The Corporate Couch: Work Stories I Only Tell My Friends

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.”

Joel Goldberg (https://joelgoldbergmedia.com/meet-joel/ ) is an Emmy Award Winning Broadcaster. Keynote Speaker. Published Author. Joel began dreaming of a career as a sportscaster at a young age, always wanting to deliver news of the previous night’s game to his grade school teachers. He’s spent over a quarter century on television, relying on relationship-building to tell athletes’ stories. Joel’s unique access enables him to share lessons learned from the baseball field to the board room as a motivational speaker and to homes everywhere through his business podcast.

With nearly 20 years of experience in corporate well-being, Haley Prophet (linkedin.com/in/haleyprophet ) brings a multi-dimensional approach and authentic presence to her strategies for fostering an atmosphere where individuals, organizations, and community relationships can thrive. She creatively evaluates and implements well-rounded, multi-dimensional whole-person well-being opportunities through intentional planning and alignment with company and program goals and values. Haley emphasizes the notion that energy management has to begin with how individuals care for and prioritize their well-being which leads to happier, healthier, and more productive workplaces and communities. She is also in her college Hall of Fame and has been voted as a 100 Top Wellness Professional in 2014 and 50 Top Wellness Professionals in 2016.   Please enjoy my conversation with Haley a true pioneer in corporate well-being!

Doug Morse knows small hospitals and clinics are the healthcare and economic engines driving rural life. 30+ years of leadership as critical access hospital CEO, healthcare system executive, and entrepreneurship instructor. His first CEO position was in a small rural hospital system in Iowa. In his role as an educator teaching budding entrepreneurs, he was named "Teacher of the Year" twice. Doug is an accomplished author, speaker, and consultant who thrives on adding value to everyone he meets. Today he helps rural hospital C-Suites and Boards achieve exceptional scorecards and strong community support. You will enjoy my conversation with Doug, a true servant leader!  

Jennifer Rome describes herself as on a mission to make a positive impact on all she crosses paths with.  She serves as a mortgage advisor for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation and is the co-founder and president of a local non-profit called The Giving Professional KC.  She is a mother to two incredible young men and is proud to be a Kansas City native.   In 2019 and 2020, her world was turned upside-down and she had to quickly make choices on how she would rebuild.  She was finalizing an extremely tumultuous divorce, when she would encounter a life-threatening health crisis and then lost her job due Covid, just before closing on the purchase of her new home.  Essentially, she and her boys were displaced from everything they knew with limited ability to rebuild.   But Jennifer is not one to succumb to crisis and knew her mindset and the small choices she made each day would lead her and her boys to a new life.  And she is not stopping there.  Instead, she is using her experiences to connect with others and to give back to those whose hardships are great.   Her goal is to be a voice of inspiration for anyone who needs the courage of another to overcome their heartache and their hardship.   Upcoming projects include a podcast and a book.  Although neither yet has a release date, she is one to watch.  She is particularly interested in human stories and the power that sharing offers us on our journey to live profound lives,   And in her words, “At the end of my life, I intend to look back and say "Yes, I lived! And, yes, I made a difference for the people in my life! And if I am lucky, I will leave a legacy!".   Our conversation will make you laugh and cry but you will leave inspired by hearing Jennifer's story. Please enjoy!

​In this episode, we explore Pamela Norton's journey as an American entrepreneur and visionary who believes in the interdependence of business and social impact. Join us as we delve into her groundbreaking work at Borsetta and TitleChain, where she utilizes blockchain, AI, and micro-electronic chip solutions to revolutionize the digital asset and Intellectual Property landscape. Learn how Pamela's disruptive innovation and cheerful futurism are shaping the economic Web3 growth and increasing liquidity while eliminating manual valuation operations by 90%. Throughout her illustrious career, Pamela has built world-class technology solutions, high-performing product development teams, and fruitful partnerships with clients, resulting in multi-million-dollar bottom-line growth.  Pamela talks about "failing forward" and how difficult it was for a female CEO during the "Dot.Com" boom to get funding while PE firms were lending money to companies like sockpuppet.com. We talk about how she should have died on 9/11 as she would have been in the World Trade Center that day but she was ousted by the company that had acquired her start-up and the repercussions of that experience took a toll on her physically, mentally, and emotionally.   This conversation with Pamela is fascinating on so many levels. Please enjoy!   You can learn more about Pamela and her company at:   http://www.titlechain.world    

Henning ​​Schwinum is a creative and results-driven global founder and executive with extensive domestic and international experience in Sales, Supply Chain, and General Management, both in a corporate and entrepreneurial setting. He​nning launched Vendux in 2019 as the matchmaker, the agency for fractional and interim sales leadership. And almost four years later, Vendux is the only matchmaker focusing on CRO, CSO, or VP of Sales roles, representing North America's largest community of Sales Leaders.​ For more information, you can visit https://www.vendux.org/.   Please enjoy my conversation with Henning!

Amy Bradshaw recently joined Capitol Bridge, LLC, and is the company’s Chief Financial Officer. In her role. Amy is responsible for scaling the organization’s financial and accounting infrastructure to support the growth of the overall company. Before joining Capitol Bridge, Amy worked with technology and services companies to evolve the accounting and finance functions. She has experience building strong teams and implementing new systems and processes to enable growth. Amy is a strong leader passionate about developing her team members and finding creative solutions to challenging situations. Amy graduated summa cum laude from Miami University with bachelor's degrees in Manufacturing Engineering and Accounting. She also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Amy is an active member of her community and currently serves on the non-profit boards of Cornerstones of Care, BraCoutureKC, and the Kansas City chapter of Financial Executives International.   Please enjoy my great conversation with Amy!

Mark Mears is a #1 Best Selling author, keynote speaker, consultant, and visionary business leader. He has a significant track record of building shareholder value—driving innovation and profitable growth among world-class, high-profile brands such as PepsiCo/Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, JCPenney, NBCUniversal, and The Cheesecake Factory. Today, Mark serves as Chief Growth Officer for LEAF Growth Ventures, LLC—a consulting firm inspiring individuals, teams, and organizations to find purpose in fulfilling their true growth potential while making a positive, lasting difference in the world. Mark has just released his new book, The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder. Mark is also a member of the Senior Leader Network within Conscious Capitalism, Inc., a global organization whose mission he shares: Elevating Humanity Through Business. In doing so, his goal is to put the “Human” back in Human Resources. For more information, please visit https://www.MarkAMears.com or connect with Mark on LinkedIn at Mark's LinkedIn profile   It's a great conversation with Mark...Please enjoy!

​Valerie Jennings is CEO of Jennings​  Social Media & MarTech (JSMM​ - ​https://jsmmtech.com.​), which she founded in 2003 and has grown into a highly competitive ​Martech agency. The agency specializes in paid media, SEO, content strategy, and influencer marketing, working with clients in the automotive industry, transportation, ​logistics, healthcare, beauty, financial services, travel and tourism, technology, ​and ​home services. ​She presented at the 2023 Midwest Digital Marketing Conference in St. Louis and​ ​has earned awards and honors from the Stevie Awards, FOLIO, AMBIT, and others for her entrepreneurship, industry leadership, and excellence. Valerie remains a leader in the industry and is involved in the community, speaking at conferences, moderating and participating in digital panels, and speaking to community groups. ​She advocates for numerous charities, giving back to non-profits, including those focused on animal welfare, children and families, women, ​​and girls. Valerie invests her time mentoring women and entrepreneurs and is highly engaged in the AI community. A cornerstone of her agency continues to be fostering a positive community through education, technology, and career development. Please enjoy my conversation with Valerie!