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1% Better Podcast Pat Brickson – Quick Links

Check out The Mixtape Radio Show with Pat Brickson
Connect with Pat Brickson on LinkedIn
Connect with Craig Thielen on LinkedIn
Check out host Craig Thielen’s full bio page

Key Takeaways

• Reinvention is possible at any stage – Even after three decades in one organization, it’s never too late to start fresh and thrive
• Imposter syndrome is common, especially in leadership – Pat discusses how humility and vulnerability can be strengths, not weaknesses
• Change brings loss and growth – True transformation requires letting go of the old to make space for the new
• Passions fuel resilience – Pat’s side project, The Mixtape, provided creativity, confidence, and clarity during difficult transitions
• Support systems matter – Pat credits his career coach, family, and friends for helping him navigate uncertainty and rediscover fulfillment

1% Better Podcast Pat Brickson – Transcript

[00:00:05.05] – Craig
I’m Craig Thielen, and this is the 1% Better Podcast. Today, I’m speaking with my good friend, Pat Brickson. Pat’s a senior data consultant, and he is a lover of music, to say the least. We like to say he’s the informal mayor of Thief River Falls, and just all-around great guy. So, Pat, welcome to 1% Better.

[00:00:28.00] – Pat
Excellent. Thank you so much for having Craig. I love the fact that, like you mentioned,my show, that you’ve been on mine. I so appreciate being on yours. It’s been a great synergy.

[00:00:39.03] – Craig
Yeah, it’s fun. We’ll talk about that. Let’s jump into that right now. So one of the things, we work together and we got to know each other that way, but immediately, you introduced us to this amazing show that you do. It’s on the radio and it’s on streaming. It’s called The Mixtape and you’ve been doing it for, what, five years?

[00:00:59.00] – Pat
Yes. I started January of 2020, just the beginning of pre-COVID.

[00:01:04.08] – Craig
So you do this weekly, right? Yes. How many shows have you done?

[00:01:10.01] – Pat
I think we just recorded the 219th. So If I get busy, sometimes I’ll throw on a… With that number of shows, you have a deep back catalog. You’re like, This week is too busy. Let me pull it back, pull in some additional ones from the past. But, yeah. Well, It shows how- Yeah.

[00:01:31.01] – Craig
The format of the show is quite interesting. Every week you have a different theme, whether it’s you doing it yourself or sometimes you have guests. I just recorded it with you, and that was my third time with you, but you’ve had some people on multiple times, and there’s always a theme. And so you create a mix tape. Back in the day, we had cassette tapes, and we would mix different songs and get our favorite songs and record it on our cassette tapes, right? Yeah. And so you go over, and it’s a different theme, and the different themes are just incredible that you’ve had. Every time, it seems like it’s unique and fun and different. So I highly recommend anyone who’s into music. You’ve got just an amazing catalog and over 219 episodes. That puts you probably in the top 1% of podcasters. That’s a lot of episodes. So anyways, it’s so fun to do. And your knowledge of music, your love of music is great, and you’ve done a great job with that show.

[00:02:30.10] – Pat
Oh, thank you. And it is fun, to your point of having additional people in because after that number of shows, you’re like, What other themes really are there? And then you called, you contacted me. I’m like, That’s an awesome theme. A one 1% better theme.

[00:02:46.13] – Craig
I bet if you had to sit down and say, I got a map out… Let’s say you were doing some big national syndicate show, right? Not that Thief River Falls, the radio station there isn’t big, but if you had a company and said, Hey, you got to give us the next 10 or 20 episodes. You probably really struggle to say, What the heck can I come up with? But I bet every time, they just somehow they fall into your lap or they just come naturally. Just during the course of your day, you run into someone, right?

[00:03:16.03] – Pat
Yep, absolutely. You hear a song and say, That’s a great song. You know what? And then your mind starts spinning, and I can turn that into a theme. I’ll call that a seed song. Occasionally, I have that seed song, and it spawns a whole episode.

[00:03:31.07] – Craig
Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Like I said, anyone that loves music, you got to check it out. We’ll in the show notes give the link to the show. There’s just so many cool episodes. It’s going to resonate with absolutely everyone. Well, let’s jump into your background. One of the things, Pat, that makes you unique, in addition to your great podcast or your great music show, Mixtape, is that you worked for a company, and we don’t need to name names or anything, but you worked for a company for 31 years.

