Smiley Poswolsky

Smiley Poswolsky helps organizations build belonging, trust, and human connection to create stronger cultures and engaged teams.

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Smiley was the keynote speaker for Circa’s Diversity Symposium on Building Belonging in the Workplace. It was a fabulous event. We loved Smiley’s authenticity, evidenced-based data, vulnerability and energy.

Cathy Hill, Vice President Marketing & Product Management

Circa

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Non-binding request for Smiley Poswolsky

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Why you should book Smiley Poswolsky for your next event

Learn practical strategies to strengthen belonging, trust, and human connection across teams in a rapidly changing workplace.
Discover how to attract, engage, and retain top talent while building a culture where people feel valued and motivated.
Gain actionable tools to lead through uncertainty, improve collaboration, and create high-performing teams at every level.

Non-binding request for Smiley Poswolsky

Workplace Belonging Expert, Bestselling Author & Keynote Speaker

When organizations want to strengthen culture, increase engagement, and create meaningful human connection, they turn to Smiley Poswolsky. As a workplace belonging expert, bestselling author, and internationally recognized keynote speaker, Smiley helps leaders and teams build workplaces where people feel connected, valued, and motivated to perform at their best. Drawing on experience from more than 700 keynotes delivered across 25 countries, Smiley shares practical strategies for leading through uncertainty, fostering trust, and creating cultures that attract and retain top talent. His engaging presentations combine research, real-world insights, and actionable takeaways that inspire lasting change across organizations of every size.

Book Smiley Poswolsky for Your Event

Smiley Poswolsky is one of the most sought-after voices on workplace belonging, human connection, and culture transformation. In an era defined by rapid change, digital disruption, and the rise of AI, organizations face growing challenges around employee engagement, trust, collaboration, and retention. Smiley helps leaders address these challenges by creating workplaces where people feel a genuine sense of belonging.

Known for his energetic delivery and practical approach, Smiley equips audiences with actionable tools that can be implemented immediately. His keynotes inspire organizations to strengthen relationships, improve communication, and create cultures where people thrive both personally and professionally.

With more than 700 keynote presentations delivered to over 500,000 people in 25 countries, Smiley has become a trusted advisor to organizations seeking to build stronger teams and more connected workplaces.

Workplace Belonging in the Age of AI

As technology continues to reshape the way people work, human connection has become one of the most valuable assets within any organization. Smiley's work focuses on helping leaders create environments where employees feel seen, heard, and appreciated despite increasing digitalization and workplace complexity.

His presentations explore how organizations can:

Build trust across teams and departments
Strengthen employee engagement and motivation
Foster meaningful workplace relationships
Improve collaboration in hybrid and remote environments
Create cultures that support innovation and performance
Lead effectively through periods of uncertainty and change
Attract and retain talent across multiple generations

Rather than focusing solely on theory, Smiley delivers practical frameworks and real-world examples that help organizations translate these ideas into everyday leadership and team practices.

Trusted by Global Organizations

Smiley has worked with a wide range of world-class organizations across industries, helping leaders and employees build cultures rooted in connection and belonging.

His clients include globally recognized organizations such as Apple, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Mayo Clinic, the Indiana Pacers, and the U.S. Navy. These organizations invite Smiley to speak because his insights address some of the most pressing workplace challenges facing leaders today.

Whether speaking to executive teams, managers, frontline employees, or large conference audiences, Smiley tailors his message to the specific needs of each organization while maintaining a clear focus on strengthening culture and improving the employee experience.

His ability to connect with audiences across industries and generations has made him a popular keynote speaker for conferences, leadership events, annual meetings, employee engagement initiatives, and culture transformation programs.

Bestselling Author and Thought Leader

In addition to his speaking work, Smiley is a bestselling author whose books have helped readers navigate career development, workplace relationships, and personal growth.

His publications include:

The Quarter-Life Breakthrough
Friendship in the Age of Loneliness
The Workplace Belonging Toolkit
His fourth bestselling title, which continues his work around connection, purpose, and belonging

Through his writing, Smiley explores the importance of meaningful relationships and community in both professional and personal life. His work resonates with leaders and employees alike because it addresses universal human needs while providing practical guidance for today's workplace realities.

