“The higher up you go in an organization, the greater a leader’s capacity for love must be. It’s on us as leaders to grow that capacity for love within ourselves, to cultivate that love on our teams, and to release the full potential of each team member.”
Meet CEO and Founder Renée Smith
The Full Human Being
To be fully human means being connected. To belong. To matter. People do incredible things when they can bring their whole selves to the workplace. They give their best. It’s what humans want most. To bring their gifts and have these gifts received. Renée is committed to helping organizations around the world become more human. She helps leaders and teams recognize that there’s no benefit to living and working in conditions that trigger fear responses. She teaches people and organizations how to deeply regard the humanity within themselves and others, how to work in harmony and be at ease in safe spaces, and how to seek the greatest good for all the people in the system.
How Renée Can Help You Transform Your Organization
How can organizations transform into more human workplaces? It starts at the top. Renée has helped leaders transform their outmoded work cultures and build more productive, thriving organizations. She coaches and collaborates with leaders all around the world, speaks at conferences and to organizations, and conducts workshops and trainings to inspire and guide change.
She served as Director of Workplace Transformation in the Governor’s Office for the State of Washington, a position created for her to reach state leaders and teams with her message and practices of loving leadership. In 2019 she spoke to more than 100 audiences telling them that the best results come when team members experience more love and less fear at work.
Renée has nearly two decades of experience providing organization development services to public, private, and non-profit organizations, always with a focus on people. Now as a professional speaker, coach, trainer, and host of Human Workplace Gatherings, Renée shares her insights on making work more human and loving. Connect with Renée to find out how she can help you build a more engaged and effective workplace where your people feel more valued, safe, and free to bring their full creative selves to the table.
Renée’s Story
Founder and CEO of A Human Workplace, Renée is a writer, speaker, researcher, teacher, and leader of the movement to make work more loving and human. As a young person she lost her way in life and later faced and overcame personal tragedy when her husband’s plane crashed. Life halted, and she was thrust into the unknown of holding her young family together, as her husband, who suffered a debilitating head injury, lost his ability to be a partner. After eight years caring for him, Renée reclaimed herself and found her voice and purpose in the world.
As an older adult, she completed her BA in Organizational Behavior at Seattle Pacific University then earned her MS in Organization Development from Pepperdine. Both degrees took an incredible amount of faith and courage, as did embarking on a new career and finally launching A Human Workplace.
Renée now meets with leaders around the world who are ready to decrease fear and increase love in their workplaces. She helps organizations large and small, in faraway places or near to her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives on the shores of the Puget Sound in the shadow of Mount Rainier. A mother of four and grandmother of nine (!) she enjoys drawing for pleasure, cooking new recipes, hosting friends and family at the beach, kayaking in the solitude, and exploring cities around the world.
Learn more about Renée’s professional education and experience on her LinkedIn profile.
Working with Leaders and Teams to Elevate Love and Stamp Out Fear
Human workplaces are places where people flourish. Renée has spent her career championing human-centered principles and practices, and now she is transforming work cultures across the globe into more thriving, human-centered organizations. Her secret to bringing out the best in people? More love, less fear.
That’s what her research and nearly twenty years of organization development experience reveal is the secret to bringing out the best in people. Thousands of people already have learned how to elevate love and stamp out fear in their lives, workplaces, and communities. Renée and her partners have hosted hundreds of A Human Workplace Gatherings—both in-person and in virtual spaces—that have helped people (re)discover human values and practice what it means to be human at work. Connect with Renée and her team to breathe new life into your workplace.
“Love is our mission, core value, and practice. When I face leadership challenges my commitment is to love. Love is my guide in those toughest moments. Love is my path; love is our goal. This love isn’t weak and permissive; it is strong and enduring. I bring you wisdom from what we know and have lived. My purpose is to help you center your work in love.”
Connect with Renée.
Let’s talk about transforming your workplace culture from fear to love.