We at Kidpower International are deeply honored to partner with Workplace Options (WPO) by collaborating to share our personal safety skills educational resources with their community. WPO is the world’s leading provider of holistic wellbeing solutions for the employees of over 113,000 organizations.
Alan King, WPO President & CEO
Both WPO and Kidpower have a strong commitment to providing services that help individuals have safer happier lives. Thanks to WPO’s expertise and generous support, Kidpower is preparing thousands more people of all ages, abilities, and walks of life worldwide to prevent harm such as bullying, abuse, and assault and to develop safe and strong relationships to reduce isolation, protect mental health, and increase their wellbeing.
In every conversation I have had with Alan King, WPO’s remarkable CEO, I have been greatly moved by his incredible compassion, warmth, and deep commitment to the wellbeing of employees – on their jobs, with their families, and in their communities.
When I told Alan how inspired I am by his statement that “each employee needs to feel safe in being their authentic true self in order to do their best jobs”, here is what he had to say:
“At WPO, we are a company of people that help other people, and we do it around the world. We have learned over the course of time that the important way of ensuring positive outcomes is when our human beings connect with the human beings we serve in a way that’s empathic and genuine.
“And so, for that to happen, everyone at our company needs to feel respected and valued for who they are. They also need to feel more than acceptance. They need to feel celebration that what we see in them is not just who they are in the moment – we also see the possibility of who they can become.
“People’s lives are journeys. If we do a good job, we’re not just a part of a journey – we’re also stewards of people on their journeys. The heart of what we do is based in that basic need we all have to feel valued, welcomed, and free.
“How this benefits an employer is really simple. When people don’t feel valued, they’re closed. If they hide, they’re closed and not able to do their best work.
“I am someone who spent the better part of his life in a closet hiding from who I am. This allowed a lot of fear to cloud my own reality. I know firsthand what it’s like to be able to shed that fear and the kind of release when that happens.
“I can point to that period when my life really began to change because I stopped hiding. When I came out, it seemed like a world of possibilities opened with my career and life because I wasn’t afraid anymore.
“There’s something extraordinarily powerful about releasing fear. Not being foolhardy, but just releasing fear and being able to go out authentically in the world and stand up for yourself. If you stand up for yourself, then you can stand up for others.
“Most people reach out to us NOT because they’re having a best day. They reach out to us because they’re having a worst day. And it takes courage for people to ask for help.
“It took us a while to figure out how to respond to people who apologize for needing to ask for help, It’s not just saying, ‘Oh, you don’t need to apologize.’
“Instead, it works best to acknowledge people where they are in that moment and give them the freedom to talk, to be heard, and be accepted for who they are.
“This means learning to let go and not let our individual truth be someone else’s or our way of experiencing the world being someone else’s. Instead, we need to focus on really being open to what they have to say and just listening. For me, just listening is an extraordinary skill I had to learn.”
Then, I asked Alan, “So many people tell us they’re afraid to say what they think because they don’t want people they care about to be mad at them. How do you make it safe to say what you really think when opinions are so strong and often so different and sometimes really feel disrespectful to other people?”
Here is his thoughtful reply:
” In so much of the divisiveness we hear, there is NOT an intent to understand. There’s an intent just simply to express someone’s opinion as being an absolute fact. And in the expression of that kind of opinion, by nature it’s an insult. It’s saying, ‘If you don’t believe what I believe, then you must be _______ (fill in the blank). ‘
Too often, people don’t say, ‘ I can accept this disagreement.’ Instead they say, ‘If you are OTHER, then you are different, and this is wrong.’
“It always is extraordinary to me how people who have experienced being treated differently all their lives sometimes can be the most vehement carrier of this kind of divisiveness.
“I have very strong political beliefs, and I believe that there are some evil people in the world. At the same time, I don’t believe everyone is evil, and I don’t believe that everyone who may vote a certain way is evil. Instead of being caught in the fray, I can say what I believe without trying to make someone else feel that they’re incorrect.”
“When I meet with people new to WPO, I often give them this example. Suppose you are traveling in another country where you don’t know the language or the culture or who believes what or what political party they are in. And suddenly, you see a young child on the street in danger of being harmed. I believe you would automatically go to help that child because keeping this child safe is what would be what would matter to you the most.”
Wouldn’t our world be a much better place if everyone was supported in understanding and living these values?
Our partnership with WPO is helping people worldwide to have safer, happier lives. Thanks to Alan and WPO, Kidpower received a $25,000 grant that helped fund our international conferences and trainings, leading to participants teaching skills to help thousands of vulnerable children, teens, and adults of all ages and abilities gain greater safety and confidence and to launching an international Training of Practitioners program that will help thousands more.
Several of the articles and podcasts created with WPO support include:
About Alan King
Alan King is a globally recognized leader in employee wellbeing and workplace mental health, bringing more than 35 years of experience at the intersection of engagement, holistic health, and work-life integration. As President and CEO of Workplace Options (WPO)—the world’s largest independent provider of integrated employee wellbeing solutions—Alan leads with purpose, vision, and a deep commitment to creating workplaces where people and businesses thrive.
Since stepping into the CEO role in 2019, Alan has guided WPO through a period of global expansion and innovation, delivering high-quality care to more than 88 million individuals across 200 countries and territories.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, he served for over 17 years as President and Managing Director, shaping WPO’s international service delivery and setting a new standard for excellence in the industry.
Before joining WPO, Alan held executive roles at Ceridian LifeWorks EAP, where he oversaw global provider relations, international resource and referral, external training, quality control, and customer service. Earlier in his career, he led resource, referral, and central database operations at Work Family Directions, a pioneering work-life consulting firm.
Alan’s passion for equity and inclusion extends beyond the workplace. He currently serves as President of the Board of Trustees for the Tyler Clementi Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending bullying and promoting safe, inclusive environments for all.
A respected thought leader, Alan continues to shape the future of work by championing psychological safety, empathetic leadership, and scalable wellbeing solutions that meet the needs of a diverse and evolving global workforce.
