Speaker Bio
Organizations know how to spot poor performance. They seldom know how to spot the person performing exceptionally at an unsustainable cost. Until that person is gone.
Verena Rizg is a practicing clinician, author of The Cost of Capable™, and keynote speaker. Across sixteen years in occupational medicine, acute care, federal corrections, and migrant health, she saw the same pattern in thousands of patient encounters: the chart said functioning while the body said otherwise.
She stayed curious about the gap. Curiosity, she says, is one of the most radical and underrated forms of care. She later recognized the same pattern in her own life: praise for the very thing that was costing her.
The daughter of Coptic Sudanese-Egyptian migrants, she was raised between cultures, languages, and worlds that did not always have language for one another. The first in her lineage in nearly everything she has done, she learned early that failure was not an option. She learned to translate between worlds; now she translates between leaders, sectors, and systems.
Her thesis: We assume high performance is driven by ambition, when for many it is driven by survival. Ambition gets to rest. Survival doesn’t know how. From the outside, the two look identical. The cost is not.
The Cost of Capable™ gives people, from frontline staff to CEOs, language for what they are carrying. It teaches the people who lead, work with, and care for them to get curious before performance is mistaken for wellness.
As a civilian woman of colour, often the youngest person in the room, Verena took the first BIPOC-focused clinic in Canadian Armed Forces history from idea to reality. The work earned the 2024 DM/CDS Excellence in Defence Award. She has trained hundreds of clinicians across the country and has been featured on the Psychiatric Times podcast.
A spoken-word poet of twenty years, Verena brings clinical precision and a poet’s command of language to the stage. Audiences leave with language they did not have before, a way to see who they are about to lose, and the ability to intervene before that person is gone.
Speaker Topics
The people organizations rely on most are often the ones they are least equipped to see. They perform exceptionally, absorb more than anyone realizes, and receive praise for the very behaviours that are costing them. The cost often appears in the body while the work still looks fine: disrupted sleep, rising blood pressure, chronic pain. Drawing on sixteen years of clinical practice and thousands of patient encounters, Verena introduces contingent belonging: the belief that safety, worth, and acceptance must be earned through performance, productivity, silence, or self-abandonment. She reveals the personal cost of survival-driven performance, why it stays hidden behind exceptional work, and how leaders can build capacity around the people carrying the most.
It’s fine. Every leader has heard it, and every leader has said it. Most organizations have learned to avoid conflict. Avoided conflict, like a symptom no one investigates, does not disappear because no one names it. Repair begins with seeing what has been injured.
As a clinician, Verena has spent sixteen years seeing how unresolved tension shows up in bodies, relationships, and teams. She draws on the psychology of repair to show why silence is never neutral, why empathy without accountability leaves people seen but unchanged, and how leaders can raise what needs raising, hold the conversation through discomfort, and repair trust while people are still willing to return to the conversation.
Some people learn early in life to acquire what they need without asking for it. For them, asking can mean becoming a burden, and that feels like a risk they cannot afford. Verena draws from the experience of taking first-of-their-kind initiatives from idea to reality inside complex institutions. Often the youngest person in the room and one of the few women of colour, she built the internal support required to make the work permanent. For the Asking examines the conviction required to name what is missing, gather the data, make a consequential ask, and move an institution toward something it has never done.
I’ll rest when this is done. I’ll see them when things settle. I’ll take care of it after. A rain check can feel responsible in the moment. Repeated often enough, it becomes a life organized around later. Work expands; later keeps moving. Verena examines how chronic deferral affects health, relationships, and our capacity for joy. She shows audiences how to identify what has been waiting, cultivate joy within the lives they are already living, and protect what matters with the
same seriousness they bring to work.
Connection is built in what we notice. A change in someone’s voice. The effort behind the outcome. The ordinary moment that will not happen again in quite the same way. Pace, familiarity, and assumption make these moments easy to miss. When these moments pass unseen, distance grows in our teams, our closest relationships, and our relationship with ourselves. Verena treats noticing as a relational practice and a form of care. She shows how intentional attention deepens trust, belonging, and connection at work, at home, and within ourselves.
Testimonials
Lots of people are educated. Many are gifted speakers. Very few have IT — that cocktail of magic and magnetism that makes a moment memorable. Verena has IT. She is the rarest combo of energetic and empathetic. Approachable but holds you accountable. If you can’t tell, I think she is a wonder. Verena makes an instant impact the moment you meet her. She is warm and wise, comforting and competent, confident and courteous and curious. She is a gifted orator yet also a great listener. Both qualities of a natural leader. When she speaks, people listen. She is memorable. Relatable. Impactful. Verena’s courage and candour taught me that having a conversation — even a delicate or difficult one — is always better than not having one.
