Speaker on Leadership, Resilience & Purpose

Over 25 Years of Real-World Leadership Experience

About Greg Smith

Greg Smith believes people matter most.

For more than 25 years, Greg has helped organizations across the country build stronger leaders, healthier workplace cultures, and more connected teams. A retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, business consultant, speaker, woodworker, husband, and father, Greg is known for bringing authenticity, compassion, and practical insight to every audience he serves.

But Greg’s story is also one of unexpected hardship and resilience.

During the apex of his career, Greg was struck down with cancer. The illness led to a devastating fall that tore the ligaments in both of his legs, leaving him unable to walk. Facing almost impossible odds, he endured a long and painful recovery while learning how to walk again and rebuild both his health and his identity.

That experience changed the direction of his life.

Rather than allowing adversity to define him, Greg transformed his struggles into a deeper understanding of perseverance, purpose, gratitude, and the importance of human connection. His journey is captured in his latest book, Fish on Fridays: A Memoir of Bad Breaks, Hard Lessons and Unexpected Strength.

Today, Greg speaks to organizations, associations, healthcare groups, and leadership teams about resilience, change, workplace culture, and finding purpose through adversity. His unique blend of professional expertise and personal experience allows him to connect with audiences on a deeply human level. Greg was named one of the nation’s Top Ten Rising Stars in Human Resource Management by Human Resource Executive magazine, and he was selected for inclusion in Harvard University’s Profiles in Business and Management. Yet the accomplishment he values most is helping people discover that their greatest setbacks can become the foundation for their greatest growth.

What makes Greg’s message resonate is not just his experience — it is his honesty. He speaks as someone who has faced uncertainty, loss, fear, and rebuilding firsthand. Whether working with executives, healthcare professionals, veterans, educators, or community organizations, Greg’s mission is simple: help people move forward with greater strength, perspective, and purpose.

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Certifications

• • • Certified Professional Behavior Analyst (CPBA)
    • Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA)
    • Certified TriMetrixHD Analyst

Popular Conference Keynote Speaker Programs

• • • Fish on Fridays: Rebuilding Purpose When Life Changes Course
    • Proven Ways to Attract, Retain and Motivate Your Workforce
    • Gladiator Leadership: What Leaders Do To Accelerate Performance and Generate Bottom-Line Results
    • Fast, Focused and Friendly: The Essentials of Great Customer Service
    • Click here for speaker program outlines

Publications

• • • Boosting Employee Engagement: 50 Ways to Motivate and Unleash Employee Performance
    • The Navigator Newsletter, Publisher
    • The New Leader: Bringing Creativity and Innovation to the Workplace
    • TNT for Teams: Dynamic Ways to Reward, Energize and Motivate Your Teams
    • Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Transforming Your Workforce from High-Turnover to High-Retention
    • Icebreakers and Teambuilding Exercises
    • Supervisor’s Passport to Success: A Quick and Easy Guide for Managing People
    • 401 Proven Ways to Retain Your Best Employees
    • Fired Up! Leading Your Organization to Achieve Exceptional Results
    • Talent Relationship Management: Competing Through Talent, Contributing Author

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Featured In

• • • USA Today
    • HR Magazine
    • Business Week
    • Christian Science Monitor
    • President & CEO
    • Boston Globe
    • Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
    • Investor’s Business Daily
    • Doors and Hardware
    • Atlanta Journal & Constitution
    • Atlanta Business Chronicle
    • More….

Honors & Awards

• • • Member of Georgia Toastmaster’s Hall of Fame
    • Board of Examiners, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
    • Legion of Merit and the Order of Military Medical Merit, U.S. Army Surgeon General
    • Harvard University’s International Directory of Management Scholars
    • Who’s Who of Professional Speaking – Toastmasters
    • Nation’s Top-Ten “Rising Stars” in human resource management, Human Resource Executive magazine
    • National Eagle Scout Association

Testimonials

“Your message was not only insightful and thought provoking, it was also delightfully entertaining…You were super!”

Rebecca J. Froboese Executive Director The Alamo Federal Executive Board

“Four hours of my time in your seminar has resulted in a 51% improvement of our revenues during the first quarter of the year. We should reach $450-500 million easily. Our teams work smart as well as hard and each member is having a lot more fun working together. You are the ‘Deal of the Century.’”

Dave Dibble Director of Marketing Sunshine Companies

“I attended Greg’s leadership training seminar and it was engaging, insightful, educational and even FUN. Greg is a talented management consultant that knows how to get results!”

Cheryl Earls Director, Quality Resource Management Kaiser Permanente

“Greg’s insights into determining issues, problems and opportunities inside any company are among the best I have seen. He can literally walk into a company or organization, and just by observing people work and communicate and asking a number of key questions, he can … understand why the company is not advancing the progress on its own and what it needs to do to move forward. If you want problems identified and solutions provided and implemented, Greg is one of the best I have seen. You will go ‘right’ by working with Greg.”

Rolando Marchis President Odyssey Transformational Strategies

Additional testimonials