Doug Allen to retire after spending 36 years at the College and leading nearly 50 international trips
There are few people with as much global business experience and worldly perspective as Doug Allen.
In the more than three decades he spent at the Daniels College of Business, he has led 46 global trips to 24 different countries. And his sense of adventure has never waned. He finds beauty in mundane moments. He delivers lessons when others would succumb to stress and chaos.
After all, he says, two of the most useful qualities for cross-cultural success are “flexibility and openness.”
Sitting in his office, with a map on one wall and mementos lining the other, he reflects on trips past. He tells one story, that, while not the most fun or life-altering, is emblematic of the trials and tribulations of international travel.
After a series of events, Allen and two students found themselves in the baggage hold of a Beijing airport, shuffling through nearly 100 flights-worth of luggage in search of two passports. There was a language barrier, a rapidly approaching departure time and a mountain of suitcases to climb to locate the passports.
Amidst the chaos, Allen was calm.
“I told the students, ‘There’s nothing to worry about because, until we run out of options, we’re going to do our best to get on the plane,’” Allen recalled.
And they did, arriving to their seats to a serenade of cheers from their classmates.
“I think that spirit of adventure becomes something that is a very valuable quality for success as an international businessperson or an international traveler,” he said. “So, in my mind, those experiences are features, not bugs.”
Allen has an endless trove of lessons learned abroad and astonishing stories, including one where, with colleagues, he waded through a flooded road to deliver noodles to a bus full of stranded students.
Now, Allen will have more time to globetrot as he departs Daniels and arrives at retirement this summer.
From Dinosaurs to Business School
Allen’s interest in the world was sparked by his family, and it started at an early age. His parents were professors, his father in education and his mother in anthropology. While he wasn’t pressured to follow in their footsteps, he gladly tagged along on his mother’s studies.
Although, his interest was in dinosaurs, at first.
He laughs describing the path that took him from the T-Rex to studying human resource management. His career aspirations started with being a paleontologist, shifted to an archeologist and, finally, he ditched the ancient species to study alive ones – humans. His undergraduate degree was in anthropology and sociology, dovetailing into the applications of those fields in the business world, landing him at human resource management.
But Allen didn’t go the traditional route for college. He was drawn to travel even then. His family had strong connections in southern Africa through their Baha’i faith, and Allen visited Swaziland frequently.
After two years of undergrad stateside, Allen applied to the University of Zimbabwe as a transfer student. He’d graduate from the university, the first of many stops along his international journey.
“I really see myself as a global citizen,” he said. “That’s my identity.”
Finding a Career at DU
Allen would move back to the U.S. after undergrad, work for two years at the Baha’i National Center and enroll in Harvard’s MBA program, where he solidified his interest in the study of human resource management.
Allen landed at Chrysler in his first job after his MBA, amidst a well-documented turnaround spurred by Lee Iacocca. After seeing the company saved from the brink of bankruptcy, Allen shifted to higher education and received a memorable note:
“In 1988, I was at the Academy of Management looking around for a job, and I got a little message from Cindi Fukami saying, ‘We think your resume looks like a good fit,’” Allen said.
Now, 36 years later, both Fukami and Allen are retiring from the Department of Management after illustrious careers spent shaping the Daniels College of Business. Allen could have never guessed that the note from Fukami with a glimmer of hope into a new career would have been the spark that ignited a lifelong journey around the world.
Developing a Global Curriculum
Allen joined the faculty as instructor in 1989 and was named assistant professor in 1991, after receiving his PhD from the University of Michigan. He was named associate professor in 1997 and, in 1996 and 1999, was a visiting professor at the Renmin (People’s) University in Beijing, China.
He also helped connect the College with the Nature Place in Florissant, CO, which has now become a staple experience of the MBA programs.
But Allen is perhaps most fond of his time as the director of the International MBA program, which he took over in 2006. While the program no longer exists, the program was a testing-ground for international consulting projects, which are now built into the curriculum at Daniels for many programs. Allen alone has guided somewhere around 1,000 students abroad, sharing crucial insights into how business is done on the global stage.
Both through his time at Daniels and elsewhere, Allen has visited China over 60 times and is an oft-quoted expert on the country’s business climate.
Across each of these experiences, Allen shared how much he values teamwork and collaboration. He frequently mentions Fukami and retired professor Dennis Wittmer, among many others, who have had a positive impact on his work. He shies from the limelight, looking to elevate those around him instead.
“That was what made it so fun, because I like working with others. I don’t like holing up in my office,” he said of his time at Daniels. “To be out and about with colleagues in my own department, as well as other departments and other units at the University, has been another thing that has kept me here for as long as it has.”
At Allen and Fukami’s joint retirement party, Wittmer shared stories of the two, highlighting Allen’s attentive listening, sage advice and unending joy.
“I see Doug as someone who savors moments of conversations with others and exudes being happy, caring and pleasant,” Wittmer said.
The Final Stop
As he enters retirement, he’ll use his newfound free time to visit his grandchildren in the U.S. and brothers who still live in Africa. He’ll also lean further into his Baha’i faith in an effort to build community and help the world find peace.
And like many retiring Daniels faculty members, Allen won’t be going too far. He expects to return to the College for guest lectures and other opportunities as he’s able.
“I think that’s the nature of Daniels, that people may be moving on to new interests and new opportunities, but that love and sense of connection is something that will continue for sure.”