Patricia Anderson

I started my career in technology and gradually moved into business and leadership. I got my doctorate in transformational leadership because I always wondered what makes a leader who starts off on the right path take a left turn. I wanted to identify what we can look for, hire for, and train for. Through my research during COVID, I was able to identify transformational leadership as an evergreen leadership style that doesn't require switching based on different situations. My research also revealed that women are naturally transformational leaders from an emotional intelligence standpoint. Today, I wear several hats. I've published three books on transformation and speak to leaders, train leaders, and do workshops. My day-to-day job is in digital transformation in the higher education technology space, where institutions are making investments to move from legacy software to cloud-based, AI-powered systems. I lead the people side and the change side, helping individuals adopt the change, evangelize it, and become comfortable with new tools. I've developed two methodologies: the Reframe Method and the TOP Model for digital transformation. I'm most proud of helping people see things differently, especially understanding that change and transformation are different. Change is binary and subject to reversal, like going to the gym at the beginning of the year and then stopping. Transformation is incremental, foundationally solid, iterative, and never stops. This distinction has really shifted how people think about getting from point A to point B.