His thought leadership has earned widespread recognition and has been featured by more than 100 media outlets. His insights have appeared in respected publications and platforms including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and the World Economic Forum.

A Speaker Who Inspires Action

What makes Smiley Poswolsky stand out is his ability to combine compelling storytelling with evidence-based insights and practical strategies. Audiences leave his presentations feeling inspired, energized, and equipped with concrete actions they can apply immediately.

His TED Talk has been viewed more than 2 million times, reflecting the global relevance of his message about connection, belonging, and the future of work. Smiley's engaging style creates an interactive experience that encourages reflection while motivating people to take action.

Organizations consistently value his ability to spark meaningful conversations around culture, engagement, and leadership. Rather than delivering abstract concepts, he helps audiences understand how small changes in behavior can create significant improvements in trust, collaboration, and performance.

For organizations seeking to strengthen workplace culture, improve employee engagement, and build lasting human connection in a rapidly evolving world, Smiley Poswolsky delivers a keynote experience that is both inspiring and immediately applicable. His presentations provide leaders and teams with the tools they need to create workplaces where people feel connected, supported, and empowered to do their best work.

Customer Reviews

Cathy Hill, Vice President Marketing & Product Management Circa

Smiley is entertaining, high energy, engaging, motivational, thought-provoking, behavior changing and an expert on millennial workplace issues. His presentation was delivered with humor and authenticity. Smiley spoke at two HR Leadership events in the SF Bay Area and had stellar reviews.

Gina Ayllon, CAE, Executive Director Northern California SHRM

I first saw Smiley speak at Culture Summit, and knew he was the perfect person to speak to the rest of MailChimp about having a career with purpose. The office was buzzing all afternoon after Smiley's Coffee Hour talk. I was thrilled that we brought Smiley in to speak to our employees.

Ashley Wilson, Employee Engagement Specialist MailChimp

Smiley delivered an engaging virtual talk on Public Speaking on live stream! With his practical, inspiring presentation, we would welcome Smiley back to Google for future sessions.

Bianca Fernandez Google

Smiley was a great speaker! He was energetic, motivational, and was able to engage with a room of over 100 people of all ages and levels of experience. As a company that is scaling fast, it was great to have Smiley help us all think a little bit more about our individual sense of purpose and how we can most effectively collaborate across generational groups.

Brett Chereskin, Chief of Staff to the Chief Revenue Officer Affirm

Smiley’s dynamic presentation and enthusiasm brought energy to our company's annual meeting! His message centered around purposeful culture, the theme of our meeting. Smiley provided specific examples and tangible takeaways which our team really appreciated. We saw great value in bringing Smiley in and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him.

Rhonda Ries, President OsbornBarr

After hearing Smiley’s presentation at another industry event, we invited him to join our annual RedBrick Health Client Summit. Both our clients and attending team members appreciated his fresh perspective and his energy—it was one of their favorite sessions of the day, and he was a dream to work with throughout the event.

Manda Bertrand, Marketing & Communications RedBrick Health

Adam's seminar on Engaging Millennials was a standout hit at PBWC. Dozens of attendees said Adam left them inspired, with tangible takeways to empower their employees.

Stephanie Heishman, Program Director Professional BusinessWoman of California

Adam's presentation about millennials in the workplace was incredibly popular and thought provoking for our customers, and created a lot of buzz here in Stockholm.

Hala G. Asfar, Project Manager IDG Stockholm

Smiley was an outstanding opening keynote speaker for us. Smiley’s powerful and timely message around The Power of Human Connection and how to foster belonging in our associations and meetings, whether at the office or on Zoom, was a perfect fit. Not only were our event organizers talking about Smiley’s presentation throughout the Summit, but Smiley spent the rest of the day and evening connecting with our partners and sponsors. He stuck around for networking activities at the pool, attended a group dinner, and even got on stage during karaoke. In short, he showed up fully for PCMA and was a delight to work with.

Meredith Rollins, Executive Director PCMA Foundation and Chief Community Officer

Keynotes

Keynote by Smiley Poswolsky:

The Power of Human Connection

How Leaders Can Increase Retention, Drive Human Performance, Build High-Value Relationships, and Create Belonging at Work.

