Meet Roger
“Lasting growth doesn’t come from knowing more, it comes from choosing differently, one moment at a time.”
Helping People Change
My professional journey began in the field of psychology. After earning my Ph.D. in counseling Psychology from the University of Minnesota,
I co-founded the Human Development Institute with my father, the late C. Kay Allen.
For more than a decade, my colleagues and I provided thousands of hours of individual, marriage, and family therapy. I was deeply moved by the courage of the people who came seeking help, and honored by the trust they placed in us during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
What I Learned From Deep Therapeutic Work
While therapy was meaningful, I found myself especially drawn to helping people experience lasting change, not just insight, but transformation they could carry into daily life.
This led to the creation of in-depth, experiential personal development programs. One of these, Making Things Happen, was taught hundreds of times in cities across the United States. The program, along with its follow-up courses, became known for powerful breakthroughs and life-changing impact.
Even today, I look back on the many individuals who participated in those programs with deep gratitude and admiration. I continue to value the relationships that have endured and cherish hearing how their lives have unfolded.
Learning to Lead, By Empowering Others
As meaningful as my clinical work had been, its emotional intensity eventually led me to step back and ask broader questions. Why do capable, well-intentioned people thrive in some settings and struggle in others? What helps growth take root, and what quietly undermines it?
That curiosity opened the door to an unexpected transition.
Shortly after deciding to explore a new direction, I received a call from the president of a successful electronics company inviting me to help change the culture of his organization. I soon found myself serving as Director of Human Resources, leading a team of thirteen professionals and sitting on the executive leadership team.
I wasn’t an expert in every area of HR, but my team members were. My role became less about having answers and more about creating clarity, trust, and alignment. I learned that effective leadership is not about control, but about empowerment, creating the conditions in which people can do their best work.
Helping Organizations and Leadership Teams Thrive
This experience led to the co-founding of The Center for Organizational Design with my business partner, Preston C. Pond.
Through the Center, we worked with leaders and leadership teams to clarify business strategy, strengthen leadership, improve organizational design, and create cultures where people could truly “feel and act like partners in the business.”
Over the years, I had the privilege of leading projects with organizations such as AT&T Capital, Coach Leatherware, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Honeywell, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Procter & Gamble, the U.S. Forest Service, and many others.
My favorite work during this period was leadership team development, bringing together psychology, communication, trust, and shared purpose in ways that helped teams function at a higher level.
Multiplying Impact Through Teaching and Mentoring
As our work expanded, we developed a comprehensive suite of consulting and leadership development programs and eventually certified more than 1,500 consultants from around the world to use our methodologies.
Mentoring others and watching them extend this work globally reinforced a belief I hold deeply: growth multiplies when it is shared.
Why I’ve Returned to Personal and Relationship Development
Which brings me to today.
I’ve officially retired from my clinical and consulting practices but I haven’t stopped working, learning, or growing. I have a deep curiosity about personal and relationship development and a continuing desire to live with meaning, fulfillment, and purpose.
Much of my work now takes the form of online courses, along with books and audio programs that draw on decades of professional experience and careful study. I’m grateful that many of these courses have become highly rated and best sellers in their categories, a reflection, I believe, of both the depth of the material and the care behind it.
Quality matters to me. I take time to research and think deeply before creating anything, and I genuinely care about the people who choose to learn with me. My hope is that you feel supported, respected, and encouraged as you move through the material.
If you are on your own journey of personal or relationship growth, I’m grateful you’ve found your way here, and I’d be honored to continue that journey alongside you.
