Unlock the Power of Belonging in Your Workplace
USA
Smiley Poswolsky is an internationally renowned keynote speaker, workplace belonging expert, and bestselling author.
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When companies want to increase workplace belonging, human connection, and team engagement, they call ADAM “SMILEY” POSWOLSKY. Smiley is an internationally renowned keynote speaker, workplace belonging expert, and bestselling author of three books that have been translated into multiple languages, including most recently, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness.
Smiley shares industry-shaping insights and practical tools to attract and retain top talent across generations, create a culture of belonging, and engage hybrid teams, at world-class organizations like Apple, Google, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, and the U.S. Navy. Smiley’s TED talk has been viewed 2 million times, and he has delivered 600 keynotes in front of 250,000 people in 25 countries. Smiley’s work has been featured in 100 media outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the Wall St. Journal, Fast Company, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the World Economic Forum.
See keynotes with Smiley PoswolskyIn 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:
In a lonely, nonstop, overwhelmed workplace; as time spent face-to-face has been replaced with wall-to-wall Zoom meetings, 24/7 Slack messages, and the rapid rise of AI and ChatGPT; workplace connection has withered. 43% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their coworkers, 38% don’t trust their coworkers, and 22% don’t evenhave 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 $4000per employee and $406 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.
In this timely, inspiring, and highly actionable presentation, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky will share how we can attract and retain top talent, reignite human connection, and increase team engagement, by creating a culture of belonging for our employees—and our customers and clients. Smiley will share actionable and easy-to-implement tools for fostering team engagement, psychological safety, and supporting our teams with the common experiences of disconnection, burnout, and anxiety about the impact of AI and ChatGPT. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to reimagine a collaborative, inclusive, people-first culture, and become an industry leader in the future of work.
KEY AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:
As the war for talent grows more competitive and the labor market tightens, five 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.
In the wake of the pandemic, early talent may prefer flexible hybrid work policies, but 80% of Gen-Z and Millennials are also looking to connect in-person with senior leadership and their managers. Top talent knows what they are missing when it comes to opportunities for in-person mentorship, shadowing, training, and personal growth. Smiley will breakthrough common stereotypes about Gen-Z and Millennial talent; discuss the surprising similarities between what Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X, and Baby Boomers want in the workplace, and share case studies for increasing employee engagement across generations in challenging times. Smiley will share proven strategies how we can attract and retain top talent of all ages, increase hybrid team engagement, and create more belonging, by building human connection and community inside the 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:
In the wake of the pandemic, the vast majority employees prefer hybrid work and say they would a leave a job that doesn’t offer a hybrid policy. However, too much of the conversation on hybrid 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? Smiley argues that hybrid isn’t where we work, it’s how we connect in the future of work. All too often employees are being dragged into the office at 8am on a Monday morning, only to find that the rest of their team (and their manager!) decided to work from home. Or, they come into the office and find everyone on their team on Zoom calls all day long, with noise-cancelling headphones on, leaving them to wonder,“Why did I just sit in traffic for 45 minutes?!”
In this timely and highly actionable presentation, Smiley will help you shift from a hybrid work policy to a hybrid work purpose, designed to foster human connection and engagement in-person at the office, virtually on Zoom, Teams and Slack, and everywhere in between. Smiley will address key questions like: How do we make hybridmeetings more inclusive? How do we avoid proximity bias and make sure that everyone has an opportunity to grow and develop, regardless of how often they are in the office? 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? Smiley will help your team create a hybrid culture action plan, designed to make the hybrid 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 connected and collaborative hybrid culture that puts your people first.
KEY AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:
We are lonelier than ever. Half of Americans are lonely, and half of employees do not feel connected to their teams. Friendship is at its lowest level in 30 years. Meanwhile, the research is clear: employees who have a best friend at work are 7 times more engaged in their jobs. In the wake of the pandemic, it’s more clear than ever that our friendships are vital to our health and happiness. But why can it feel so difficult to keep those bonds alive especially at work?
In his recent book, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, workplace belonging keynote speaker Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky proposes a new solution for the mounting pressures of modern life: focus on your friendships. Smiley will share how leaders and managerscan increase human connection and create more belonging, ignite high-performing teams, and increase well-being, by building supportive communities inside and outside of the workplace. Smiley will share practical habits on how to create meaningful connections, deepen personal and professional relationships, foster team psychological safety, develop a care mindset, and be a Minister for Loneliness at workand in your community. In this inspiring and timely talk, incorporating interactive and playful connection exercises, Smiley reminds us that nurturing old and new friendships is a ritual, a necessity, and one of the most worthwhile things we can do in adult life.
KEY AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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