Raland J. Patterson
For me, managing awesome teams was both rewarding and exciting. I learned early on that great managers take care of their team members; they do the right things for the right reasons. By helping team members focus on the same vision, they will begin to feel as if they’re playing a championship game every day. People like to win and most dream of being on a winning team. The saying Life is a journey not a destination, is so true. Hopefully this book will provide you with some of those right things to do, or Silver Bullets you might say.
Raland J. Patterson earned his MBA with an emphasis in finance from National University. For the past 18 years he worked as a financial planner. The last six were spent as Regional Vice President in Europe, responsible for 20 different offices located in seven countries. He served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot from 1970-1971 with the First Cavalry Division. He retired from the Army as a Lt. Colonel with 22 years of active duty. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star with One Oak Leaf Cluster, and 14 air medals, among other awards. After traveling extensively, he now lives in his hometown of Blue Ridge, Georgia. He is the author of two fiction novels, HOGBACK and HOVERDOWN, and is currently working on his next novel, TALKING ROCK, the third in the series of Jim Coleman’s life.
If you’re not having fun as a manager of people, then you’re doing something wrong. As one of my mentors explained to me, there are three phases of working in the financial planning or financial services world. The first is the job phase. This is when you’re just learning your occupation. In this phase you’re so afraid the client might ask you a question for which you do not have the answer that you approach each appointment with nervous anticipation. The second is the career phase. The best indicator that you have entered this phase is that you would give anything if only your client would ask a question you haven’t heard before. You look forward to appointments because you’re about to make a new friend. The third is the “calling” phase. You don’t look at your occupation as a job or a career anymore, but as a deep-seated need to help everyone in your area of expertise. My career went through all three phases. Because my mentor had described them in great detail, I was able to recognize the transitions. Better still, I was able to help speed the process along.
