Allyson Hauck is a partner with Sloan, Sakai, Yeung, & Wong LLP. She joined the firm in 2007. In 2017, she accepted the position of Human Resources Director for the City of Monterey, where she led negotiations with five bargaining units and oversaw all risk and human resources functions. In 2022, she became the Chief Human Resources Officer for Watsonville Community Hospital, assisting the hospital's transition during bankruptcy proceedings from a for-profit organization to a nonprofit, community-owned hospital. She returned to the firm in 2024 and now practices in Labor Relations and Labor Law, focusing on collective bargaining, contract negotiations, unfair labor practice charges, and fact-finding hearings.

Allyson also focuses her practice on personnel matters, advising employers on their obligations under FEHA, Title VII, the Family Medical Leave Act, CFRA, the ADA, and California's numerous leave laws. She trained to conduct trauma-informed sexual assault and harassment investigations, and during law school trained in trauma-focused representation to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. She began her legal career in Boston working on public interest litigation, and has a background in policy and government, including work on staff for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and California State Senator Jackie Speier.

What if the biggest factor in how a hard conversation is isn't the other person at all — but it's the mindset you walked in with? 

This week I'm talking with Allyson Hauck, a labor attorney who has spent nearly two decades on both sides of the bargaining table. She's negotiated from inside organizations, as the HR Director for the City of Monterey and the Chief HR Officer for Watsonville Community Hospital. And she's negotiated from the outside, now representing cities, counties, and nonprofits across from labor unions. Few people have sat in as many chairs at that table as she has.

We talk about the moment we decide — often before a word is spoken — whether the person across from us is a friend or a foe. And what it takes to catch that decision and choose differently.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The double vantage point. Allyson has negotiated as management and as the person management hires. She talks about what that dual perspective has taught her about what actually builds trust at the table — and what erodes it.

The mindset shift that changed a negotiation. Allyson shares a story of driving to a tense negotiation, dreading it — and the decision she made in the car that changed how the whole thing went. 

The "balloon." Allyson's way of describing what it takes to sit with someone's frustration long enough that real collaboration becomes possible.

Not taking the bait. What Allyson does when someone says something unproductive or provocative, and why reacting to it rarely serves the actual goal.

This Week's Challenge

Think about the last time you walked into a hard conversation already braced for a fight — before the other person had said a word. What contributed to that? It's rarely the other person. More often it's the story you have about who they are and what they want.

This week, take thirty seconds before a hard conversation to name one thing you're genuinely grateful for about the person you're about to sit across from. It doesn't have to resolve anything. Just let it shift the mindset you walk in with — because, as Allyson found, that shift changes what's possible once you're in the room.

Resources Mentioned:

- Allyson Hauck — Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP

- Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, My Own Words

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