Yes. Almost 32.

Now, back when you and I were roughly the same age, but back when we were just getting into the workforce, that was quite common. People work their whole life at companies, General Mills, Cargill, those kinds of companies, 3M. That was the norm back in the ’70s and ’80s. But today, that is absolutely incredibly unique. In fact, I work with a lot of companies, as you know, and a lot of people, and I can maybe on one or two hands name people that have worked for the same company for over 30 years now. So first of all, maybe just talk a little bit about that. Did you expect that? Was it something you just said, Hey, this is just going to be my life. I’m going to retire there. And was that the norm? Or how did that happen? Tell us about that.

[00:04:58.13] – Pat
Yeah, That’s a good question. I think living in Thief River Falls, rural Minnesota, it limits your options, so to speak. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but it forces you to ride through some of the bumps that you maybe wouldn’t have. If I had been in the Twin Cities and had a huge market of jobs that I could have maybe applied to.

[00:05:27.14] – Craig
Right. You had recruiters calling you every week saying, Hey, the next company wants you, the next company wants you, right?

[00:05:33.10] – Pat
Yeah, exactly. It was a big deal to pick up and move to consider my wife is the principal of the Catholic school here, so she’s got roots. We have three daughters that have all graduated high school and are either in college or graduated college, so it would have been hard to move away from them. But yeah, I guess I just kept on keeping on. When I first started at this organization, it was pretty small. It was maybe 300 people, and it was very much… It felt like a family. To this day, some of my best friends are the ones that were… I’ll mention a name, Jack Rominsky, Kevin Eiliff, these guys both work there. Every other week, we still get together and have a discussion. I think it was that feeling back then that really helped. So we could lean on each other and lean into each other. But to your point, it was common. My dad worked as a Grain Elevator Manager in Fisher, Minnesota for 40 years. I would bet that maybe your parents both had long-time jobs that they worked at as well.

[00:06:45.10] – Craig
Yeah, my mom was mostly a homemaker, and she had a couple jobs just to maybe help make ends meet. Kids need braces or something. So my dad really… interestingly enough, again, in a town similar to Fisher, town north of Detroit, well, Calaway, we had our own elevator, but 130 people. And there wasn’t corporate jobs around there. You were a farmer or you ran a store or you did something, construction or something. So he really had three completely different careers, which is quite interesting. He was a farmer.

Okay.

And then he bought a service station. We would call them a gas station. But back then it was a service station because you did everything. You were a mechanic, you serviced the car, you filled the gas. Sometimes you gave your customers loans. I mean, you had a tow truck. You did a lot of different things. It was full service. He did that for 20 years. So farm 20 years, that 20 years. And then he was a postmaster. So completely different. And he did that for 20 years. And then I think after he retired, for another 20 years, he was essentially a volunteer, and he went around to hospitals, and he volunteered in all these different organizations, the Lions Club, Catholic Aid Society. You know all these places. It’s quite interesting, but that’s small town America, right?

[00:08:18.13] – Pat
Absolutely, yes. Because I’m sure, to your point, three different careers, but he knew everybody in-

He knew everybody.

-and the area. It was a natural transition, right?

Yeah.

That was my thing.

[00:08:30.07] – Craig
You know that world. And part of your experience was somewhat like you grew up with the company. Like you said, this company started very modestly, and it, over the course of 20 to 30 years, grew immensely, probably far beyond not only your dreams, but anyone’s dreams, right? As far as how big it got. And so you had opportunities to grow and get into leadership and management. And so you probably, at certain times just thought, Hey, this is never going to end. The company keeps growing. I keep getting opportunities. We keep getting bigger. It was a great thing. But then there was that moment where things started to shift. The company was as they do when they get big, they get different leadership, they get different strategy. Now they’re now a global company. They have shifts in global economic conditions. They have to make big decisions with investments. They built big plants and big distribution centers. And so there’s shifts. And you found at one point not too long ago where, hey, maybe this isn’t the place for me. Maybe they’re shifting directions and don’t know if this is the right place for me.

