About | Dr. Mike Patterson

I teach in the doctoral programs at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology and California Baptist University. I like working with doctoral students because they are always incredibly bright and driven, so I have to push myself to keep up. My students also inspire me to see things from different perspectives, continue learning, and remain optimistic about the future.

I’m Dr. Mike Patterson, a lifelong learner dedicated to helping leaders and teams get stuff done—and have more fun in the process. Since leadership and teamwork are both rooted in relationship, I tend to focus on how these human connections work and what gets in the way.

I have worked with a wide array of people as an Army officer; a sales, marketing, and training leader in a large pharmaceutical company; and more recently, as a principal at Core Strengths, a global talent development company where I had the chance to work with leaders and teams from many of the world’s top organizations.

The consulting firm I founded is called Ambassador Associates. Our goal is to help clients bridge the gap that sometimes exists between people and performance. We do this through active interventions that include team building, training, and skill development, as well as more broadly assisting with talent development strategy. Fortunately, I’m joined in this effort by a number of incredibly talented friends who I can call on when needed. They bring different experiences and areas of expertise, so we can capably address a wide range of needs.

My most important roles are husband, father of five adult children, and Papi to an ever-growing group of grandchildren. I love them all deeply and consider it the greatest of blessings to have them in my life. My wife, Eunice, is the most loving, nurturing, and encouraging person I’ve ever known, so some of the practical lessons I share come through her example.

I hope you enjoy my website. It’s where I share my thoughts on a variety of topics through my blogs and videos. I’ll do my best to give you something immediately useful in every post, so you’ll want to come back for more.

Please contact me if I can be of service.

Back to the educational achievements…I attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL on a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship. I was a Distinguished Military Graduate (DMG) and earned a BA with honors in social science. While on active duty in Germany, I earned a MPA from Troy University. A few years into my business career, I earned a MA in organizational leadership with high honors from Biola University in La Mirada, CA, followed by a Certificate in Biblical Studies from Biola’s Talbot School of Theology. Finally, I completed my doctoral work at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology. My dissertation, An Examination of the Factors Affecting Training Transfer in a Sales Organization, was designated one of three “Distinguished Dissertations” by the International Society for Performance Improvement in 2011. Along with all of this academic work, I’m certified in a variety of popular commercial training programs.