Jesse Favre
- Dual Master of Social Work (MSW) / Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Washington University in St. Louis and focuses on the intersection of these disciplines, translating insights into immediately applicable strategies that enhance performance and well-being.
- Media contributor on mental health in the workplace
- A member of the international Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) Speakers Bureau, an adjunct faculty member in nonprofit management at St. Louis University, and an executive coach at the University of Missouri St. Louis’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (EIC)
Jesse Favre Speaker Biography
Jesse Favre (she/her) is a leadership trainer and public speaker on a mission to advance well-being and performance in the workplace. With over 1,000 seminars and workshops delivered, she skillfully dissects human behavior at work, identifying immediately useful leadership strategies for promoting sustainable success.
Jesse holds a dual Master of Social Work (MSW) / Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Washington University in St. Louis and certification in Mental Health First Aid.
In 2024, she was invited to join the international Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) Speakers Bureau.
Jesse also serves as a subject matter expert on workplace mental health in national media, including a recent appearance on Lifestyle with Roy Ice, the #1 life coaching talk show.
Before founding her company, Jesse spent more than a decade in the healthcare industry, including roles in hospital leadership and consulting.
Book this SpeakerSpeech Topics
Culture Is Caught
How leaders shape employee well-being and sustainable performance every day
Employee well-being isn’t simply tied to programs and perks. It’s created by leadership behavior.
Organizations invest heavily in wellness initiatives and benefits. Yet, burnout, disengagement, and turnover persist.
The missing link isn’t effort. It’s culture.
And culture isn’t taught in a training or defined in a handbook.
It’s caught—through what leaders intentionally or unintentionally model and normalize every day.
This keynote reframes employee well-being as a leadership issue with real consequences for performance, retention, and long-term success.
Key Takeaways
Employee well-being is a leadership issue: Leaders don’t just influence work performance: they shape the conditions under which people can sustain success.
Culture is created in everyday moments: Employees “catch” culture through what leaders model, tolerate, and normalize.
Burnout isn’t a sign of personal failure: Burnout is a signal that stress has gone unmanaged. Leaders play a crucial role in shaping the pace, expectations, and recovery norms that determine whether stress is addressed or allowed to compound.
Accountability and well-being are not opposites: Leaders who pair realistic goals with support, recovery, and access to resources create cultures where teams meet high expectations without burning out.
Small shifts in leadership behaviors ripple across teams: Small, consistent behaviors cascade, shaping culture, engagement, and performance. By consciously modeling “ripple behaviors,” leaders can cultivate a sustainable, high-performing work environment.
