Keynotes & Workshops
Live or Virtual
Dina presents to executive audiences from Fortune 500 companies and successful start-ups to academic institutions like UC Berkeley. A seasoned executive coach and frequent HBR contributor, she speaks on leadership, effective communication, and how to achieve both professional success and well-being.
Known for her insightful and thought-provoking talks, attendees leave feeling inspired and eager to take new action.
Below are sample topics. You may download her speaker info sheet for more information. Please reach out to schedule a talk or to discuss a customized presentation.
"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
The Emotional Labor of Being a Leader - and How to Manage It
Leaders today are expected to attend to their teams' mental health and burnout (while managing their own), demonstrate bottomless sensitivity and compassion, and provide opportunities for flexibility and remote work - all while delivering results.
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This kind of emotional labor is taxing. Unmanaged, it puts leaders at an increased risk of burnout and health issues. In turn, organizations risk decreases in productivity and performance and high turnover. Weaving together the latest research and practical insights, Dina illuminates the emotional labor of being a leader and arms you with helpful strategies for reducing the toll it can take on you and your team.
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You will learn:
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What emotional labor is (and is not)
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Why it's critical to recognize it in your role
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How leaders typically perform emotional labor and its costs
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How to reduce the toll emotional labor can take on you and your team
Lead with Impact: The Art and Science of Effective Influence
Whether you need to sell a novel idea, launch a new initiative, develop more business, boost individual or team motivation, or lead change in your organization, successfully employing influence is the answer. Without the ability to influence others, it's harder to achieve the most important things in work and life.
In this thought-provoking talk, leadership expert and coach Dina Denham Smith explains the underlying psychology of influence and shares concrete strategies and an actionable framework to help you immediately increase your influence and positive impact.
You will learn:
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The key principles that underly effective influence and how to leverage them
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Five distinct influencing strategies and when you should use each one
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How to flex your influencing approach to achieve your objectives
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A simple process to increase your influence and impact
Bounce! How to Build Resilience in Yourself and Your Teams
Your ability to cope with adversity and bounce back even stronger is a key capacity for staying grounded and effective in our fast-faced and complex world. If you’re a senior leader, it’s especially critical given your outsize impact on organizational climate and direct influence on the resilience levels of your team members.
Based on the latest research, Dina Denham Smith - frequent Harvard Business Review contributor and seasoned executive coach - will inspire you to consider and invest in your and your team’s resilience and share evidence-based practices you can use to do so.
You will learn:
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What resilience is (and is not) and how it differs from grit
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Five science-based pillars of resilience and how to boost your own
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Why resilience is an essential leadership capacity
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How to cultivate greater resilience in your teams
How to Build a Powerful Network (and Stay True to Yourself)
We all know networking is essential for our professional success. But what are the best strategies for strengthening your professional network? And how, specifically, do you cultivate one while being genuine and true to yourself?
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In this engaging talk, executive coach and frequent HBR contributor Dina Denham Smith illuminates how. Leveraging key insights from psychology and network science, Dina explains how to overcome common barriers to networking, strategically develop a more effective professional network, and network in a way that feels authentic for you.
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You will learn how to:
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Overcome common obstacles to networking
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Build a powerful personal board of directors
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Harness untapped value in your existing network
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Shape your professional 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
Have other interests? Dina can develop a customized talk or workshop based on your needs and her experience.
"Dina! You were such an awesome speaker! Keep doing you!"
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-- PWC