FREE RESOURCE: 7 Steps to Lead With Love

Transform Your Workplace with Loving Leadership

Renée shows you how Love creates engaged, high-performing teams where customers are truly satisfied!

Love? Yes, Love!

Renée Smith boldly advocates for bringing more love and less fear into the workplace. A keynote speaker, behavioral scientist, and leadership expert, Renée combines decades of organizational experience, original research, and insights from neuroscience to inspire leaders to build more human, effective, and high-performing workplaces. Through powerful storytelling and evidence-based strategies, she challenges outdated leadership norms and provides practical tools that help leaders foster belonging, trust, and engagement. Whether speaking to executives, teams, or entire organizations, Renée’s message is clear: love is not only great for people—it’s great for business.

Renée Smith is the 2025 People’s Choice Award Winner for the National Speaker’s Association NW Last Story Standing Competition!

Storytelling is at the heart of Renée’s research and her keynote talks!

Learn about how to bring her powerful storytelling and message to your group.

The Future of Work is Love, Not Fear

"What if the workplace wasn’t built on fear, but on love? I’m Renée Smith, and I believe the most effective leaders and teams are the ones who create conditions of love—where people feel valued, safe, and free to bring their full creative selves to work. Through research, storytelling, and practical strategies, I help organizations move beyond outdated leadership models to build workplaces where both people and performance thrive. It’s time to put love at the center of work!"

a human workplace, global movement, speaker, award winning executive, training, prolific author, founder and ceo, human resources, forward thinking, progressive, future, heart-centered, improved workplace, keynote speaker, more human, global movement

 Proudly speaking to these groups and more:

“Engaging speaker!" "Wonderful session!" "Loved this so much! Renee is fantastic!" "Her presentation was very powerful!" "Wonderful information and very important."

“Engaging speaker!" "Wonderful session!" "Loved this so much! Renee is fantastic!" "Her presentation was very powerful!" "Wonderful information and very important."

"Renee was great and this was an awesome session!" "We need this in our office so badly." "One of my favorite sessions!" " I've already shared this inforomation with several people."

"Renee was great and this was an awesome session!" "We need this in our office so badly." "One of my favorite sessions!" " I've already shared this inforomation with several people."

“I enjoyed Renee's dynamic presentation!" "She has wonderful energy that engages people!" "Incredible session." "Amazing speaker and content."

“I enjoyed Renee's dynamic presentation!" "She has wonderful energy that engages people!" "Incredible session." "Amazing speaker and content."

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  • “I am so glad you visited us to remind us of how working in a more human way is a win all around.  Thank you.  My team members still talk about you and the workshop, which I sense made quite an impact on them.  You helped us validate what we sensed was the right thing to do in the workplace regarding being kind to your fellow human.”

    — Farid Shawwa, Lean Construction Manager, Consolidated Construction Company, Beirut, Lebanon
    commenting on Keynote Talk and Workshop at Lean Construction Conference in Doha, Qatar

  • “I was struck by the fact that your talk on love wasn’t just about making people feel good. You made the solid business case for love beyond a doubt. I truly appreciate that. It’s just what my team needed to hear.”

    - Leader, after virtual keynote, “Make Work More Human”

  • “We had some team members who immediately after you finished (the training) started working on strengthening their relationships, which is impactful to not only those team members but to the entire team. Thank you for helping our team value the importance of positivity within our interactions and creating a more caring environment.”

    - Heidi, Manager

  • "Through a powerful combination of evidence-based insights and deeply personal storytelling she earned our rapt attention, with many of the students citing her talk as a standout moment of the semester. I am so grateful to her for making such a profound impact on me, my students and our evolving perspective on how to build a more human workplace.”

    — David Berry, M.Ed., USA

    VP, People & Culture at MUNICIPAL

    Lecturer, California State University San Marcos College of Business Administration

  • “I want to thank you for your presentation during [our agency] Leadership Conference, I was motivated to look at my leadership style and make necessary changes to improve myself as a leader.”

    - Leader, State of Arizona

  • “Her professionalism is matched by her knowledge and experience, and this creates a sense of reassurance with her audience. Renée's impact on a particularly skeptical cohort of medical professionals was impressive and we've booked her to return this year. Highly recommended.”

    - Business Consultant, United Kingdom

Leading Global Voice on Loving Leadership

  • Founder & CEO of A Human Workplace and Co-Founder of the Center for a Loving Workplace

  • Former Director of Workplace Transformation in the Governor’s Office for the State of Washington

  • Behavioral scientist and organizational expert with over two decades of experience in leadership, culture change, and workplace transformation

  • Respected keynote speaker who has addressed audiences across industries—including manufacturing, education, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, IT, social services, military, construction, professional services, and more

  • Research-based insights on love in the workplace, backed by qualitative studies and neuroscience

  • Featured on global stages in eleven countries and media sharing a powerful case for why love is essential to leadership and work

  • Podcast host and thought leader, sharing strategies for building compassionate, high-performing teams

  • Award-winning speaker, leader, and scholar, winning…

    • The People’s Choice Award in the National Speaker Association NW’s Last Story Standing competition

    • The coveted Governor’s Leadership in Management Award for the State of Washington

    • The Ashton Scholar Award in the School of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University.

Are you ready for love to impact your team?

Image of a multi-racial work group of men and women around a table with laptops in an office listening to a woman weaging hijab.

More Essential Human Skills

Participants in Renée’s talks and programs report a 42-70% increase in qualities such as gratitude, kindness, care, awareness of self and of others, listening, managing biases, connecting behaviors, inclusion, trust, and resilient self-care.

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More Positive Team Actions

Participants in Renée’s talks and programs report a 34-56% increase in positive team behaviors such as recognition, cross-team connection, sharing ideas, listening, vulnerability, feedback, productive disagreements, forgiveness, and fun.

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More Customer Focus

Participants report a 33-60% improvement in customer-centric behaviors like increased awareness of customers as humans, seeking to understand customers’ needs, engagement, and commitment to meeting needs.

 These impacts lead to better business and human outcomes:

Greater productivity, problem-solving, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and retention AND better emotional, mental, and physical health for team members!

Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Gathering in Olympia

Gathering in Olympia

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

Olympia, Washington

Olympia, Washington

Washingont State Lean Conference

Washingont State Lean Conference

Lean Enterprise Institute Coaching Summit

Lean Enterprise Institute Coaching Summit

Renee Smile.jpg
Olympia, Washington

Olympia, Washington

Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

A Human Workplace Olympia

A Human Workplace Olympia

A Human Workplace Olympia closing

A Human Workplace Olympia closing

Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal

With Governor Jay Inslee

With Governor Jay Inslee

Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

iTec in Barcelona

iTec in Barcelona

iTec in Barcelona

iTec in Barcelona

Administrative Professionals for WA State

Administrative Professionals for WA State

A Human Workplace Olympia

A Human Workplace Olympia

Canadian Lean Summit, Toronto, Canada

Canadian Lean Summit, Toronto, Canada

Doha, Qatar

Doha, Qatar

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Lean Enterprise Institute

Lean Enterprise Institute

A Human Workplace Team

A Human Workplace Team

Renee Smith with Kimberly Davis, author of Brave Leadership, and Sesil Pir, author of Human-Centered Leadership

Renee Smith with Kimberly Davis, author of Brave Leadership, and Sesil Pir, author of Human-Centered Leadership

A Human Workplace Olympia

A Human Workplace Olympia