Smajo survived genocide in Bosnia as a child. He has spent the past two decades studying the conditions in which human beings learn, lead, and flourish under pressure, first as an architect, now as a researcher, lecturer and keynote speaker working with leaders and organisations. In 2023 he was awarded an OBE by King Charles for services to genocide and Holocaust education.
Three moments sit behind everything he now teaches.
Keynote Speaker.....
/LEADERSHIP / CHANGE / CULTURE / PURPOSE
“In that moment I lost all faith in humanity. I didn’t believe there was any good left in this world. How could there be, when we were being hunted like this? That moment became the foundation of everything I have spent my life trying to understand.”
It was January 1994. Smajo was eight years old, living under siege in Mostar, Bosnia. His family were starving. His father was in a concentration camp. Bombs were falling on the city every night. And then, in a single moment, everything he believed about the world collapsed.
“On the day she lost her sister, my mother chose who she was going to be. I have spent thirty years trying to understand what that takes and teaching it to others.”
When Smajo arrived in Newcastle at nine years old he couldn’t speak a word of English. He had nightmares every night. He thought every child in his class saw him as different, as other, as less than them. Then one afternoon his teacher, Mrs Webster, called the class together.
“They sang it so badly. But that was the first day I went home with a smile on my face. I felt like I belonged. I was home. That one act, by one teacher, taught me that this classroom had room for me. And that made everything else possible.”
On the 25th of January 1994, Smajo’s mother lost her sister in the siege of Mostar. She was starving. Her children were terrified. She hadn’t seen her husband in months. On that same day, the worst day of her life, she sat her children down.
She told them they could not live consumed by hate. That the best way to resist those destroying them was to refuse to become like them. She didn’t decide her values in that moment. She already knew them. The crisis didn’t create her response, it revealed it.
While Smajo had been having separate English lessons, she had taught thirty children a song in Bosnian just so one child would feel seen.
Four Keynotes
( 01 )
Moral and Courageous Leadership
Why your values only work if you set them before the crisis arrives
( 02 )
The Stories We Tell
( 03 )
How the narratives leaders create become the reality people live
Know Your Why
( 04 )
What a siege in Bosnia taught me about meaning, purpose, and the one thing that can never be taken from you
Narrative. Response. Belonging.
/LEADERSHIP AND VALUES
/BELONGING AND CULTURE
What genocide taught me about the stories, choices, and moments that define great leadership
/NARRATIVE AND CHANGE
/MEANING AND PURPOSE
Working with Smajo
Who Smajo speaks to?
Anyone leading people through pressure. Corporate leadership teams. NHS and public sector organisations. Universities and higher education leaders. Large charities and not-for-profits.
Smajo's talks have been delivered everywhere from senior executive away days to thousand-strong conferences including in Parliament, the Cabinet Office, and the House of Lords.
Not sure which talk is right for your event?
Every event is different. Get in touch and Smajo’s team will help you find the right talk for your audience, your context, and what you need the room to feel and do differently.
Want to go deeper?
The keynote is the beginning. For organisations that want to embed the ideas into their leadership culture, Smajo offers half-day and full-day training sessions that take the ideas from his talks and work them directly into your team.
Recent Keynote Speaking Clients
Testimonials
“As an English teacher, I love stories, but I had never heard story as a tool described in terms of changing thinking, feeling, and the potential to provoke action... that's powerful reframing, and Smajo epitomised it.”
Attendee, Empowering Young People Conference, 2025
“It was an incredible privilege to listen to Smajo's story. A personal, family insight into the horrors of genocide. To think these things happened within living memory makes this all the more poignant and shocking. We all have a duty to educate and be educated about the horrors of holocaust and genocide.”
Berkeley Wilde — The Diversity Trust
Ashley Ruscoe — Head of History, St Cuthbert's School
“Your talk was incredibly special, and the boys were talking about it the whole day. I don't think many people can engage a large group of year 7 and 8's in that way and for such a long time. It has really made a huge impact on them, and we are so grateful for the effort and care you put into creating such powerful experiences.”
“Thank you for sharing your incredible story — what incredible leadership and courage from your mother and auntie.”
Keir Starmer, Former UK Prime Minister, speaking to Smajo after a talk in London, 2024
© 2026 Smajo Beso OBE