Wellbeing isn’t a perk. It’s a leadership
Imperative.
Laura equips leaders to move beyond perks and programs—embedding wellbeing into the way they lead and sparking culture change that lasts.
Clients
“Laura’s work advanced our company culture by two years.”
Crockett Dale
CEO, Healthstat
Keynote Topics
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But what if the real issue isn't the people? What if it's the environment shaping them?
Culture is the water we swim in. And just as fish need healthy water to thrive, people flourish in environments rooted in trust, belonging, and genuine care.
Whether you're building a team, leading a company-wide change initiative, or just trying to get everyone to be healthier, the culture you create today will shape your organization’s ability to navigate tomorrow's uncertainty. The key is to focus on shaping the water—not the fish.
Drawing on her experience working with more than 500 organizations and over 50,000 leaders, Laura explains why we're more "creatures of culture" than creatures of habit, why the everyday experiences of employees matter far more than any wellness program ever could, and how everyone has a role to play in building an organization that is resilient, adaptable, and built to thrive.
Audiences Walk Away With:
See the Water. A new mental model — the water, not the fish — that reveals why culture, not individual behavior, is the foundation of resilient companies.
Study the Currents. Learn to recognize the everyday experiences that shape culture long before they become turnover, burnout, stalled growth or crisis.
Shape the Water. Apply the four pillars - Civility, Stability, Significance and Hope - to build a culture that supports innovation, resilience, and long-term success.
Start the Ripple. Leave with practical actions anyone can implement immediately—whether you're building a team, scaling your organization, or strengthening an established company.
Pass It On. Hear real-world stories demonstrating how culture can accelerate innovation, strengthen performance, and become a lasting competitive advantage—or quietly undermine even the best business strategy.
Why We’re Not Thriving—And How We Can
It’s the Water, Not the Fish
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They have more impact on employee wellbeing and mental health than doctors or therapists.
The most powerful lever in your organization isn’t strategy, technology, or benefits. It’s your managers.
Yet managers are too often left out of the conversation — expected to drive results without ever being equipped to shape the conditions their teams actually work in.
A pioneer in building manager-driven movements of wellbeing, engagement and performance, Laura Putnam makes the case that the manager isn't just part of the system. For their team, they are the system.
Through memorable stories, actionable leadership insights, and her simple Multiplier Method™ — Do, Speak, Create — Laura offers a practical framework for every manager so their team feels supported, connected, and equipped to do their best work.
Audiences Will Walk Away With:
Own the Effect. A new understanding of why the manager isn't just part of the system — for their team, they are the system.
Feel the Stakes. A visceral sense of what's at stake — not just for organizations, but for the people on every team and the families depending on them.
Master the Multiplier Method™. Three specific, immediately applicable practices — Do, Speak, Create — that turn any team leader into a force for wellbeing and performance.
Reframe the Role. Clarity on why wellbeing and mental health are not just up to HR, but are foundational to how every manager needs to lead.
Make the Case for Managers. A clear business case for why investing in managers is the highest-leverage decision an organization can make.
Why the Person in the Middle Changes Everything
The Manager Effect
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A healthier, happier workforce is good for people, good for the bottom line, and essential for building winning teams.
And yet, most workplace wellbeing efforts don’t work. Employees opt out, and even if they do opt in, they’re not necessarily any better off because of them. So, how did we get something so good so wrong? And how do we make it right?
Derived from Laura's bestselling book Workplace Wellness That Works, this keynote will show you how you can level up your company's performance, profitability, and sustainability by elevating the impact of your workplace wellbeing efforts.
What Audiences Walk Away With:
Make the Case for Wellbeing. A definitive understanding of how wellbeing tied directly to the metrics leaders already track — retention, profitability, safety, and productivity.
Define Why We Keep Getting It Wrong. An easy-to-understand breakdown on why most wellness programs fail — not for lack of effort, but because most solve for the individual instead of the system that shapes their behavior.
Make It Right. A proven framework for making workplace wellness actually work, from shifting into an agent-of-change mindset to designing everyday nudges and cues.
What the Best Organizations Do Differently
The Future of Work Is Wellbeing
Going Upstream
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It takes a willingness to go upstream, working together as a team to navigate and tackle root causes.
Today’s teams are absorbing more stress with fewer resources and are caught between rising demands and shrinking bandwidth. The cost isn't just personal. Disengaged, mentally exhausted teams are driving billions in lost productivity every year.
This keynote gives leaders three concrete calls to action: begin the conversation around mental health and break the outdated instinct to leave emotions at the door; reflect on the leadership style they default to under pressure, and how it shapes their team's wellbeing for better or worse; and focus on the daily touchpoints — the hundreds of small, everyday interactions that quietly determine whether people feel lifted up or pushed down.
While HR can build the programs, only the leader in the room can shape what happens in the moments in between.
Audiences Will Walk Away With:
Reframe Mental Health. Clarify why it is a leadership responsibility, not just an HR program.
Take Concrete Actions. Open the conversation around mental health, reflect on one’s own default leadership style under pressure, and pay attention to daily touchpoints.
Small Moments Have Big Impact. An understanding of the "hundreds of small interactions" that quietly shape whether a team feels lifted up or pushed down — and how to start shifting them.
What Every Team Can Do To Solve For Mental Health
For Meeting
Professionals
5 Reasons to
Book Laura
No one energizes a crowd and gets them interacting with one another like Laura.
1.
Laura goes the extra mile, tailoring her talks and collaborating with event organizers to meet the unique needs of every audience.
2.
Her insights are memorable, repeatable and actionable - empowering attendees long after the keynote ends.
3.
Audience gets a rethink on a topic that everyone is talking about (wellness).
4.
Laura makes friends everywhere she goes. Through relatable stories and approachable humor, she quickly connects with attendees.
5.
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