In this timely, interactive, and highly actionable presentation, Smiley makes the case that the future of work is human connection. In the wake of the pandemic, 43% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their coworkers, 38% don’t trust their coworkers, and 22% don’t even have one friend at work. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs—with disengagement at a record high. Employee disconnection leads to lower productivity and lower rates of retention. Meanwhile, creating high levels of workplace belonging is good for your people and good for your business. Employees who experience high levels of belonging at work have greater resilience, well-being, personal and professional growth. They experience a 56%increase in job performance and 170% increase in employer promotor score, and better-connected employees save large organizations up to $52 million a year.

What is workplace belonging and what are the key factors for creating more belonging for yourself, your team, and within your organization? Smiley will share an exercise for fostering team engagement and psychological safety, and practical tools and actionable habits to foster more human connection in every stage of the employee experience; from recruitment and hiring, to onboarding and training, mentorship and coachingprograms, learning and development opportunities, team building experiences and connection exercises, and even weekly 1-on-1s and check-ins. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to create a culture of human connection for your people, your customers, and your company.

Key Audience Takeaways:

Learn 5 ways to increase human connection at work.

Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.

How to deepen trust and build high-value relationships with coworkers, customers, and clients.

A concrete example of how one company built higher levels of human connection among their employees.

A practical action-based toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work.

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Keynote by Smiley Poswolsky:

Belonging in the Future of Work

Creating Human Connection and Community in the Era of Hybrid, AI, and Overwhelm.

In a lonely, nonstop, overwhelmed workplace; as time spent face- to-face has been replaced with wall-to-wall Zoom meetings, 24/7 Teams messages, and the rapid rise of AI and ChatGPT; workplace connection has withered. 40% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their coworkers, 40% don’t trust their coworkers, and 20% don’t even have one friend at work. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs—with disengagement at a record high. Lonely employees are less productive and cost U.S. employers $4000 per employee and $150 billion a year. Meanwhile, high levels of belonging can save a company $52 million a year and provide employees with greater resilience, well- being, personal and professional growth.

As the war for skilled talent grows more competitive and employees spend less time face-to-face than ever before, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky makes the case that the future of work is human connection. In this timely, inspiring, data-driven, and highly actionable presentation, Smiley will share how we can attract and retain top talent across generations, reignite human connection, and increase team engagement, by creating a culture of belonging for ourselves, our employees, and our clients. Smiley will share actionable tools for fostering employee engagement, building psychological safety, and supporting our teams with the challenges of the new world of work including generational differences, a hybrid workforce, burnout, and the impact of AI and automation. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to reimagine a collaborative, engaged, people-first culture, and become an industry leader in the future of work.

Key Audience Takeaways:

Learn 5 ways to increase workplace belonging and workplace connection.

Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.

Discover the key to becoming a future- ready organization and making the workplace work for all teams; whether in-person, hybrid, or remote.

Actionable (and no-cost!) team habits and rituals to best support your teams with the challenges of burnout, disconnection, low morale, and overwhelm.

A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to drive culture transformation and build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work.

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Keynote by Smiley Poswolsky:

Engaging the Multigenerational Workforce

How to Be a Future-Ready Organization and Attract, Retain, and Engage Top Talent Across Generations.

In the age of AI and automation, as the war for skilled talent grows more competitive and the labor market tightens, six generations are meeting together in an ever-evolving hybrid workplace for the first time in history. To move past intergenerational tension and common misunderstandings, leaders must empower talent across generations by creating a culture of trust and belonging for all. In this timely, entertaining, and highly actionable presentation, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky will help you attract, retain, and engage the talent of the future by leading with purpose, flexibility, well- being, and human connection.

Smiley will breakthrough common stereotypes about next gen talent; discuss the surprising similarities between what Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers want in the workplace, and share case studies for attracting top talent and increasing employee engagement and communication across generations in the future of work. Smiley will share proven strategies how we can attract and retain top talent of all ages, increase team engagement, and create more belonging, by building human connection and community in a hybrid workplace. Smiley offers practical tools and simple, actionable habits to foster multigenerational collaboration and engagement, which will help you become an industry leader in the future of work.

Key Audience Takeaways:

Learn 5 keys to engaging the multigenerational workforce and communicating across generations.

Understand what Gen Z wants in the workplace and the similarities between what all generations want in the workplace.

A simple exercise any leader or manager can use to foster collaboration and trust across generations.