So how quickly did that happen over a course of years that you recognized and felt maybe this isn’t the right place anymore? Or was it like, all of a sudden, I’m going to just keep going, keep going, all of a sudden, wow, something needs to change here. Just describe that because after 30 years anywhere, Pat, that’s a big shock to go, Hey, I’m not going to be here anymore, or maybe I’m not going to be here anymore.

[00:10:10.06] – Pat
Yes, it definitely was interesting. I would say, so I was with the company until early 2024. I think in about 2019, I started to feel like, Is this the right thing for me? How do I feel comfortable with my leadership, with my role, with my team. There were certain things I felt like I was the perfect fit for, and other things it was a struggle. Sometimes you work through them and sometimes you think, This is not something that really feels like it fits me. When you’re with a really large organization, you’re forced. If you want to continue at that executive level, you have to, for lack of a better term, make some concessions. There were concessions I just didn’t want to make. But yeah, I mean, I grew up… My background is computer science. I got a major in computer science. I was a Software Engineer, a Database Administrator, moved in. Because I had been there so long, it was the natural fit to move into the leadership role. I said, Well, I don’t want to turn down a challenge like that. I got into it, and I was always… I approached it very nervously, I lacked a lot of imposter syndrome.

[00:11:38.10] – Craig
Yeah. Another way I would describe it, I worked with you enough during some of that period, not the early period, but the later period, that you have also, I would say, humility. And a lot of people in leadership positions either don’t have humility or they don’t show humility because they believe maybe it’s a weakness. And so they want to show this, and maybe that’s what you meant by imposter syndrome. But you were very humble, not trying to act like you had all the answers, not trying to act like the boss and make decisions. And so I think that’s a strength, frankly, but it’s not typical in leadership positions, especially as you continue to go up and up. So is that what you’re referring to?

[00:12:26.08] – Pat
Yeah, absolutely. It is a strength, but it can also be seen as a weakness. To your point, my personality is such that everyone thinks of me as the nice guy, which can be helpful and harmful. I think there were certain times where it’s… When you’re with an organization that long, you tend to be a little bit written off as like, Well, that’s who you are. You’re in this box. I don’t ever see you getting out of that box. It’s an uphill battle to get out of that situation as well.

[00:13:01.14] – Craig
Sure. Yeah, it’s natural. I mean, any organization, and sometimes that happens by a certain person that is above you, and sometimes you get locked into a persona or reputation, that’s normal. Yeah. I will say I know a lot of people that have gone through these career transitions, and whether you’re at a company for 10 or whether it’s 30, if you’re not really prepared for it, not driving it or the one in control, it can be devastating. And so what were the emotions that you went through, Pat, as you went through that process? Because not only was it, I’m going to change jobs, which again, that’s completely normal. People do it every day. Some people jump jobs every… Now it’s common. It used to be a negative when we look at resumes to say if someone’s jumping every two or three or four years, like, Oh, what’s the problem here? Now it’s the norm. Yeah, it is. If somebody is at a company too long now, we go, Jeez, are they able to shift and learn? It’s completely normal to shift jobs, but I guess, what emotions did you go through when you were going through that?

[00:14:21.01] – Pat
It was a lot of highs and lows. I think when we first started working together, I was really excited about the direction we were taking. We were essentially entering, implementing the data-centric, data-centricity type direction for the company and that was exciting. There were so many new things and so many new ideas. It went from that to struggling to sell it to the leadership. I think there’s a lot of… Oftentimes, there can be expectations of they expect one thing, and you have to constantly communicate that, You know what? This is how it really is. You may expect me to rub the lamp and have the genius pop out and solve all problems.

Yeah, it’s magic.

It’s magic.

You get all this money and everything’s going to be easy, right?

Yeah. I think over time, I would say, especially over the last couple of years, I started to more and more find difficulty, for lack of a better term, pleasing leadership and helping. There were certain issues that the company had that they felt like were really hot button issues. I think they expected, Oh, this will solve all of those problems, and they didn’t. But that’s just nature because it takes time. You plant seeds, and oftentimes you have to invest money, time into it. I don’t know that the company was always willing to do that. There was a lot of impatience, I think. But I mean, that’s just the organization. I would say it was hard. It went from being very excited to being disappointed to being just… There’s a certain amount of you feeling, for lack of a better term, humiliation, because you’re like, Oh, my God, am I that bad? It is a blow to your ego. You can’t quite make those connections, and you don’t get a lot of… Well, the higher you move up in an organization, you probably get less positive feedback, and that’s just the nature of it.

