While much of the literature on social capital focuses on its utility – helping individuals “get by” or “get ahead” – this research asks a different question: What does it take for leaders to feel socially wealthy?

Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research with over 1,200 Canadian leaders, this session explores how remote and hybrid leaders experience social well-being, and how their efforts to activate, maintain, or even neglect their relationships shape their sense of social wealth – a concept rooted not in status or scale, but in emotional reciprocity, trust, and belonging.

We’ll explore the nuanced reality of distributed leadership: the evolving social needs of leaders, the subtle experience of loneliness, and the rituals and micro-behaviours that build meaningful personal and professional relationships. This session introduces the Social Wealth Continuum – a conceptual tool for understanding how leaders self-assess their relational wellbeing across different spheres of life — and how organizations can support relational infrastructure beyond “team bonding” or ad hoc social events.

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how social capital functions in hybrid environments, and how intentional relationship design can foster sustainable leadership, emotional resilience, and a greater sense of belonging in today’s flexible world of work.

About the presenter:

Shelley Doyle is a Social Wealth Strategist, podcaster, and international Master’s student at Royal Roads University. With over 20 years in communications – including internal and purpose-driven campaigns across the UK, Europe, and Australia, Shelley now guides remote leaders and distributed teams through research-based workshops and programs designed to help them design social wealth into their hybrid life, for sustained social health.

Her current thesis, Leading with Social Wealth: How Relationship Efforts Shape the Social Health of Remote and Hybrid Leaders, explores the relational strategies that help leaders feel connected, trusted, and supported – online, offline.

Leading with Social Wealth: Relational Design for the Future of Work