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Patrick S. Woods

Leading Trainer for ACEA | Senior Executive

Patrick S. Woods
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Leading Trainer for ACEA | Senior Executive

Patrick S. Woods is an international lecturer and highly experienced senior executive who specializes in education and training in executive leadership, project management and procurement/supply chain.

Patrick has had the phenomenal opportunity to work with over 300 companies in the U.S., Asia, Netherlands, Middle East, Africa, India and Central America. Now, in association with Missouri State University (MSU), he is conducting professional development trainings for key corporations, including “Negotiations in the 21st Century.”

Throughout his career, Patrick has worked with Executive Assistants (EAs) in Fortune 100 corporations such as Emerson and HP (previously Electronic Data Systems). He is now channeling both his academic experience (in working with the University of North Texas, the University of Alabama and now, MSU) as well as best practices to help EAs transition from tactical to strategic roles to drive value in their respective organizations. As such, Patrick is also excited to be working with BMTG as a facilitator of the ACEA program.

Patrick is currently training the United States Navy and Northrop Grumman in key certification programs. He divides his time between Texas and Costa Rica.

  • Going Green: The EA’s Role in Sustainability

    Let’s turn back the clock to April 22nd. Do you remember that was Earth Day?  A day to reflect on the importance of our planet and how necessary it is to protect it. In support of this, sustainability is known by 3 pillars:  the environmental, economic and social dimensions.  We could address each in a separate session but will focus on the first one – also called the Green Initiative.

    First, we will discuss on a macro level, why it is important for EAs to understand the global movement toward sustainability and how it affects your firm, both from a customer’s perception as well as costs.

    Second, although an EA cannot single-handedly stop climate change, from a micro level, they can champion 8 eco-friendly practices.

    Moving from the internal to the external, an EA either directly works with key suppliers or interfaces with the purchasing function and can help drive procurement strategies such as investment recovery and working with suppliers.

    And of course, we will also discuss how you can sell all of this to two audiences:  your direct and senior leadership as well as your key stakeholders.

    Learning Outcomes

    • Understand the global movement toward sustainability
    • Review the 8 practical ways an EA can promote “green” in their organization
    • Market these ideas to senior leadership

     

  • The Top 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Negotiating with Your Vendors

    Negotiation is an everyday facet of life – whether it is with your spouse over where to dine, your teenage son or daughter borrowing your car, or on an exotic vacation and the fun of haggling for a souvenir.  This presentation is based on my article, published in the February-March edition of Executive Support Magazine, which focused on a humorous landscape with a  purchasing situation that most EAs can identify with: negotiating with an outside venue for a major corporate event.

    Our fictional EA, Diligent Delia, has inherited a mess from last year’s fiasco and must come across as a turnaround hero for this upcoming event. This turnaround can be accomplished through 10-initiatives:  (1) increasing the competition, (2) dangling a larger carrot, (3) negotiating contracts “with teeth,” (4) opening up the books, (5) using the negotiation matrix, (6-7) employing the “bogey” and “missing person” tactics, (8) aggregating over hesitating, (9) creating a negotiation plan and (10) ensuring ethics within.

    Although this focuses on one scenario, these negotiation techniques can be used with any key vendors that the EA interfaces with.

    Learning Outcomes

    • Leverage and negotiate higher spend amounts
    • Prepare and negotiate contracts ‘with teeth”
    • Make use of a negotiation matrix

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