Dr Gayle Smerdon is a Learning and Organisational Development specialist, speaker and author who helps people make work less exhausting and more meaningful.

For more than two decades, she has worked across universities, government and not-for-profits, helping leaders and teams navigate change, build capability, and create healthy cultures.

With a PhD in Sociology and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, she studies how organisations function (and malfunction), exploring the interplay of systems, culture and behaviour. Her favourite question is simple: “Is this important and are we helping?”

Gayle is the author of The Bad Day Playbook and the founder of the “Make Work Less Sh*t” philosophy - a practical, funny and deeply human approach to improving work without pretending everything is fine.

She believes Bad Days may be inevitable, but staying stuck in them isn’t.

Gayle lives in Melbourne and is the contented slave to her feline overlord, Mr Spooks.