Patti Cotton is an international Fortune 500 speaker. As a seasoned and respected leader, consultant, speaker and trainer in the areas of leadership, change and transition, strategy and business development, Patti delivers inspiring keynotes and workshops, and facilitates retreats for corporations, business associations, conferences, and diverse groups in the private, public and social sectors. Her keynotes average 30 to 5,000+ attendees, and she’s been honored three times with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service. 

Throughout her corporate career, Patti was known for breaking through impossible barriers to produce exceptional results. As a diplomat, she worked alongside heads of state and other change agents from around the globe to solve problems with creativity and grace. She is also Harvard-trained in advanced approaches to change. In these roles, she learned leadership at an international level and applied that leadership experience to reaching unprecedented success in the business world.

In her engaging, interactive presentations, Patti now shares that experience and training with leaders around the world.

Patti’s audiences describe her style as dynamic, poised, and persuasive, and her inspirational, informative presentations always include specific takeaways that can be applied immediately to improve both work and personal life at the individual, team, and organizational levels.

With shared experiences, stories, and real-world examples, Patti will inspire, inform, and expertly guide you, your team, and your organization to overcome challenges and achieve higher levels of success in your personal and professional life.

Takeaway
You’ll leave Patti’s dynamic presentations with deep insights into effective leadership and proven processes to implement change so that you and your enterprise can effectively meet tomorrow. Patti inspires purpose and drives action in your organization. Your event participants take away the best information along with practical steps to address the top issues that challenge leaders, teams and organizations today.

Fast Facts

• Patti Cotton, Founder and CEO of Cotton Group, LLC, is a sought-after leader and strategist whose background includes more than 25 years of multicultural leadership experience around the globe in the areas of diplomatic relations, philanthropy, public relations, and communications.
• As a diplomat, she engaged with leaders across the world to foster international relations.
• As chief development officer for a major five-hospital healthcare system, Patti designed the strategy and built and led a team to the successful completion of multiple campaign initiatives, raising a record $21.3 million within a short window of time. It was, in the estimation of many, an unreachable goal.
• As an executive consultant and coach, trainer, international Fortune 500 speaker, and author, Patti brings this wealth of experience to her executive consulting clients, to the corporate teams she develops, and to the audiences she effectively engages as a speaker.
• Through her signature 360˚Leadership brand, Patti works with executives, business owners, and other chief decision-makers to engage, elevate, and equip them for greater leadership and outcomes. She also provides training, facilitation, workshops, and retreats in such areas as: actionable strategic planning, critical communications and conflict management, taking purpose to make impact, breaking through immunities to change, and other leadership-related topics.
• Patti is a guest lecturer at select universities on conflict management, leadership, organizational development, and advanced coaching methodologies and a mediator for the state of California. She is a monthly contributor to “Women, Money, and Mindset” for the business column in the 11 newspapers of the Southern California news group, and has been recognized by Inland Empire magazine as one of the most influential women in the region.
• As an active community volunteer and board member, Patti supports initiatives that promote the health and welfare of women and children, including helping women business owners grow and sustain their businesses. A percentage of profit is donated to supporting alternatives to domestic violence.

What people are saying…
“Patti helps you step beyond the ordinary and into what’s possible. Having played multiple key leadership roles herself, she relates on a deep level to those decision-makers who seek to influence more and make more impact. She provides insights and actions to help you get there.”
– Elizabeth McCarty, Director, Pathways International

• Corporate and Industry Retreats & Forums – all industries
• Executive Forums
• Corporations, Non-Profits
• CEOs, Executive Managers, HR Professionals
• Business & Civic Groups
• Women’s Groups, Career Women
• Community Organizations
• Entrepreneurs, Business Owners
• Family-owned businesses
• Christian Groups

Presentations

Customized for your group and presented as keynotes, breakouts, seminars or workshops, retreats, trainings and webinars. Patti Cotton is also available as a panel moderator or guest.

NEW! Return is a Muscle: Building Your Team’s Nerve Center to Lead Confidently through Change

Is your business surviving, recovering or thriving? The ability to succeed in a world of constant change begins with the power of you and your executive team.

Many companies are sweating the details of their return plans rather than building the capabilities needed for a return. Before the pandemic, leaders and executive teams around the world recognized the importance of adapting quickly. Now, having faced disruptions at a speed and scale unprecedented in modern times, we realize that the question is not, “How do we reach the next normal safely?” It is, instead, “How do we build the muscle necessary to thrive through constant change?”

The most successful teams don’t just weather the storm of an extreme situation but also pivot and flex to meet the challenge and even improve upon what they have been doing. Change and transition expert Patti Cotton reveals how to develop your team’s resiliency muscle to drive greater performance and growth.

