Tom — his process, work, innovation, leadership development, team building and transformational strategic work — have impacted this country (and the world) at a level that few individuals in history have accomplished. He has walked along side of some of the greatest business leaders in the last 60 years, sparked the invention of almost countless products, systems and services that are the fabric of our society today and has transformed thousands of lives, being the catalyst to help them unleash and reach their maximum contribution.

Tom spent nearly thirty-five years joined at the hip with Peter Drucker. Those who knew the tandem called Drucker the “Business Theorist” and Tom the “Process Practician.” Peter Drucker, widely known as the ‘father of modern business management’ left his legacy in the sphere he designed of ‘Managing by Objectives’ (MBO). Tom spent years putting process around Peter’s theories and also had the opportunity to push back on the core issues of MBO which did not deliver consistent success for organizations. Through this Tom birthed his organizational theory of ‘Managing the Whole’ The Paterson Process leads to greater organizational effectiveness as the parts -( departments) - develop their individual departmental plans- as part of an overall strategic design to contribute to the whole, to help optimze ‘system performance’. This maximizes resources, defines roles and structure and takes out waste.

The core of Tom and his work is his strategic process/ thinking. He broke the mold on the expensive long drawn out consultant-driven strategic process and developed an initial strategic planning process which can be facilitated in three days. The output of this process is a strong plan created by the key constituents in the organization (owned by them because they created it - not him), transformational team building, the development of goals and initiatives outlined with deadlines, measurements and matrix. Thousands of companies have been through this process over the past 5 decades. He has walked in depth with companies such as GM, IBM, RCA, McDonnell Douglas, Ingersall Rand, Disney, Estee Lauder and hundreds more - working one-on-one with their CEO’s and leadership teams to effect extraordinary change, breakthroughs and success. He has worked under four presidents including being sent to China and Japan to help open relationships, develop foundational strategy for their business cultures and being commissioned to run studies here in the US to assess innovation and organizational optimization.

30 years ago many of the CEO’s and Executives with whom Tom engaged in his strategic consulting work – started asking Tom to help them work through similar questions of perspective, priorties and purpose in their own lives. Through these coaching sessions Tom developed the LifePlan Process. Tom has worked with thousands of marketplace and church leaders to help them clarify and discern where their true signifcance lies and to chart a course for the future.