Periop Leader Network is proud to announce that workplace culture and belonging expert and bestselling author Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky will deliver the opening keynote address at Periop Leader Week 2026, to be held October 4 to 7 at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, Ga.
Smiley Poswolsky
Smiley’s session, titled The future of work is human: Building belonging and connection in the age of AI, will take place from 8:00 to 9:00 am on Monday, Oct. 5.
Smiley’s focus is on driving culture transformation and increasing trust, belonging, human connection, and team engagement in the workplace. He has shared industry-shaping insights and practical tools to attract and retain top talent across generations, create a culture of belonging, and engage high-performing teams, in presentations to organizations like Apple, Google, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, Mayo Clinic, and the U.S. Navy. His TED talk has been viewed two million times, and to date he has delivered 700 keynotes in front of 500,000 people in 25 countries.
Smiley’s bestselling books include The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, and The Workplace Belonging Toolkit, and his work has been featured in 100 media outlets, including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and the World Economic Forum.
Here are the description and learning objectives for Smiley's keynote:
Perioperative leaders today are navigating a perfect storm: staffing shortages, burnout, multigenerational teams, economic pressure, and the rapid rise of AI. At the same time, face-to-face connection is being replaced by Zoom calls, Teams messages, and AI agents. In the process, many perioperative leaders are feeling isolated, overwhelmed and—to a certain extent—dehumanized.
Workplace culture and belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky is here to help lift perioperative leaders out of the growing personal and professional darkness that’s a major side effect of the current state of affairs. Smiley will make a compelling case that human connection is the most powerful competitive advantage available to perioperative leaders right now.
In his timely, actionable, and energizing keynote, he’ll share practical strategies that are relevant to these dynamic times for attracting and retaining top talent, bridging generational and cultural differences, leading teams through rapid change and anxiety-inducing uncertainty, and building a culture where people genuinely feel belonging and empowerment. Perioperative leaders will leave Smiley’s keynote presentation not only with buoyant energy that will put them in a positive mindset to derive maximum value from the entire Periop Leader Week program, but also with a concrete toolkit they can apply in their own workplace to strengthen teams, reignite engagement, and lead with sustainable confidence in an era of constant disruption and accelerating change.
Learning objectives:
- Learn five ways to build a culture of human connection, deepen trust, and build better relationships at work.
- Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of it on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.
- Learn what a Thrive Interview is and why it’s a great way to build connection on your team
Read our press release about Smiley’s upcoming appearance at Periop Leader Week here.
Register for Periop Leader Week here. We hope to see you there along with hundreds of your peers!
