Dr. Karen Hills Pruden shares practical insights on workplace culture, leadership before title, and creating space for diverse perspectives.
Dr. Karen Hills Pruden, founder of Sister Leaders and CEO of Pruden Global Business Solutions Consulting (PGBSC), is an award-winning global leadership strategist, executive advisor, international speaker. With more than 30 years of leadership experience across six industries, she helps organizations develop influential leaders, strengthen organizational culture, and drive sustainable business performance. As the creator of the Elite Influence Leadership™, Amplify Your Value™, Learn, Practice, Teach (LPT™), and Professional Equity™ frameworks, Dr. Pruden equips executives and entrepreneurs to increase their visibility, communicate measurable value, and lead with strategic influence. She serves as a senior higher education administrator in Virginia and is the founder of Sister Leaders, a global leadership community advancing women in executive leadership. A sought-after keynote speaker, Dr. Pruden has presented throughout the United States, South Africa, Greece, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Her mission is to develop leaders who create lasting organizational impact while building influential, purpose-driven legacies.
Drawing from more than 30 years of leadership experience, Dr. Pruden shares her perspectives on building healthy workplace cultures, developing leadership before a formal title is given, and creating opportunities for diverse perspectives to be heard and valued.
What is one practical thing leaders can do to create a more supportive and healthy work environment?
“One of the most practical things leaders can do to create a healthier and more supportive work environment is to make meaningful, one-on-one conversations a leadership discipline—not an occasional event. Too often, leaders assume they understand how their teams are doing based on performance metrics alone. But culture is revealed through behaviors, relationships, and conversations. I encourage leaders to schedule regular individual check-ins that go beyond project updates. Ask questions like, "What's helping you succeed?" "What's getting in your way?" and "How can I better support your growth?" Listening is only the first step. The real trust is built when leaders act on what they hear. When employees see that their feedback leads to meaningful change, engagement increases, collaboration improves, and psychological safety grows. Throughout my career in executive leadership, consulting, and leadership development, I've found that healthy workplace cultures are not created by policy.”
What helps individuals grow into leadership roles, even before they have a formal leadership title?
“Leadership begins long before someone receives a title. It begins when they choose to take ownership, create value, and positively influence others. Throughout my career across multiple industries, I've learned that organizations don't promote people simply because they perform well—they promote individuals who consistently demonstrate leadership behaviors before they're asked to lead. I encourage professionals to focus on three things: visibility, value, and voice—the foundation of my Elite Influence Leadership™ framework. Increase your visibility by volunteering for strategic initiatives and solving problems that matter. Demonstrate your value by communicating the measurable impact of your work, not just the tasks you complete. Strengthen your voice by sharing thoughtful ideas, asking insightful questions, and contributing solutions with confidence and professionalism. Leadership is not about managing people; it's about influencing outcomes.”
How can leaders better recognize and use the different experiences and perspectives people bring to their work?
“The most effective leaders recognize that diversity of experience is only an organizational advantage if people are given meaningful opportunities to contribute. Inclusion is not about having different perspectives in the room—it's about ensuring those perspectives influence decisions. Throughout my career leading across higher education, government, nonprofit, and corporate environments, I've learned that every individual brings unique experiences, skills, and insights that can strengthen an organization. The leader's responsibility is to intentionally uncover and leverage those strengths rather than relying on the same voices or familiar perspectives. One practical way to do this is by creating structured opportunities for every team member to contribute ideas, solve problems, and lead initiatives. During meetings, ask for input from those who haven't spoken. Invite employees from different departments or career stages to participate on cross-functional projects.”
To begin, Dr. Pruden emphasizes that leaders should build relationships through regular one-on-one conversations, listen to employees, understand what helps or hinders them, and act on their feedback. This perspective aligns with leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, which views leadership as fundamentally relationship-based. Rather than focusing only on a leader’s traits or behaviors, the theory examines the quality of the relationship developed between a leader and each individual follower. Higher-quality relationships are characterized by greater trust, respect, and mutual obligation. Graen and Uhl-Bien’s (1995) review describes LMX as a relationship-based approach to leadership and explains how these leader-follower relationships develop.
Next, Dr. Pruden pointed out that people can demonstrate leadership by taking ownership, creating value, solving problems, sharing ideas, and positively influencing others before receiving a formal title. This perspective aligns with research on proactive personality and proactive behavior. Bateman and Crant (1993) introduced the proactive personality construct to explain individuals’ tendencies to actively influence and change their environments rather than simply respond to circumstances. Their research found that proactive personality was associated with achievement-oriented behaviors and peer nominations of transformational leadership.
Finally, Dr. Pruden emphasized that having different perspectives represented is not enough; leaders must create opportunities for people to be heard, valued, and involved in decision-making. This aligns with optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT), which addresses individuals’ needs for both belonging and uniqueness. Drawing on ODT, Shore et al. (2011) developed an inclusion framework in which employees experience inclusion when they feel a sense of belonging while their unique qualities are recognized and valued. Randel et al. (2018) further incorporated these principles into an inclusive leadership framework, emphasizing leaders’ roles in supporting belongingness and valuing employees’ unique contributions.
Together, these theories and frameworks reinforce Dr. Pruden’s insights on effective leadership. Strong leaders build meaningful relationships, take initiative and create value regardless of title, and foster environments where different perspectives are heard and valued. By putting these principles into practice, leaders can strengthen individuals, teams, and organizations.
Bateman, T. S., & Crant, J. M. (1993). The proactive component of organizational behavior: A measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030140202 View Bateman, T. S., & Crant, J. M.'s The proactive component of organizational behavior
Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level, multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90036-5 View Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M.'s Relationship-based approach to leadership
Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U. (2018). Inclusive leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2017.07.002. View Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U.'s Inclusive leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness
Shore, L. M., Randel, A. E., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., Holcombe Ehrhart, K., & Singh, G. (2011). Inclusion and diversity in work groups: A review and model for future research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1262–1289. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310385943 View Shore, L. M., Randel, A. E., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., Holcombe Ehrhart, K., & Singh, G.'s Inclusion and diversity in work groups
