Joel Patterson founded The Vested Group after spending 15 years implementing Tier One ERP and getting frustrated from dealing with the “square peg and round hole” problem constantly. The problem caused his smaller customers to fail at handling larger and more complex systems.
At The Vested Group, Joel Patterson aims to solve ERP problems by delivering effective solutions to their clients in various industries. Previously, Joel had seen how difficult it was for clients to implement and use the technology. This problem left customers stuck with a system that needed “constant care and feeding,” which they were unable to provide without hiring outside services.
The Vested Group and Joel Patterson believe that NetSuite is the “comprehensive solution” that is badly needed in the Enterprise Software sector. The company believes that the system is simple enough for clients, especially in the small-to-medium business segment, to use. This simplicity allows the company to deliver successful results on their projects with clients.
Before founding The Vested Group, Joel Patterson worked as a consultant for more than 20 years. He started his career at the firms Arthur Andersen and Cap Gemini. In 2001, he left to help found Lucidity Consulting Group.
Joel Patterson is also the author of “The Big Commitment: Solving the Mysteries of Your ERP Implementation,” to be published by Forbes Books. He is also a speaker, with expertise in consulting, corporate culture, technology, business, authorship, and strategic planning.
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Being able to share this journey with others has helped me grow as a business owner, and it also allows me to offer encouragement and support to my peers, which helps keep burnout at bay.
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Joel Patterson: Pretty much every organization you talk to these days will tell you what makes them different is their people. While most probably say this with the utmost sincerity — as do we! — The Vested Group has given a lot of thought to our differentiator, and we can be a little more precise. We’ve discovered that what makes our people different is something we refer to as TVGenius. What exactly is TVGenius?
TVGenius, [tee-vee-jeen-yuhs], noun:
- That unique set of superpowers each one of us has that make us brilliant or amazing. Sometimes this is easy to identify, like coding skills or an uncanny encyclopedic knowledge of saved search wildcards, and sometimes more elusive, like being able to diffuse a tense interaction merely by your tone of voice.
- That spark or flash of inspiration that pops up unintentionally and inexplicably wows everyone on your project team and beyond and consistently underscores who you are and why you fit in at The Vested Group so well.
- The only accurate answer to: where did he learn that? …how’d she come up with that? …when did you find that? …how did he know that? …how did she do that? It’s that cool thing you do that can’t be learned or taught but just is.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Joel Patterson: I’ve found a lot of value in peer mentorship programs. I belong to a professional organization of fellow entrepreneurs, and we meet regularly to discuss our successes and failures as well as share tips and advice. Being able to share this journey with others has helped me grow as a business owner, and it also allows me to offer encouragement and support to my peers, which helps keep burnout at bay.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. Delegating effectively is a challenge for many leaders. Let’s put first things first. Can you help articulate to our readers a few reasons why delegating is such an important skill for a leader or a business owner to develop?
Joel Patterson: Delegating is a top skill for business owners or anyone in a leadership role to develop because you will not be able to scale your business without growing your team. Having the skills to put the right people in the right positions can make or break that growth.
Delegating is a top skill for business owners or anyone in a leadership role to develop because you will not be able to scale your business without growing your team. Joel Patterson, Founder of The Vested Group
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you help articulate a few of the reasons why delegating is such a challenge for so many people?
Joel Patterson: Most people in a leadership position are there because they care deeply about their performance and reputation. Whether the task you are delegating is extremely simple or incredibly complex, you may feel reluctant to pass it along to someone and put your trust in them to get the job done successfully. The beauty of delegation is that you can accomplish more with a strong team sharing the work — the difficulty lies in assigning the right tasks to the right people to achieve success.
Your goal in delegating is to turn over a project to others so you can focus on other things yourself.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your opinion, what pivots need to be made, either in perspective or in work habits, to help alleviate some of the challenges you mentioned?
Joel Patterson: Delegating should be seen as turning over full control to the team or individual you have chosen. This means the chosen team will own the task or project from beginning to end and run the show as they see fit. Delegating is not creating a team and then giving that team orders on what to do and how to do it. Your goal in delegating is to turn over a project to others so you can focus on other things yourself.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Joel Patterson: If I could start a movement to bring the most amount of good to most people, it would involve electronics recycling. Being in the technology field, I see firsthand the amount of electronic waste people create daily. I feel so strongly about bringing awareness to the challenges we face with the repair and proper disposal of our electronic devices that my wife, Hillary Patterson, and I created a short film about this issue called Silicon Mountain. We’d love for you to take a look at the film at www.siliconmountainmovie.com
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Joel Patterson: You can follow The Vested Group on social media at:
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!