Dr. Verna Cornelia Price Speaking Topics

• Leadership Development, Team Performance & Workplace Culture

  Personal Power in the Workplace: Are You an Adder, Subtracter, Divider, or Multiplier?

  Everyone in your organization has power, not just the people with titles. What matters is how they use it. In this signature keynote, Dr. Verna introduces her Power of People framework and the Four Types of Powerful People Matrix: Adders, Subtracters, Dividers, and Multipliers. Through humor, storytelling, and interactive self-reflection, audiences discover their own power style. They also learn to recognize the patterns shaping their teams and see how everyday choices either build a culture or drain it.

  Leaders and teams leave with a shared language for talking about influence and behavior, and a practical plan for developing more Multipliers: people who make everyone around them better.

  Attendee Results:

  Identify your personal power style using the Four Types of Powerful People Matrix. Understand why personal power, not position, drives collaboration, innovation, and performance. Recognize Adder, Subtracter, Divider, and Multiplier behaviors in yourself and your team. Gain a common language that makes conversations about behavior and culture easier and less personal. Leave with concrete strategies to move from adding value to multiplying it.

• Workplace Culture, Conflict Resolution & Employee Engagement

  Dealing with Subtracters on Your Team

  One negative person can quietly drain a team's energy, confidence, and productivity, and most leaders were never taught what to do about it. Drawing on her book The Silent Cry: Dealing With Subtracters in Work and Life, Dr. Verna gives leaders and teams a practical roadmap for recognizing and addressing negativity at work.

  This isn't a session about blaming "difficult people." Dr. Verna helps audiences understand why people subtract, how Subtracter behavior spreads, and how to protect team morale without damaging relationships. She also invites everyone to reflect honestly on the moments when they themselves become the Subtracter, and on how to choose differently.

  Attendee Results:

  Recognize the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of Subtracter behavior on a team. Understand the real cost of negativity to morale, retention, and productivity. Learn practical strategies for addressing Subtracters directly and respectfully. Protect your own energy and personal power in challenging working relationships. Build team norms that reward adding and multiplying, not subtracting.

• Change Management, Resilience & Burnout Prevention

  Leading Through Change: How to Thrive, Not Just Survive

  Restructuring, new technology, shifting expectations, and constant pressure to do more with less: change is no longer an event, it's the environment. Change also quietly wears down people's passion, which leads to disengagement and burnout.

  In this energizing session, Dr. Verna shows leaders and teams how to use their personal power as an anchor during uncertainty. Audiences learn how to stay grounded when things feel out of control, keep their passion alive, and inspire the people around them to move forward instead of resisting. Leaders leave equipped to guide their teams through change with clarity, confidence, and care.

  Attendee Results:

  Understand how change affects motivation, trust, and team dynamics. Recognize the early warning signs of burnout in yourself and your team. Use personal power to stay focused and effective during uncertainty. Learn practical strategies to sustain passion and energy through long periods of change. Inspire others to embrace change rather than resist it.

• Courageous Leadership, Women's Leadership & Self-Advocacy

  Stand UP – Step UP – Speak UP

  Too many talented people wait for permission to lead. They hold back ideas, avoid difficult conversations, and let others define their value. In this bold, motivating keynote, Dr. Verna challenges audiences to stop waiting and start leading from wherever they are.

  Drawing on decades of mentoring leaders from the university classroom to the executive suite, Dr. Verna helps audiences find the courage to advocate for themselves, speak truth with confidence, and drive meaningful change in their organizations. This talk is especially powerful for women's leadership events, employee resource groups, emerging-leader programs, and education audiences.

  Attendee Results:

  Identify the fears and habits that keep you from fully using your voice. Build the confidence to advocate for yourself, your ideas, and your team. Learn how to speak up effectively in difficult or high-stakes conversations. Step into leadership opportunities without waiting for a title or permission. Commit to one bold action that creates positive change in your organization.

• Ignite the Fire in You: Turning Passion into Purpose

  Many capable, hardworking people are going through the motions. They're productive but uninspired, busy but disconnected from why their work matters. In this high-energy, joyful keynote, Dr. Verna helps audiences reconnect with the passion that brought them into their work and turn it into lasting purpose.

  With her trademark humor and ability to read a room, Dr. Verna guides participants to reflect on where they are, envision where they want to go, and identify the people who can help them get there. Audiences leave re-energized, with a personal roadmap for sustaining motivation long after the event ends.

  Attendee Results:

  Reconnect with your passion and clarify the purpose behind your work. Understand what drains motivation and how to protect your energy. Identify the Multipliers in your life and build a network that fuels your growth. Create a personal roadmap for turning passion into purposeful action. Leave inspired, re-energized, and ready to bring your best self to work and life.

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