[00:16:39.12] – Craig
There’s no doubt about that. Like you said, you’re at a level in the organization. You weren’t at a level that someone was just saying, Hey, go do this, go learn a new skillset, go do this. You were trying to shift an organization. And so it’s all about influence, and it’s all about having different skillsets, selling, instilling confidence. And then, of course, you were in a tough position because this was a massive change. This was essentially changing an entire mindset of data being a technical thing or an IT thing to being a business asset of the organization that every part of the business needs to embrace. And so it was a very strategic move. And again, you said that earlier, there’s lock-ins. What does Pat know about this? He’s grown up in IT, and he’s got a certain skillset. So what does he know about this? Yet you’re trying to sell them on, Hey, this is the right direction. So it was definitely a different, a challenging position.

But where I was going earlier, Pat, is not only were you coming to grips with the companies changing and evolving. Am I at the right level? Is this the work I want to do? Am I able to be effective? But you were also… It’s not like you had 10 other options in town. So this is a very big move for you because you’re a long ways away from a Metropolitan area, although through COVID, we now work remote a lot more. So that’s definitely of a great benefit. But it’s a pretty hard thing to be facing that kind of a change when, again, there’s not a lot of options in town. So it’s a roller coaster, like you said, and you were in the middle of it. I felt for you because anyone who goes through it, and you and I were just talking on this Mixtape episode that we did that change is hard. Yes. And it’s like some of the words that you use, Am I a failure? This is embarrassing. Well, sometimes you have to have some of those to get to the next level or to get to a different set of awareness. One of the sayings that I love, and you and I were talking on the last show a little bit about these simple truths. And one of them that I like is that all change is loss, and all loss needs to be mourned.

So if we’re really going to make a change, it might be, Hey, I want to lose 40 pounds. Well, that sounds great. Who doesn’t want to lose 40 pounds? But do you know you have to change, like literally every habit you have. You can’t eat the ice cream before bed… You can’t have the desserts… You can’t be drinking at every event… whatever the things are that you’re going to change. And that’s a part of your life. And those are people, and you had experiences and you had good times. And if you’re going to move on to this next person that you’re going to become, you have to let go of that old person. And so the same way with you, you had to let go of that old persona, that old role, that title, those relationships to some degree. That’s a lot. One thing is just, how did you work through that? Did you get help? Did you leverage family, friends? What was the process you used?

[00:19:54.06] – Pat
I did. I worked with a career coach, and I would highly recommend her. Her name was Freda Marver, and she was based in Minneapolis, Saint Paul. So talking through with her, just in terms of what are my interests, what are my strengths, and those things that force you to self-reflect in a way maybe you wouldn’t on your own. So certainly that was very helpful, and it was a piece of the puzzle. Some of the people I had worked with had come from different organizations, and they were able to share some of their experiences in previous roles where maybe they ran into similar things and they were able to move past them. A big part of it really is my wife. Laura and I have been married for 31 years this summer.

[00:20:40.12] – Craig
Wow, the same duration. Well, a little bit after you started at the company, right?

[00:20:46.04] – Pat
Yeah, exactly. We got engaged, I think, the year after I started, but so supportive. And that was extremely helpful. There was just, I am on your side. We’ll get through this. We’ll figure it out… as were my kids. But my kids were not at home, but they were always very supportive. So I always had that support of friends and family.

[00:21:10.08] – Craig
Very good. Well, it’s now been what, a year and a half? Yes. Two years, year and a half? What would you say just looking backwards on the whole thing, what did you learn from it?

[00:21:25.06] – Pat
I would say that I was in a leadership role. I do enjoy the technical aspects of it. I forgot how much I love to solve problems. One of my favorite things really is to help people one-on-one. I have been able to do that. So that has been essentially coming back to that, things that I maybe had not thought of when I was earlier in my career, now I look back and say, Oh, yeah, you know what? What I’m doing right now really fulfills me just like it did back then, where I can be that problem solver and help people get over humps that they never would have on their own. I think it’s just learning what really fills my cup. I think that really was a lot of it. Certainly work-life balance as well. I’m able to not stress 24/7.

