ANDREA HOLLINGSWORTH

Global Compassion Expert | Award-Winning Author | Founder & CEO, Hollingsworth Consulting

Minneapolis, MN

ABOUT ANDREA HOLLINGSWORTH

Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth is one of today’s leading global experts on compassionate leadership. Since 2008, she has been speaking and writing about the science and spirituality of human emotions and relationships. Her articles have been published more than a dozen times in peer-reviewed journals, and she has taught at prestigious institutions like Princeton, Boston University, and Loyola University Chicago. 

Dr. Andrea had delivered talks to audiences at some of the top-ranked universities in the world—including Cambridge University in England and Heidelberg University in Germany. Her book, The Compassion Advantage: How Top Leaders Build More Humanizing Workplaces—has won multiple awards and topped numerous best-seller lists.

Dr. Andrea spends most of her time inspiring leaders and teams to use The Compassion Advantage™ to build supercharged organizations through cultures of care—especially in times of challenge and change. She lives in Maple Grove, Minnesota with her family, where she cheers hard at her son’s soccer games and relishes every opportunity to visit the north shore of Lake Superior.

SPEAKING TOPICS

Company Culture | Employee Engagement | Teamwork | Burnout | Resilience | Mental Health | Wellness | Self Help | Emotional Intelligence | Relationships

The Compassion Advantage

How to Lead with Heart, Supercharge Resilience, and Get Results that Matter.

In today’s dynamic world of work, supportive cultures of care have become integral to success. Without the right balance of compassion and accountability, leaders risk losing their best people.

In this impactful keynote, Dr. Andrea shares a powerful framework for navigating challenge and change with the highest levels of emotional intelligence, so we can help those we lead to the same.

The result? More effective leaders, happier employees, and more cohesive, connected, and collaborative teams.

This keynote is ideal for audiences who are:

• Struggling to navigate challenge & change

• Feeling disconnected from their work or team

• Seeking stronger relationships with people at work

• Achieving goals at the expense of themselves

• Working to supercharge how they collaborate

Your audience will leave with:

• An expanded capacity to self advocate while empowering others

• Tools to manage stress, combat overwhelm, and lead effectively

• Recommendations for how to say hard things with heart

• Practical strategies to lead in effective, emotionally intelligent ways

Radical Self-Compassion as a Leadership Superpower

Mistakes can feel like monumental setbacks. But what if our insecurities and flaws held the key to unlocking our true potential? In this empowering talk, Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth explores the transformative power of radical self-compassion in the workplace and beyond. By reframing our worst fears and foibles into opportunities to shine, she explores how we can find resilience and renewal in the face of life’s inevitable mishaps.

This keynote is ideal for audiences who are:

• Seeking to excel while maintaining their wellbeing

• Experiencing challenges, setbacks, or insecurities

• Aiming to boost their emotional resilience

• Intent on unlocking their full potential

• Looking to support and uplift others

Your audience will leave with:

• A deep understanding of the importance of self-compassion in work, life, and leadership

• Practical strategies for finding grit, grace, and resilience in the face of setbacks

• The ability to transform failures into opportunities for growth

Compassionate Agility

Balancing Care and Efficiency in Leadership

How can leaders maintain a high level of caring connection while dexterously guiding people through difficult, new, complex, unpopular, or otherwise stress-inducing circumstances? In this keynote geared toward audiences facing uncertainty and change, Dr. Andrea shares stories, science, and practical tools for practicing compassionate agility – defined as “the ability to prioritize empathic connection and support, while deftly and boldly navigating challenge and change.” Your audience will walk away enriched with practical wisdom, inspiring examples, and actionable strategies for doing and saying hard things in connected, genuine, and human ways.

This keynote is ideal for audiences who are:

• Facing significant change and/or challenge

• Desiring boosted emotional resilience, boundaries, and self-compassion

• Looking for ways to navigate decisions, changes, and initiatives with boldness, efficiency, confidence, and timeliness while at the same time making people feel seen, safe, included, and supported

Your audience will leave with:

• An expanded capacity to self-support and maintain inward boundaries while supporting and empowering others through difficulty

• Tools to manage stress, and stay grounded yet nimble amid uncertainty

• Fresh insights into the crucial roles of candor, clarity, and consistency in leadership with tips for how to practice these

• Excellent strategies for maintaining inward equanimity in the face of emotional struggle whether one’s own, another’s, or both

• Strategies for decision-making that’s both strategically inclusive and boldly decisive

TESTIMONIALS

“I hired Dr. Andrea to open our annual Las Vegas Employee Values Conference, and she was amazing. Her keynote was incredibly engaging and informative. And in terms of audience reception, it was a home run. I highly recommend Dr. Andrea to anyone looking for an unforgettable keynote speaker.” 

Robin McCartney , Organizational Training and Development, City of Las Vegas

“The test of a good keynote, for me, is whether I’m still using a line from it a week later. I’m still using two of Andrea’s.

She spoke at NASCIO Midyear 2026 to a room of state CIOs, CISOs, and Chief AI Officers, all of whom are navigating budgets that are getting tighter, expectations that are getting higher, and a workforce that is asking for more humanity, not less. Her topic, “Compassionate Agility,” landed because she didn’t pitch empathy as a virtue. She pitched it as a delivery tool.

That reframing is the one I keep using with my own teams. The other one, on channeling the inner critic into a tool that sharpens you rather than limits you, has shown up in roughly four conversations since I got home.

Two phrases I’m still using a week later. That’s my bar for a keynote, and Andrea cleared it without making it look like work.

Recommend her, without hesitation, for any executive audience navigating change.”

Christopher Montgomery, Tech Executive, CIO/CTO/CISO, Slalom

“Andrea’s engaging keynote on compassionate agility sparked an awesome dialogue amongst our executive leaders about how to balance care and efficiency in times of change. Her session combined intellectual expertise with relatable stories and implementable takeaways, leaving our team strengthened, inspired, and surer than ever that there’s ‘no tradeoff between care and progress.” 

Paula Niemann, Head of Talent, Global Portfolio Division, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

“Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth’s “Compassion Advantage” keynote address at the 2025 NACM annual conference was absolutely phenomenal! Her ability to seamlessly blend relatability, professionalism, expertise, and engaging storytelling made her presentation a highlight of the event. 

Dr. Andrea shared personal anecdotes and experiences that resonated with everyone in the audience, making us feel like we were all on the same journey together. Her professionalism was evident in every aspect of her presentation, from her well-researched content to her polished delivery. 

Her expertise in self-compassion and compassionate leadership was unparalleled, and she effortlessly conveyed complex concepts in a way that was easy to understand and apply. 

But what truly set Dr. Andrea apart was her ability to engage a large audience. She had a magnetic presence on stage that captivated everyone in the room, and her interactive approach made us all feel personally included in the experience. Cannot recommend her highly enough!” 

Kelly Hutton, President, National Association for Court Management

“I’ve been exposed to lots of “motivational” or “inspirational” speakers over the years, but Andrea’s presentation was unlike anything else I’ve seen. Thought-provoking, funny, and insightful are just a few of the ‘keywords’ that describe the excellent closing session!

Andrea’s relatable, human, and authentic style serves as the ‘cherry on top’, as the presentation flies by! You know the saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”

Tom Ward, Vice President, CyberRisk Collaborative

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