Mike Allison, The Culture Champion - Having a No Asshole Policy, The Impact of the Pandemic on Corporate Cultures, and Leading with Emotional Intelligence

Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Allison as we discuss how to build a great corporate culture, leading with emotional intelligence, the pandemic's impact on leadership, and his one interview question.

Mike Allison (linkedin.com/in/mike-allison-connect )is the Vice President of Talent and Culture at Spotlight where his focus is on talent acquisition, employee growth/engagement, and leadership development. Spotlight was recently named one of Kansas City’s best places to work for in both Ingram’s magazine and the
Kansas City Business Journal. Mike is also an Adjunct Professor and
Bloch Executive Education instructor within the Bloch School at the
University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC). Prior to his role at Spotlight, Mike enjoyed over 22 years of healthcare IT leadership experience working at Cerner. His final role there involved leading a group of faculty who developed and delivered
advanced education to cohorts of Veterans Administration (VA)
clinicians, informaticists, and analytics professionals. He also worked
with internal and external leaders on change management and other
organizational development initiatives. Previously, Mike held executive
responsibilities within Cerner’s client and associate learning
organizations. His award-winning teams, many of which were
internationally based, provided practical and effective end-to-end learning solutions to Cerner clients and associates around the world. Mike also spent a year as the Vice President of Learning and Development at AMC Theatres where he
led a team of learning professionals focused on building, supporting, and retaining talent across multiple guest-facing brands.

Mike regularly carries out public speaking engagements and provides coaching to business leaders across the Kansas City metropolitan area. He presents and instructs on diverse topics such as leading through change, emotional intelligence, holding difficult conversations, building a culture of feedback, advanced presentation techniques, cultivating trust, and executive presence. Prior to working in the private sector, Mike was involved in city management for three years. He worked primarily as a management analyst for the city of Kansas City, Mo. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in public administration (MPA) from Brigham Young
University.

Mike is married to Amy Allison, a non-profit leader serving as the Executive Director for The Farmer’s House. They have three young adult children (girl, boy, girl). Besides being an avid family man, Mike is passionate about volunteering, seeing the world, hiking, music, disc golf, and all things San Francisco. He was born and raised in the “City by the Bay.”