[00:22:26.14] – Craig
Yeah, you’re carrying a lot of weight on your shoulders, and you probably didn’t even know it at the time, but a lot of stress and anxiety.

[00:22:34.13] – Pat
Oh, absolutely. Because you can never please everybody. I’m a person who wants to try to find the win-win, and that’s hard. And it’s stressful when you can’t. I think I found that it was a good time for me to step back, and I’ve so appreciated learning a different, not only different organization, but just a different type of business and having new experiences and reforming relationships from the ground up. It’s experiences that a lot of people who shift jobs frequently or every few years have that I didn’t have. It allowed me to grow in a way that staying with a company for 32 years, I wasn’t able to do.

[00:23:21.01] – Craig
You wouldn’t have done it naturally on your own. That’s the thing about people that shift jobs, sometimes their ego prevents them from even considering different jobs, whether the job is a lower level or whether it’s even… If you shift away, and I mentioned my father shifted careers. If you shift a career, you are starting from ground level one. You’re starting entry level. You don’t go from expert of this industry and expert to this industry, right? So you have to start over. And for a lot of people, that’s a big hit to their ego. Like, I was a master at this technology. Now, if I switch to this new technology, I’m going to be at entry level. I can’t do that. I’m senior. And sometimes you have to be forced into that because a lot of people don’t naturally just say, Well, I don’t care. I love learning. I’m going to start over. It doesn’t seem like that’s a natural thing for people.

[00:24:19.13] – Pat
It’s the humility of being able to say, You know what? I’m not too senior, too good for… to get my hands dirty. So to speak. I enjoy being able to do that. My dad was a humble guy. I picked that up from him.

I’m sure.

Yeah, that’s a lot of it. I enjoy being able to get my hands dirty and in a way, reinvent myself.

[00:24:44.06] – Craig
Well, And do the things that you love, because I do know when you say you like to help people, you absolutely do. And you probably are able to feel like you’re much more fulfilled because you can interact with people and help them on a daily basis and get real things accomplished. Again, when you’re at a leadership level, you don’t necessarily get, quote unquote, outcomes every day. You’re trying to influence outcomes over weeks and quarters and years through your teams and through a lot of people. And it’s all indirect a lot of times. That’s right. So that sense of accomplishment with saying, problem, I know how to help. I’m going to help you. Resolved. You can do that sometimes within a day, and that must feel pretty good, right?

[00:25:31.10] – Pat
Yeah, it is. It’s fantastic. Having that direct control over being able to help people versus trying to get your team to do it. And do they understand what you’re doing? And do they believe in what you’re trying to get them to do? You know how it is as a leader. It’s not black and white. It takes a lot of patience, and it takes a lot of fortitude. It’s nice to be able to step away from that.

[00:25:58.00] – Craig
Well, thanks for sharing. It’s not always easy to go through those things. I know this was not easy, but I knew, no doubt, it didn’t necessarily make it better or easier for you, but I never had a doubt that you would come through it and you would be better for it. I appreciate that. It’s great to see that. And thanks for sharing, because a lot of people wouldn’t want to share it or they would describe it a different way. And I just think it’s so important, Pat, for a lot of people to hear, because there’s not a single person listening to this that either hasn’t gone through it themselves or will go through it, and it’s not easy. And so to hear, Hey, you came through it. It wasn’t easy. You learned, you went through it, and now you’re a better person for it and you’re happier. I just think that’s an important message for people to hear.

[00:26:45.13] – Pat
Oh, absolutely. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and take a right turn. I’m very much a believer in that the higher power oftentimes has a plan for us, and we need to be patient and look for the signs, let it happen.

