Michelle Smeby
International author, speaker, trainer, consultant
About the author
With over 25 years of experience leading business and technology transformations across more than 70 countries on 6 continents, Michelle Smeby is a powerful voice in change management, leadership, and transformation. As an international author, trainer, public speaker, and consultant, she is known for her ability to overcome resistance, align people, and deliver meaningful, lasting results.
Michelle has worked across highly regulated industries including banking, health insurance, and finance, as well as global brands in retail and manufacturing. Her expertise lies in streamlining operations, creating sustainable organizational practices, and helping leaders navigate complexity with clarity and confidence.
As the founder of wHolistic Change, Michelle is on a mission to teach others how to lead successful change. She equips leaders and teams with the skills to influence, adapt, and create real impact, ensuring change is not just implemented, but sustained.
Through her global work and speaking, Michelle empowers individuals to embrace change as an opportunity, not a challenge, building cultures that are agile, resilient, and future-focused.
Public speaking topics
- Change Management
- Change Fatigue
- Leadership
- Overcoming Resistance to Change
Favorite The Tenacious Leader stories & quotes
- I was originally wrong about my superpower, what makes the biggest difference in my performance. Once I learned what my superpower actually is, I started to recognize the superpowers in the people around me. This helped me become a better leader, because I was leading from a place of strength
- While working for a major health insurance company, the Chief Technology Officer asked me to lead an effort that had failed for ten years. When I become the decommissioner, I leveraged all of my Tenacious Leadership skills to succeed where others had failed before
Favorite The Tenacious Leader chapters to discuss
- You Are a Superhero. Let’s Discover Your Superpower So You Can Use It for Greatness
- Win-lose in Business Creates Individual Dragons, Fiercely Protecting Their Private Hoards. Be the Win-win-win Hero Who Unites the Kingdom to Share the Wealth
- A Leader Lacking Emotional Intelligence is Like a Lost Camping Guide Who Hasn’t Realized That Everyone Has Gone Home
- We’re All in the Change Boat Together—Some People Are Facing the Wrong Way, Some Refuse to Wear Lifejackets, and Others Thought We Were Going to the Movies
- Be a Multigenerational Charmer—Lead Your Team from Those Who Remember the First Television to Those Who’ve Never Known a World Without Smartphones
"Transformation only happens when people recognize the value and purposely decide to act. In order to convince people to change their behavior, you need to master the 7 change agent skills and to understand the pitfalls you will encounter if you and your team lack those skills."
Book excerpt
Employees look to you for setting the vision, creating the organizational culture, building opportunities for growth and development, and supporting them through the change curve. To attract and retain the best talent, you must know how to unlock your people’s superpowers. You need to understand your organization’s culture and its impact on whether people speak up or silently keep their great ideas to themselves. You also need to understand how to lead people from different generations with different experiences and motivations to achieve the changes you want.
I know some of these techniques will make you uncomfortable, because it’s scary to step out of our comfort zone and try new things. The reward of achieving your future state vision along with better employee engagement will make the risk worthwhile. You owe it to your team to read this book because nobody else can make change happen but you.
Change is hard. Convincing others to change is even harder. You can do this! Prepare to test your perseverance, resilience, and willpower to continue through being vulnerable while you master these new skills. As we go, you will become adept at handling the ever present resistance to change.
Welcome to the journey of becoming a tenacious leader!
