Melissa Smith

Are you ready to thrive? 

I am passionate about inspiring audiences and teams to pursue what matters through dynamic keynote addresses, comprehensive leadership training, team facilitations, and leadership coaching. 

Are you looking to build culture? Inspire your team? Provide practical resources to professionals? I speak on a wide array of leadership topics, but I love collaborating to identify specific topics that matter to your gatherings and that move your organization forward. Let’s talk and find something worth listening to.

Popular topics include:

-  Dare to Lead. Based on the extensive research of Dr. Brené Brown, the most significant finding is that courage is a collection of four skill sets that are teachable, measurable, and observable.

-  Leading with Confidence. Identify the barriers to confidence, including imposter syndrome, and take specific actions today that can help you develop real confidence and competence at work.

-  Lead through Communication. Learn why communication can be so challenging, embrace the value of radical candor and engaged feedback, and identify specific, practical tools to increase your communication IQ.

-  Psychology of Leadership. As individuals advance in their careers, they tend to receive less development in the very skills they need more of—how to lead effectively. Learn core psychology of leadership skill sets so you can competently and confidently lead yourself and others.

-  Leadership Style. You’re unique and your leadership style will be as well. Explore different leadership styles with a specific focus on meeting those you lead where they’re at in three important domains: leading to vision, accountability, and communication.

-  Stress is not the Problem. Are you stressed out? Unfortunately, the world we live in is geared toward stress and if we’re not careful, stress can be contagious at work. But what if stress isn’t the problem? Understand the science of stress and identify effective, practical coping skills that help you leverage stress for good.

Expertise Matters

Through extensive education, training, and real-world experience, I've come to discover and hone core themes that make humans tick.

In addition to founding and leading an organization of professionals working on the front lines of growth and development, I am a licensed psychologist and leadership coach and currently provide keynote addresses, organizational trainings, and leadership coaching to teams and audiences across the globe.

As a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, I am part of an elite group of organizational professionals able to bring the ground-breaking courage-building research of Dr. Brené Brown to leaders and organizations. This distinction is based on my unique expertise in both human potential and business foundations.

The science of people is my first passion and one that led me to a master’s degree in Counseling from Truman State University and a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Brigham Young University, which included an intensive Pre-Doctoral Internship at University of Michigan. My experience as an entrepreneur led me to the Executive MBA program at University of Utah. 

I am the host of the podcast Pursue What Matters, your weekly guide to identifying what it takes to thrive in love and work.

You can learn more about my educational background on my leadership website, https://drmelissasmith.com/about/

or at LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-h-smith-phd-mba/