[00:27:05.10] – Craig
Don’t fight it. Let it happen. I was with some friends, actually, yesterday, and happened to be a colleague of mine from India, and he brought some of his new colleagues. And so there’s four guys from India, and they’re in Minnesota. Three of them have never been in Minnesota. I said, We’re going to go on a boat ride. Well, it was a pontoon, and it was on a river. So they’ve never been on a pontoon before. Don’t even know if they’ve ever heard of a pontoon, frankly. And then we were going up a river. And the interesting thing was we went up the river upstream, and then it was nice. We were going slow, of course. And then we turned around and started coming back and I asked them, I go, do you guys notice anything different? And they go, yeah, going downstream, everything is easier and it’s quieter and it seems different. And that’s the way life is. When you’re fighting upstream, it’s always harder. But when you’re going with the plan, with the flow, and now sometimes in life, there’s things that are hard and you have to go upstream. That’s just the nature of the beast.

But sometimes when you find that right flow and you find that right going down, it is just so much easier. So they all love that, and they all love the Minnesota experience. It’s just like kids, because they don’t have the environment that we have, the rivers that we have. It’s so fun to see them light up like kids.

[00:28:36.10] – Pat
That’s fantastic. Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. Sometimes you hit a flow and everything seems natural, and then you hit a bump and you’re going back upstream. But that’s life, right? You have to have the adversity to be able to improve. We had just talked about this on my radio show when I was hosting that I had heard a speech by Jim Kleinsasser, the great Vikings tight-end, who spoke at the University of North Dakota Commencement, and he talked about, No one likes adversity, but you need it. He talked about how in his first few games, he felt like he was on top of the world, and then they put him in at running back, and he didn’t run the route right, and the ball popped out. Then later in the game, he gets so worked up, same thing happens, and he just had to settle down. He was humiliated. He watched the tapes, he studied. You learn. If you’re patient and patient with yourself, you can get through that. I appreciate that message.

[00:29:46.02] – Craig
He’s such a great story. He’s such a great story at so many levels. First of all, he should never have been in the NFL. He doesn’t look like an NFL player. He’s not the right size. He’s very large, and he’s got the big bones and the big neck. He’s just a monster. He’s not very tall. And so he’s not big enough to be a lineman. He’s not athletic enough to be a tight end. He’s not fast enough to be a running back. He really doesn’t fit any role in the NFL. So by all measurements, and there’s never been a player that I know of since him. And so the only way that he could have gotten to where he got to was that he had to constantly, this whole idea of 1% better. This idea of, okay, because I’m sure he failed and he ran into roadblocks, just dozens and dozens and dozens of them, right? Yes. Especially when it got to be like, okay, division one football and then pro football. It’s like, no, you don’t fit. You’re not this, you’re not this, you’re not this. And he had to have this mindset, well, I’m not going to let that get my way.

I’m going to learn something. I’m going to do something. I’m going to work harder, work harder, learn, study. He’s a very smart person. Yes. He played in the NFL, and he was very effective, but he played a tight end when, again, he wasn’t really built like a tight end, but he’s an incredible blocker. He learned to catch the ball and run, and then he became a running back, a blocking back. And then a running… He learned to find a way to help the team. But the only way he could do that is by getting better and really working hard and learning. And then that’s what got him to the NFL. It’s a lot like John Randle. Very similar story. He should never been in the NFL. He turned out to be an all pro Viking Ring of Honor guy, but he was never destined. He was too short. His arms were too short. He just was not the right build for an NFL. And then the only way that he got a shot is because in practice, he was always beating. He was on the practice squad, and he was always beating the starters, right?

And then practice squad guys aren’t supposed to do that. And anyways, it’s just such a great story about Jim Kleinsasser and how he had this whole, you need these learnings. There’s a great book called The Obstacle Is the Way.

I have to read that.

And it’s based on the meditations of Marcus Aurelius, which is basically Marcus Aurelius’s diary. I mean, he was the Emperor of Rome, and he was famous, but he wrote diaries to himself, and it was all about learnings and introspection. And so this other gentleman wrote The Obstacle Is the Way, which is the only way you get better is through failure and through finding that there’s something in your way, and you have to I’m trying to figure out, Am I going to get around that? And how am I going to work to get around it? So it’s the Jim Kleinsasser story.

[00:32:51.13] – Pat
Yeah. Do I need to reinvent myself to be able to do it? And I have to be willing to do it.

