision-making processes, nor actions. We say one thing and do something else. And we stay on the couch even though we know we should get up and go for a run. Why is that?

With this lecture, Henrik takes you on a fun, different, and enlightening journey through a wide range of human factors and human errors that stand in the way of changes. Whether it’s a new strategy, a new product, or a new merger process.

You will be equipped not to see human errors as mistakes but as a fundamental condition in all processes, and you will delve into the core of behavioral research, so you become better at making decisions and creating meaningful changes in the organization.

You gain insight into how effective change processes are structured – and the keys to making your change succeed, as well as plenty of inspiration and knowledge about how the brain works, so you can go from intention to action – one micro-action at a time. The lecture is filled with plenty of funny stories, cases, and checklists that are easy to use, so you can shape the behavior necessary for you to succeed in your change process.

Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

Behavior

Nudging, habits, and behavior: Gain insight into the brain and human behavior – so you can create better daily routines, good habits, and more efficiency.

How can insight into the brain and human behavior be used in relation to sick leave, improved work routines, effective change processes, and changing small everyday habits? You will get the answer in this lecture, where Henrik Dresbøll takes you into the fascinating world of behavior, habits, routines, unconscious patterns, and automatic decisions.

The lecture focuses on how our limited psychology and biology often lead us astray, making us tired, fail, and motivated by our natural tendency to take shortcuts. How do you design behavior to lead to the desired action? What methods can you use? And what are the pitfalls?

With the lecture, you get an easy and concrete approach to working with changing behavior in everyday life, without using sticks, carrots, or raised fingers. It’s about going from thought to action – and about achieving greater success with change processes and shifting habits.

Henrik’s lecture takes you on an entertaining and rewarding journey into the fascinating world of the brain and behavior, and likewise, you gain insight into which factors promote or hinder decisions and actions – as well as concrete methods for making it easier to make better decisions. The lecture is a motivating and energetic boost, so you go from thoughts and strategies to concrete actions – and succeed with your behavior changes.

Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

Habits

Everyday small time thieves: Understand the psychology of habit and create a workday with more efficiency, better flow, and much greater joy.

Do you actually know your own workday? Do you know when you are most effective, or what causes you to procrastinate? Join lecturer and behavior designer Henrik Dresbøll on a journey into your own daily workflows and learn how to get more out of your workday.

Through the lecture, you will receive methods to become better at completing tasks, change bad habits, and identify what hinders your work joy. Concentration and effective work time are both limited resources. And poorly utilized time, distractions, and weakened concentration are huge problems in most workplaces. Tasks become harder, we accomplish less, solve tasks worse – and have a lesser sense of success.

In this lecture, you will get the tools to see and identify the small time thieves that lead to decreased work joy, less efficiency, and in the worst case, less free time. Based on behavioral and habit psychology, you will receive help to identify your worst triggers and bad habits. When you remove the small time thieves of everyday life, you get more time, energy, and vigor – both at work and at home.

The lecture provides a clear understanding of the psychology of habit, how habits work and are formed, and it also offers tools and inspiration for working with habits – both on a personal and professional level. Get a fun and engaging experience that gives you energy and courage to break the power of habit and create a workday with more vigor, better time, and much greater joy.

Keynote by speaker Henrik Dresbøll

The art of selling

Understanding the psychology and craftsmanship of sales – and learning the secret behind being a great salesperson.

We all sell. Whether you’re selling a smart coffee machine or convincing your partner to get a new washing machine. But how can you get better at it? What techniques can you use? And how do you translate knowledge of human behavior and psychology into becoming a better salesperson?

Henrik Dresbøll takes you on a journey into human psychology and the art of sales, teaching you how to persuade – and sell – to your audience. The lecture is fun, engaging, and designed to both inspire and motivate to view sales in a new way – and change the way you sell. In short, you’ll get a thorough introduction to the art of selling with plenty of concrete tools and hands-on techniques.

Key Points:

  • Everyone is a salesperson: And when we work on our attitude and self-perception, it results in effectiveness.
  • Sales is a technique and can be trained: You can see sales as something other than a problem. It’s not just a duty that drains your energy, but an activity that empowers you.
  • See sales as assistance: You’re a guide, helping the customer solve a problem.

References

It was a massive amount of knowledge, experience, and engagement that took the stage at our central theme day for the work environment organization. With good examples, a twinkle in the eye, and above all, the courage to soberly provoke the classical mindset of both employees and leaders, Henrik Dresbøll created a space for deep inspiration and reflection, which resulted in a strong interaction with his abilities to translate theory into practical understanding with concrete tools, so that no one felt left only with airy theories of change.

Copenhagen Police, HR Partner Section

On April 24, 2020, we premiered our 'Innovation Friday' event held as a webinar with Henrik Dresbøll's inspiring lecture on new habits. Online, we had up to 185 of our colleagues, primarily from Grundfos Denmark, Serbia, France, and China. Later, even more requested access to the recording of the webinar. Thus, the outcome of the session and the interest from engineers from our various departments were high. In his 1-hour live webinar, Henrik set the stage and invited us all to participate actively throughout his presentation. He met his audience at eye level, despite the global spectrum of participants, and his topic hit the mark and provided material for further discussions for our current times of virtual coffee machine meetings. Henrik has our warmest recommendations in terms of bringing us new insights, enthusiasm, and delivering a message in an engaging manner.

Grundfos

Great lecture from Henrik, very motivating, good energy, and a good mix of practical insights and theory. The presentation was very well received by the meeting participants.

Stine Sander

Postnord A/S

Henrik is professionally top-notch. He is lively and energetic in his presentation and connects with his audience. He has an infectious humor and uses examples that everyone can relate to. This naturally creates a desire to listen and participate. We had our work environment organization and all leaders gathered for a presentation from Henrik about behavior. Feedback from the participants has all been super positive.

Rikke Rasmussen

Billund Lufthavn A/S

We had Henrik Dresbøll visit us for an exciting lecture on 'Change Management'. The lecture itself was delivered with inspiring anecdotes and examples that were easy for the participants to relate to and convert into their own context. Henrik demonstrated an outstanding ability to passionately convey his messages and points in good accordance with the expectations we had agreed upon in advance. Overall, a fitting presentation that is relevant in countless organizations aiming to focus on change.

Peter Wrang

IBM
Non-binding request for Henrik Dresbøll

Send a simple request. You’ll get a quick reply with fees and availability

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Henrik Dresbøll
Henrik Dresbøll

5 out of 5 stars

It was a massive amount of knowledge, experience, and engagement that took the stage at our central theme day for the work environment organization. With good examples, a twinkle in the eye, and above all, the courage to soberly provoke the classical mindset of both employees and leaders, Henrik Dresbøll created a space for deep inspiration and reflection, which resulted in a strong interaction with his abilities to translate theory into practical understanding with concrete tools, so that no one felt left only with airy theories of change.

Copenhagen Police, HR Partner Section See all references

Keynote topics with Henrik Dresbøll