About The Hero's Choice: Living from the Inside Out Hal glanced around the table, hoping that one of his longtime colleagues would speak up on his behalf. No one said a word. Not Keith, his golfing buddy who had lauded his every move. Not Patricia, a single parent who had asked Hal to be godfather to her adopted son. Not Larry, a friend going back to high school that Hal had rescued from a dead-end job to become a partner in the firm. No one, except Charlie, even met his gaze. Hal's chest tightened. He was on the wrong end of a power struggle, and not one of his friends was stepping into the fray. No one was willing to take on Charlie White. He wondered what-if anything-he could do to salvage the meeting. "What's going on here?" Hal asked. "I need to know." "That should be obvious," Charlie said, gesturing like a conductor holding the last note of a symphony. "Your leadership is in serious question." (book excerpt, pp. 5-6) Hal Stratton's life is turned upside down when, without warning, the board of directors of his own company fires him. The event sends Hal into a tailspin and he alienates everyone around him as he struggles desperately to make sense of what happened and decide how to move forward. Eventually, the crisis awakens Hal to a new way of seeing and thinking. But old habits die hard and Hal often slips back into old ways of reacting. Gradually, as Hal opens his heart to the lessons of life, he discovers success he never thought possible. Circumstances have not changed. But life, for Hal, has changed dramatically. The Hero's Choice is a powerful story of becoming; of accepting full responsibility for your life; of learning to handle inevitable challenges in new and empowering ways. It is about leading and communicating so people can stop seeing each other as adversaries and come to a shared understanding of the challenges they face. The story will not only lift your spirit but give you practical tools for living happily, compassionately, and effectively.
About the Author: Roger K. Allen, Ph.D.-author, consultant, coach, teacher Roger offers a rare set of skills to help people do deep and transformative work to reach their full potential in both their personal lives and businesses. Using his engaging style, Roger has facilitated thousands of workshops and seminars, making an impact on tens of thousands of people and dozens of businesses by creating a safe and yet honest environment from which to elicit high levels of personal accountability and achievement. In 1980, Roger founded and served as President of The Human Development Institute in which he provided thousands of hours of individual, marriage and family therapy to a diverse client population, supervised the work of other professionals, and managed team of 12 full and part-time staff, plus a large volunteer network. During his full-time tenure with HDI, Roger also created experiential programs in personal empowerment and interpersonal relationships which were taught in several cities, hundreds of times, and were known for their life-changing impact on thousands of people. In 1992, Roger, along with Preston C. Pond, founded The Center for Organizational Design to help leaders create and sustain high performance/high commitment organizations. Roger has helped many companies improve their leadership, clarify their business strategy, streamline their design (processes, structure and systems) and create a culture in which employees feel and act like partners in the business. Roger has spearheaded major executive and organizational development projects with small businesses and companies such as AT&T Capital, Ashland Chemical, Coach Leatherware, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (several radio stations), Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Honeywell, Kaman Industrial Technologies, Keytronic, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Proctor & Gamble, The US Forest Service, Qwest, and many others. Roger is a creative innovator of personal and organizational development methodologies and products on topics of personal development, leadership, team development, and organizational design. He has certified over 800 independent trainers, consultants and coaches from around the country to utilize his personal and organizational development products. Roger completed his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. An outdoor enthusiast, volunteer in his church and father of three adult children, Roger resides in metro Denver with his Judy.