Pat Phelan: Game changer, life changer
Today is the birthday of one of the greatest people I have had the fortune to meet in my life, Mr. Pat Phelan.
I keep telling myself that I’ll write the definitive “How I met Pat and we then conquered the world” post when the story of our friendship has reached its culmination of achievements. This is going to sound terribly immodest, but I think it’s going to be a long time before that happens. He just keeps getting me into more and more interesting, planet-altering projects. I’m not exaggerating a bit, but sadly that’s all I can reveal for now. Let’s just say that “Change the world or go home” has taken on all new meaning for me since I met this guy.
What I can tell you today is that my life has improved immeasurably since Pat stumbled upon my blog a few years ago. To be more accurate, things got dramatically better once I started listening to him more carefully and acting upon his suggestions. (Our public Twitter conversations played a major role in this.) Even better: All this wisdom and generosity is wrapped up with a massive amount of humor, honesty and the refusal to take oneself (or anyone else) too seriously.
Example: Earlier this week I was walking in San Francisco with a friend, shooting the breeze, when Pat’s name came up. “I know Pat Phelan!” my friend said. I’d had no idea! My friend continued, saying, “Yes, when I went through [really dark days], Pat sent me a lot of encouraging and helpful emails. He was certainly supportive to me when I needed support.” That’s typical, and Pat manages a lot of that in between being a kick-ass entrepreneur and much loved husband and father.
So happy birthday, Pat. The world is lucky to have you and I am continually inspired by you, in business and everything else that matters. I can’t wait to see what’s next for the gang of disruptors and innovators you have welcomed me into so warmly, and I’m glad you’re the common connector for us all.
Filed under: Life
“The world is lucky to have you and I am continually inspired by you, in business and everything else that matters.” Nice one Jackie :)
Jesus Girl, underneath this soft exterior is a tough Irish git. if I keep saying that will it happen
Serious thanks
Cant wait for you to meet Carol and Co over the weekend.
This is going to sound really cheesy, but I love when you write so fondly about people you’ve met in unexpected ways. A great antidote when I am feeling cynical about the state of humanity…
It’s great that you and your gang want to change the world (though I’m not sure how tech does that). So unfortunately common that burning out and tuning out is the usual response.
Happy Birthday, Pat! From all of us at Qik!
Thanks, Mary! I do worry about how soppy it can seem, but I mean every word. I think it is important to articulate these things.
MJ: Not sure how tech changes the world?? Oh, my! I feel a blog post coming on…Thanks!
Do that blog post - it might make converts! I work in a highly technical but not etech/net area (tax and finance) and I could not live without email, internet research databases, and the ability to check my email at the airport on those rare occasions when I’m let out of the office. But things like camera phones, video and Twitter are really lost on me (and the people I work with and work around). Maybe it is because we are over 35 or not on a coast, maybe we don’t need it, maybe our general industry area just isn’t that tech progressive, or maybe we are missing something.
I don’t know what I don’t know, right? So do the post. I’ve learned a lot from you already about other things - I may well learn more here too.