The Cost of Capable™ is far more than a guide or a toolkit. It is a doorway into a new way of seeing ourselves, our relationships, and the systems we live within. For many people, it will be the first time they have truly felt seen. The first time experiences they have carried quietly for years are finally named with language that is both compassionate and deeply rigorous. There is something profoundly relieving about that. Verena has accomplished something incredibly rare. She has created a framework that is intellectually robust while remaining remarkably accessible. Having spent more than two decades convening policymakers, corporate leaders, healthcare professionals, researchers, community organizations, and social innovators across Canada, I rarely encounter work that has genuine cross-sector relevance. The Cost of Capable™ is one of those rare exceptions. Wherever human beings are expected to perform, belong, lead, or care for others, this work offers a language that has been missing.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your excellent presentation last Friday at SJRH on the importance of empathy and sensitivity in healthcare. Your insights were both thought-provoking and inspiring, highlighting the real impact of compassionate care. Your passion for the subject truly came through, and I appreciate the effort you put into delivering such a meaningful session. The feedback I received from those in attendance was extremely positive. Looking forward to more opportunities to learn from you!
Verena is meaningful, thoughtful and a brilliant speaker. I am mesmerized by her powerful voice and choice of words. Her work makes me dig a little deeper on my outlook towards others.
Verena, what can I say, on behalf of Horizon Health Network – WOW, your keynote was impactful and invaluable. Your delivery and passion was what we all needed for International Women’s Day 2025. Thank you for being such a beautiful human.
Verena is a passionate advocate and great care provider. When giving a presentation you can clearly see her dedication to her craft and she provides insightful information by being able to captivate her audience. She goes above and beyond for her patients and truly advocates for them and the services they require on a day to day basis. Verena has helped me better care for marginalized individuals and people of colour. Her presentations shed light on the difficulties these patients face and the discrimination they may go through. I do believe her presentation has made me a better provider. She continues to be a leader in spreading awareness for inequities in healthcare for people of colour and she is leading change in the Canadian Armed Forces with her initiative (the BIPOC clinic).
Verena has opened my heart to be more compassionate , and more aware of issues that affect marginalized peoples. Her pieces stop a person in their tracks and provokes you to think deeply about issues other people are experiencing. Issues foreign to myself but powerful in the lives of others. She has broadened my understand of the challenges others must face.
Verena has an intelligence that is remarkable. She has an ability to write and communicate on a deep, emotional level. She has a compassion and sensitivity that is unmatched. She can capture the attention in a room more than many I’ve ever met. But her heart? Her love? That’s really something to see. That’s what is most difficult to put into words.
Verena is Kind. Patient. Gentle. Understanding. She is balanced in her perspective and respectful in how she approaches, cares, and engages with others. She is a champion of social and environmental safety, making it easy to be transparent and vulnerable. Verena is truly a treasure and a light to every room she enters. Her work has given me space to learn, grieve, understand, and navigate without feeling judged.
In personal interactions with Verena, whether seeing her in community, at an event or even on Social Media she has a transparent , genuine and authentic aura that makes one feel connected to her. Verena has a caring soul. Interactions with her feel very intentional and pure, as if she sees and supports you. She does an amazing job connecting with her audience, providing a space for them to be present in the moment with her, each performance feels different and tailored to her experiences or feelings of that day so it always feels unique – the work itself is beautiful always relatable to different aspects of your own life or experiences that remind you that you’re not alone in this journey called life.
One of my favourite parts of the conference was hearing from Verena Rizg, whose keynote challenged us to think differently about sustainable leadership and the often-unrecognized burden carried by highly capable people. Her book, The Cost of Capable™, sparked conversations that continued well beyond the session and left many of us reflecting on how we lead, support others, and define success.
This is incredible, useful and necessary. I’ve never heard this described in this manner. You are breaking new ground here, Verena.
By far the most memorable session of the week. Verena clearly knows her subject matter and instead of just standing at the podium to lecture, she was actively walking around the room, making eye contact with the participants, connecting with them, and evoking their critical thinking. Captivating. Confident. Inspirational.
My experience working with her left me inspired and motivated. Shortly after the death of George Floyd we were able to find funds to allow stories of Black Nova Scotians to be captured on camera that lead by example the importance of leading with love over hate. Verena jumped in head first and used her powerful tool of speaking and connecting to help lead these conversations. She is truly moving and exceptional. She has tremendous knowledge in her field that is backed by emotional intelligence and a desire to make change. When Verena speaks people listen. Verena takes complex issues and distills them into language that is beautiful and digestible. I have a much deeper understanding of the issues that plague under represented communities and that sits with me as I move through day to day life. Verena has a special voice in the healthcare community and so much further. She speaks passionately and intelligently and truly does inspire.
Captivates the room, and allows the audience to engage. She is able to break the shell open and allow the audience to be vulnerable and heard.
Verena is a warm soul who not only has a vast wealth of knowledge in the realm of compassionate care but also has an extraordinary ability to deliver information in an engaging and meaningful manner that both captivates and moves those who have the privilege of hearing her speak. She has influenced the way that I practice being present with others when engaging in meaningful conversation that pertains to all manner of health. Verena shines whenever she’s given the opportunity to speak about what is meaningful to her — when she’s at her most authentic.
Captures your attention with her words and rhythm. She is captivating. Reminds me of Maya Angelou.
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