You will discover how to:

• Strengthen your team’s emotional agility for greater collaboration and productivity
• Adopt a proven model you and your team can use again and again to anticipate change and get ahead of the curve
• Acquire a consistent process that quickly aligns and coordinates pivots throughout the organization

Leading from the Heart: Igniting the Human Spirit at Work

FOCUS: Communications | Confidence | Interpersonal Effectiveness

The common belief in business is that heart has no place in management. And yet, traditional leadership practices are failing. Across the globe, employee engagement and job satisfaction scores have fallen to crisis levels. As the marketplace continues to shift and change, it’s challenging to keep 21st century employees happy and productive. They seek more. They seek purpose, meaning, and significance. Patti shares how to lead from the heart to drive human motivation and achievement, and shows that clearly, love and results go hand in hand.

360° Leadership: Managing Up, Down, and Sideways

FOCUS: Leadership Agility | Influence | Impact

To realize a vision, achieve goals, and make change within your enterprise, you must possess the ability to manage up, down, and sideways. How do you engage others at all angles and levels to get the work done, even when you are not in charge? Patti Cotton outlines the three leadership skills you need to sharpen in order to effectively influence others for action and results.

Significant Shifts: Breaking Through Resistance to Change

FOCUS: Leadership Agility | Influence | Impact

You are a successful executive or team—why can’t you make that one shift necessary to step into higher performance? Patti shares why human beings find change difficult, and the neuroscientific principles that lie behind the “stuck state” and subconscious self-sabotage. She presents the three keys necessary to rewiring the brain to achieve your goals. Whether you are an individual or team, you will learn proven steps to break through resistance to change.

Beyond the Ordinary: Moving from Success to Significance

FOCUS: Powerful Influencing Skills | Catalyzing Change | Building Trust

What does it mean to live a life of significance? Patti shares how to move away from mere success and into the deeper, more meaningful work you were meant to do. In this presentation, you will learn about the four cornerstones needed to live your leadership purpose. Patti will share how you can create a legacy through your best and highest work to make a greater impact on the lives of those around you and beyond. Learn what is possible for you—beyond the ordinary.

Meet Patti Cotton…

Patti Cotton, Founder and CEO of Cotton Group, LLC, is a sought-after leader and strategist whose background includes more than 25 years of multicultural leadership experience around the globe, in the areas of diplomatic relations, philanthropy, public relations, and communications.

As a diplomat, she and her spouse engaged with leaders across the world to foster international relations.

As chief development officer for a major five-hospital healthcare system, Patti designed the strategy and built and led a team to the successful completion of multiple campaign initiatives, raising a record $21.3 million within a short window of time. It was, in the estimation of many, an unreachable goal.

As an executive consultant and coach, trainer, international Fortune 500 speaker, and author, Patti brings this wealth of experience to her executive consulting clients, to the corporate teams she develops, and to the audiences she effectively engages as a speaker.

Through her signature 360˚Leadership brand, Patti works with executives, business owners, and other chief decision-makers to engage, elevate, and equip them for greater leadership and outcomes. She also provides training, facilitation, workshops, and retreats in such areas as: actionable strategic planning, critical communications and conflict management, taking purpose to make impact, breaking through immunities to change, and other leadership-related topics.

Patti is a guest lecturer at select universities on conflict management, leadership, organizational development, and advanced coaching methodologies and a mediator for the state of California. She is a monthly contributor to “Women, Money, and Mindset” for the Press-Enterprise’s Business column, and has been recognized by Inland Empire magazine as one of the most influential women in the region.

As an active community volunteer and board member, Patti supports initiatives that promote the health and welfare of women and children, including helping women business owners grow and sustain their businesses. A percentage of profit is donated to supporting alternatives to domestic violence. Patti is a three-time recipient of The U.S. President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service.

What people are saying…

“Patti combines years of experience with exceptional skills to deliver high-value content applicable and relevant to today’s workforce. I highly recommend Patti to speak at or train within any organization. You’ll be delighted by her delivery, and enlightened and empowered by her practical, actionable tools.”
—Maria Gamb, CEO, NMS Communications

“Patti inspires, motivates and moves those who experience her presentations. Her knowledge, expertise and wisdom get quickly to the core of how to move forward more effectively by being one’s best self, and provides important tools to do so.”
—Kathy Quintana, Executive Vice President, HUB International

“Patti helps you step beyond the ordinary and into the ‘what’s possible.’ Having played multiple key leadership roles herself, she relates on a deep level to those decision-makers who seek to influence more and make more impact, and she provides insights and actionables to help you get there.”
—Elizabeth McCarty, Director, Pathways International

You can count on Patti to keep an audience motivated and inspired on key issues pertinent to today’s leadership. Her messages and takeaways provided have influenced the way our corporate community approaches our work and the company’s future.”
—M.J., Executive Vice President, international transportation firm

Books by Patti Cotton

Coming soon! The Next Normal