Guard Your Gates
THE BLOG
Tag: Success
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When the Leader is Silent
The Art of Proximity Leadership By Rod Patterson There’s a sacred tension in those moments when the leader is present—but not leading. The team looks for direction. The mission keeps moving. And you, not the voice of the vision, become its echo. This is the art of leading from proximity, not position. Proximity Leadership means:
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The Success Problem
Overcoming Success By Rod Patterson, MBA The confetti’s long gone. The numbers look good. The trophy’s up on the shelf, catching dust and sunlight. You did it! But somewhere between the applause and the next morning’s coffee, it gets quiet. After a week, that fire in your chest? Dimmed. The goals that used to jolt
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Don’t Drown at Work
How to Avoid Drowning at Work: Guard Your Gates By Rod Patterson Are you busy or are you buried? The inbox won’t stop. Meetings multiply. Notifications chirp like a thousand birds. And somewhere in the chaos, your actual work, can easily get lost. I’ve been there. That’s why I built a system that helps you
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Swimming with the Sharks!
How to Swim with the Sharks (Without Becoming Lunch) By Rod Patterson, MBA Let’s be honest—business isn’t a kiddie pool. It’s open water. And some of the folks in it? Sharks, killer whales, and piranhas! But if you’re going to swim with the sharks, you’d better know how to navigate without losing a limb, or
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The 4th Quarter
The 4th Quarter: Rise Up and Finish Like a Champion! By Rod Patterson, MBA We are in the 4th quarter! The year is grinding to its final pages. The 4th quarter isn’t for coasting, it’s for charging hard to the finish line. This is your moment to seize, to own, to make legendary. Whether you’re
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Resistible Leadership: When Position Replaces Presence
Resistible Leadership: When Position Replaces Presence By Rod Patterson, MBA What makes leadership resistible? Irresistible leadership draws people in. Resistible leadership quietly drives them away. It says, “Follow me, or else!” It doesn’t attract excellence, it attracts compliance. It’s magnetic to those who are insecure, and tolerated by the disengaged, and avoided by the courageous.
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Irresistible Leadership: The Power of Presence Over Position
Irresistible Leadership: The Power of Presence Over Position By Rod Patterson, MBA What Makes Leadership Irresistible? When I speak of irresistibility, I often begin with my role as a husband—devoted for the past 34 years to making myself irresistible to my Queen. That same intentionality has shaped how I show up as a father, and
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KEEP GOING
Watching your huge lead evaporate is painful. Seeing someone else lose momentum is just as bad. Momentum in sports is like a wave—once it starts rolling, it’s hard to stop. The New York Knicks proved this in their stunning comeback against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Boston dominated early,
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HEADWINDS
By Rod Patterson, MBA There is no doubt that the movement to make the corporate playing field more diverse has an uphill climb in the coming years. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” he shared an exchange he had on a flight from the United
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DEFYING GRAVITY
Gravity is an invisible force that pulls everything down, anchoring us to the earth. I felt that force for three years, and yet, in 2024, I experienced a personal triumph that defied this gravitational pull—I graduated with my MBA. In a graduating class filled with brilliant Generation Z students, I felt out of place. A
Guard Your Gates 