Keynotes & Workshops

Live or Virtual

Business-Coaching-Services-Dina-D.-Smith

Dina speaks to executive audiences across Fortune 500 companies, high-growth start-ups, and top academic institutions like UC Berkeley. As an accomplished leader, executive coach, and author, she shares insights on leadership, impactful communication, and the art of balancing professional success with well-being.

Known for her insightful and thought-provoking talks, attendees leave feeling inspired and eager to take new action.

Below are Dina's keynote speeches. For more information, please download her speaker sheet or contact Dina to discuss your events and interests.

"We recently booked Dina to talk about resilience with a group of our portfolio CEOs. She offered a great mix of experience and empathy grounded in training and framed clearly the ways in which resilience can be built.

What's more, she connected instantly with the audience - even over Zoom, she created an environment where CEOs that didn't know each other felt comfortable jumping in and adding their own experiences to the conversation."

— M13

Topics

Emotionally Charged: Leading in an Era of Unprecedented Demands

The workplace has changed dramatically—and so have the emotional demands on leaders. Today’s leaders must build trust and inspire a distributed, diverse, and polarized workforce; safeguard their teams' mental health and burnout (while managing their own); champion AI without triggering fear; and show endless empathy—all while delivering results. Yet, most leaders have never been trained to navigate this level of emotional complexity.

It’s no surprise that stress and burnout among leaders have reached unprecedented highs. The hidden burden of emotional labor is real, and it’s taking a toll.

Based on her bestselling book, Emotionally Charged: How to Lead in the New World of Work, this engaging and practical talk equips leaders with science-backed insights and strategies for thriving in today’s emotionally charged workplace. If leadership feels more emotionally demanding than ever, this talk will show you why—and, more importantly, what to do about it.

What you'll gain:

A deeper understanding of the emotional labor of leadership
Strategies for handling the daily emotional load—without sacrificing performance or well-being
Tools to handle workplace triggers and emotionally charged events
Techniques to disrupt the stress spiral and reduce burnout

Mastering the Art and Science of Effective Influence

Influence isn't about authority—it's about your relationships, credibility, and approach. Are you using right strategies to get buy-in, drive action, and inspire change?

Whether you're introducing a bold new idea, driving change, closing deals, or rallying your team, your ability to influence others at work is the key to success. Without it, even the best strategies and ideas can fall flat.

Drawing from real-world leadership insights and cutting-edge research, Dina unpacks the psychology behind influence and equips you with a powerful, actionable framework to expand your impact.

What you'll gain:

The key principles that drive effective influence—and how to apply them
Five distinct influencing strategies and when to use each one
Techniques to adapt your approach to different audiences and objectives
A simple, repeatable process to increase your influence and impact

Strengthening Resilience in Yourself and Your Team

Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about growing stronger in the face of challenge and adversity. For senior leaders, it’s especially critical. Your ability to stay grounded in today's fast-paced, high-pressure world directly affects your performance and well-being—and in turn, shapes your team’s resilience and the broader organizational climate.

Drawing on the latest research, Dina will challenge you to rethink resilience—not as a fixed trait, but as a skill you can strengthen. You'll walk away with science-backed strategies to build resilience in yourself and your team, without adding more to your plate.

What you'll gain:

A clear understanding of what resilience really is
Research-based strategies to boost your resilience across five key pillars
Practical tools to cultivate greater resilience in your teams

Build a Powerful Network—Without Losing Yourself

We all know networking is essential for our professional success—but how do you do it in a way is both effective and feel authentic? How do you strengthen your professional network without feeling transactional or forced?

In this engaging talk, Dina draws on psychology and network science to demystify networking. She’ll show you how to overcome common barriers, strategically expand your network, and cultivate meaningful connections that align with who you are.

What you'll gain:

Practical strategies to overcome common obstacles to networking
A blueprint for building your powerful personal board of directors
Insights on unlocking the hidden value in your existing network
Tools to shape your network to achieve your professional goals

"Dina gave an engaging talk on ‘How to Strengthen Your Network' for the Women's Interest Network at ExxonMobil. She provided important, memorable, and actionable items that were applicable to all levels of her audience.

Dina’s talk was a great opportunity for the audience to learn important strategies to build and strengthen their networks."

— ExxonMobil