Insights on the future of work, recruitment and retention strategies that appeal to both Gen Z and Gen X, tools to engage hybrid teams, creating a culture of learning and personal growth, and prioritizing well-being and mental health in the era of burnout and overwhelm.

Actionable (and no-cost!) team habits and rituals every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected and engaged culture of belonging at work.

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Keynote by Smiley Poswolsky:

Workplace Culture for the Future

Building High-Performing Teams to Embrace Change, Transform Culture and Drive Human-Centered Growth in the Future of Work.

New workplace culture research suggests that employees don’t just leave poor managers, they leave poor leaders: they leave leaders that don’t build a people-first culture of change, transformation, and belonging for all. Too much of the conversation on workplace culture focuses on what days employees are working in the office and what days they are working from home. Workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky believes that more important question is why; why are people coming together in the first place? Hybrid isn’t just where we work, it’s how we connect in the future of work. How do we build a culture of transformation, wherever and however people are working? How do we embrace change, drive human- centered growth, and create lasting impact in the era of AI, automation, and a rapidly evolving world of work?

In this timely and highly actionable presentation, Smiley will help you shift from a culture fit strategy to a culture transformation strategy, designed to welcome all perspectives, attract and retain top talent, test innovative ideas, invest in social and emotional well-being, experiment with learning & development programs, and evolve your culture. Smiley will address key questions like: How do we create high levels of psychological safety, trust, and belonging for all our employees, across different time zones, geographic locations, and levels of seniority? How do we foster a culture of human connection, collaboration and team engagement wherever people are working from? How do we take care of our people, and prioritize employee well-being in the age of AI and overwhelm?

Smiley will help you make the workplace a place where every employee can thrive and do their best work. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy- to-use toolkit to reimagine a collaborative culture that puts your people first, attracts next gen talent, drives human-centered growth, and is your competitive advantage of the future.

Key Audience Takeaways:

Learn 5 ways to build a transformational workplace culture.

Understand how to foster higher levels of psychological safety for in-person, hybrid, and remote teams, and how to build trust in every environment.

A concrete example of how one company’s culture transformation was used to create more engagement, deeper alignment, and higher retention among their employees.

Why Thrive Interviews are important for engaging high-performing teams, and how to have a Thrive Interview with your team.

Simple habits and actions for leaders and managers to make onboardings, trainings, meetings and 1-on-1’s more connected, enjoyable, and effective.

A practical toolkit to build a more connected, collaborative, transformative culture that puts people first, improves employee well-being, and drives profitable growth and purposeful impact.

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Keynote by Smiley Poswolsky:

Well-Being at Work

Building a Care Mindset to Ignite High- Performing Teams, Build High-Value Relationships, Empower Well-Being, and Thrive in the Future of Work.

We are lonelier, more disengaged, and more disconnected than ever before. 40% employees do not feel connected to their teams and 40% do not trust their coworkers. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs—as burnout, stress, anxiety, and overwhelm have skyrocketed. In the future of work, investing in our people’s social and emotional well-being is the best investment in performance we can make. This means that we must help our teams develop a Care Mindset: which means believing one’s well-being at work matters, and that personal well-being can be improved by putting more energy into caring for others.

In this timely, interactive, and highly actionable presentation, Smiley will share how leaders, managers, and employees can increase human connection and create more belonging, ignite high-performing teams, build resilience, and overcome burnout, by building supportive communities inside the workplace. Smiley will share practical habits on how to develop a Care Mindset (both self-care and community-care), create meaningful connections, deepen professional and client relationships, foster team psychological safety, and empower well-being and mental health at work.

In this inspiring and timely talk, incorporating interactive connection exercises and a personal well-being action plan, Smiley shows us that nurturing relationships at work is a ritual, a competitive advantage, and one of the most worthwhile things we can do to drive personal and professional growth.

Key Audience Takeaways:

Learn 3 ways to build a Care Mindset at work.

Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.

Actionable habits to build more meaningful connections and more powerful, high-value relationships with coworkers, customers and clients.

Why Thrive Interviews are important for engaging high-performing teams, and how to have a Thrive Interview with your team.

A concrete example of how one company practices boundaries and a Care Mindset to increase employee well-being.

A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engagedculture of well-being and belonging at work.

Request a quote