Guy Smith

Guy Smith has a passion for helping people and organizations discover and unleash their possibility. In 2006, he co-founded The Smith Factor, a company dedicated to helping leaders and businesses reinvent themselves from the inside out -- not just making incremental improvements but achieving powerful, sustainable, breakthrough results. Focusing on such business issues as leadership, customer service, diversity, employee satisfaction, merger & acquisitions culture integrations, and linking employees to business strategy, Guy brings years of experience to his keynote speeches, programs and workshops delivered around the world. With experience in a variety of industries including hospitality, lodging, healthcare, technology, entertainment, retail, and automotive, he has consulted with and delivered programs to a variety of international companies and cultures.

Formerly with Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Guy was the head of leadership and training for the 2,880-room resort and convention center that has 4,000 employees. Focusing on leader and frontline development linking employees to business strategy, he led a team that created and implemented a resort-wide customer service initiative resulting in a 21% increase in customer satisfaction in just eight months. Guy also led the company's entrée into Diversity with an awareness program... the beginning steps to creating a culture that embraces differences.

Prior to Gaylord Opryland, Guy was with Methodist Health System in Dallas as their Vice President of Organization Effectiveness supporting two hospitals, four family health centers, and 3,500 employees. Focusing on linking leaders and employees to business strategy, aligning the culture to processes, systems, leadership and employee messages, Guy was instrumental in helping the company achieve the Dallas Business Journal's Best Place to Work distinction two years in a row.

Prior to Methodist Healthcare System, Guy worked for Texas Instruments in Dallas as a performance coach focused on shaping solutions, designing, developing and implementing customized training and cultural interventions in the areas of leadership, diversity, development, quality teams and creativity. He also oversaw the company's enculturation process introducing the organization's values and critical success factors that encourage innovative thinking and lessens time-to-contribution for new hires by 29%.

Guy also worked 18 years with The Walt Disney Company in Florida primarily at Disney University and Disney Institute. Responsible for directing a 40-person team of consultants and facilitators while overseeing the operation of 30 training programs, he achieved an overall guest satisfaction rating of 4.75 on a 5-point scale and surpassed his $16 million dollar revenue goal by 7%. He was also responsible for identifying business solutions for organizations consistently surpassing his sales goal by as much as 40%. Guy also created and implemented the solution to leaders in Corporate America, Europe, Japan, and South Africa. While at Disney he also trained and integrated numerous EPCOT Center World Showcase employees from such countries as China, France, Morocco, Italy, Mexico, Norway, and United Kingdom.

Guy began his career at The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind as a Vocational Counselor for the hearing-impaired and continues to use his sign language communication skills today. He is graduate of Flagler College in St Augustine Florida and holds two B.S. degrees -- one in Education and another in Psychology.

Guy is known for his dynamic and unique presentation style and is a certified practitioner of Crucial Conversations, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Design Dimensions International, and HeartMath, an approach to managing your physiology to direct behavior effectively in stressful situations. He is a member of CHART (Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers) and ASTD (American Society for Training and Development).

The Power of Reinvention