[00:32:54.09] – Craig
Again, if you were to just go back and watch the films of this guy, you’d go, how did he ever make it to the NFL? But he was so effective. The guy, he did things that… The Vikings invented an entire position for him. Oh, that’s nice. Yeah, they had usually, there’s a fullback and a halfback, usually an eye formation, or you have sometimes a splitback. Well, they went back to the old wing offense where you had a third running back. I forget what they call them. He played some tight in, but they… And so basically, they put him as a third running back so he could be a lead blocker.

Okay.

And so then you’d have two lead blockers, and he was just fast enough, nimble enough, tough enough to do that. And then once in a while, they learned, well, the guy can actually catch. And so they started getting them the ball. It’s a fascinating story. They should do a movie about him.

[00:33:56.03] – Pat
That would be awesome. He’s so humble. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to do that.

[00:34:01.13] – Craig
Yeah. Well, hey, let’s shift it back. We started with the Mixtape. One of the things that I thought was really interesting, and we talked a lot on the show, Pat, about this whole idea of work-life balance, and that in some ways, it’s a very counterproductive idea that there’s two sides of a person, and you need to have a separation. And so you spend a lot of time with music. You love music. It’s a passion. You’ve done the show for so long, and then you’re doing your day job. I’m curious, in your mind, was it just something you did because you really did want a release and a break from work, and you just separated them? Or do you feel like knowing what you learned at work, your deep into data and research and learning, and then you brought that in. Did you ever bring those two things together? Did they help you learn? I’m just curious, how did you think about those two worlds that you lived in?

[00:35:02.01] – Pat
I think I initially got into it, again, because I had such a passion for music. But I think where the two really blended was, to your point, the research, the preparation, and the confidence to be able to express your ideas, basically just putting together a string of thoughts, which sometimes can be… I’m a person with ADHD, and so sometimes the linear thoughts can be a challenge. And so it really helped me develop my speaking skills, my planning skills. I think that’s where I was able to blend those two together. And just, again, having that creative outlet where in a leadership role, oftentimes, the creativity is just different.

[00:35:52.14] – Craig
Yeah, for sure. Well, I’m sure being in a smaller community, people at work knew you did this. They knew you were on the radio station. So there was some natural blending of that because everyone was aware of this, right?

[00:36:08.07] – Pat
Yes. Yeah, exactly.

[00:36:10.03] – Craig
That’s so cool. Yeah. Well, very good. No, it’s been blessed.

Yeah. So, Pat, take a step back from everything, the work experience, what you’ve done in music. You’ve served your community a lot. You’re a family person. Just what are some life lessons that you’ve learned along the that you’d want to pass on to the next generation?

[00:36:33.04] – Pat
Yeah, I would say, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. When new opportunities may come up that you’re like, That’s absolutely not me. And there may be other ones where you’re like, I’m uncomfortable, but I think it’ll help me grow. Don’t say no to those. I teach a class at the College of St. Scholastica, and trust me, that didn’t feel natural, but I’m like, This is going to help me grow, and I never know how I will improve. So Again, don’t say no to it. I still struggle with this, but don’t get too down on yourself. Again, imposter syndrome, don’t let it knock you down. You have to… And be patient. Be patient. Know that, again, if you have the faith that I have, that things will work out for you. Sometimes you just need to-There’s a bigger plan. Yeah. Don’t panic. It will work out for you. So treat people with respect, and it will all come back to you in a positive way.

[00:37:35.06] – Craig
Yeah. Well, there’s a lot that you just packed in there. I love where you started, which I’m guessing five years ago, you wouldn’t have said. So you’ve incorporated a recent experience that started out being very difficult and tough, and now you’ve used it to be in, Hey, this is something that is part of you now to look for opportunities, and you’re helping others see those opportunities. We talked about patience is a virtue. We talked about the song, There Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. That’s the positive self-talk like, Hey, whatever it is, I can get through it. There ain’t no valley low enough. We can figure this out, and we’ll be better for it. So thanks for sharing all that and for being on 1% Better.

[00:38:19.14] – Pat
I thank you so much for having me on here, Craig. I look forward to listening to this, and I look forward to broadcasting the show you and I did together.

[00:38:28.14] – Craig
So awesome. Two for one in one day. Thanks, Pat. Have a great-

Thank you, Craig.

Have a great rest of your day.

You as well. Thanks.

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