Meet Renée Smith
Founder and Bold Strategist for Making Work More Human
Creator of the Love-Centered Leadership Framework™ and
A Human Workplace EX (Employee Experience) Insights™
Hello! I’m Renée Smith, a leadership strategist, researcher, and speaker who helps leaders and organizations build love-centered workplaces where people and performance thrive together.
I work with organizations that are ready to move beyond fear-based cultures and create healthier, happier, more human ways of working.
The Problem I Help Leaders and Teams Solve
Fear shows up at work in many forms:
Low trust and psychological safety
Disengagement and burnout
Silos, conflict, and high turnover
Values that sound good, but aren’t actually lived.
This fear harms people and results. Most leaders don’t want this.
But fear-based habits and systems can be deeply embedded.
I help leaders and organizations see those patterns clearly — and change them — for good!
My Approach
My work is grounded in:
My primary research on love and fear in the workplace
Deep experience across sectors
Practical tools leaders can actually use
I help leaders
Build love-centered leadership capability
Strengthen trust, belonging, and accountability
Improve employee engagement and retention
Design cultures that support humanity - instead of undermining it.
Love, in my work, is not sentiment.
It is a strategic leadership discipline and an uplifting set of team practices.
Who I Serve
I work with human-centered leaders and their teams to help them deepen their leadership skills and strengthen their team practices to create an exceptional employee experience.
I have worked in:
Professional Services Organizations
Technology
Government
Higher Education
Healthcare
Social Services
K-12 Education
Non-profit mission-driven organizations
With a thoughtfully curated mix of strategies for each client, I guide organizations to make work more human and effective - for everyone.
Why Love at Work Matters
Work shapes how people experience themselves, one another, and the world.
When fear dominates, people shrink and withhold.
When love leads, people rise and commit.
Teams and organizations can be places where people feel:
Seen and respected
Acceptance and belonging
Challenged to learn and supported to grow
Able to contribute meaningfully
When this happens, trust becomes the bedrock.
People stay. Cultures change. Performance and customer satisfaction soar.
Love makes work more successful — by being more human!
What I Do
At the heart of my work is a simple truth: Love is greater than fear. And when leaders, teams, and entire organizations shift from fear to Love, embracing love as a guiding principle and daily practice, both humans and organizational outcomes flourish. Here’s what I do to help clients make this shift.
Love-Centered Leadership Development
Helping you learn cutting-edge leadership insights and practical actions to deepen and mature your human-centered leadership with Love at the core. I teach you what Love-Centered Leadership is, why it is so crucial for success and satisfaction, how team members experience love, what it means to practice love, and how to embed love in systems.
Employee Experience Insights and Plans
You're working hard to be a compassionate, human-centered leader, but you may wonder, “Is it working? How is my team really experiencing our workplace?” Using my EX Insights process and tools, I listen to your team to discover what’s strong and positive and what can be improved. Then we co-create a confidence-boosting plan to make your employee experience even stronger.
Keynote Talks for Your Event or Meeting
Fear has run workplaces for generations, breeding burnout, disconnection, and harm. But in my talks, I make the business case for Love as the most practical way to build healthy, thriving organizations that are good for people and get results. My warm, bold message has been called “Life changing!” and “The most memorable message that will stick with me for life.”
Love in Action Projects Bring Change
Each year, I work with select organizations and teams that are facing unique challenges. I help them overcome barriers and achieve results by choosing Love over fear. No two projects are the same; each require their own strategy and tactics. But the move away from harm and division and toward healing and connection is universal.
What clients are saying…
“My team members still talk about you and the workshop, which I sense made quite an impact on them. You helped us validate what we sensed was the right thing to do in the workplace regarding being kind to your fellow human.”
— Karid Shawwa, Lean Construction Manager
Consolidated Construction Company
Beirut, Lebanon
“I am so grateful to [Renee] for making such a profound impact on me, my students, and our evolving perspective on how to build a more human workplace.”
— David Berry, M.Ed., VP People & Culture
MUNICIPAL
San Diego, CA, USA
“Her professionalism is matched by her knowledge and experience, and this creates a sense of reassurance with her audience. Renee’s impact on a particularly skeptical cohort of medical professionals was impressive and we’ve booked her to return this year. Highly recommend.”
— Management Consultant & Trainer
London, UK
“The Love I advocate for isn’t weak and permissive; it is strong, wise, and durable. It unleashes possibilities. My purpose is to help you center your work in that Love every day.”
— Renée Smith
Strategist, Researcher, Speaker, and Founder of A Human Workplace