The honor society’s new CEO:
A focused, confident and tenacious team builder
by Suzanne S. Prevost
To believe in yourself and to follow your dreams, to have goals in life and a drive to succeed, and to surround yourself with the things and the people that make you happy—this is success!
—Sasha Azvedo
Vision 2020, the strategic plan for the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, challenges members and leaders to venture into a new stage of organizational development, one that is intentionally global. The honor society’s international presence and impact have grown dramatically during the past 20 years. In the coming decade, we expect to see even more dramatic global changes in our membership, operations and influence. Achieving the objectives of Vision 2020 will require strategic forethought, focused leadership, team building, aggressive pursuit of new partnerships and tenacious persistence toward the goal. The stage is set for a new era of leadership. The time is right for our new chief executive officer, Patricia E. Thompson, RN, EdD, FAAN.
Thompson has been envisioning her professional future since her high school days when she decided to become a nurse. She grew up in a military family. To follow her father’s career as a fighter pilot, the family moved across the United States and around the world, from one Air Force base to another. Thompson says, “My military upbringing taught me to be flexible and independent, but it also taught me the importance of family support.” When it was time for her to go to college, she was unsure where her family might be stationed for the next four years, so she selected Northwestern State University of Louisiana, where she could rely on the support of her grandmother.
It didn’t take long for Thompson to fall in love with the nursing profession. She credits Clara Gates, her first clinical instructor and long-time mentor, for instilling in her a passion for nursing. Before completing her undergraduate degree, Thompson decided she would not be content with a basic nursing license and credentials. Instead, she envisioned a career as a nurse educator who would share her professional passion and influence with future generations of nursing students.
Thompson always has a vision for the future, but she is not merely a dreamer. Once she articulates a goal, she takes aggressive action to achieve it. For example, when she decided to pursue a career in nursing education, she enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, even before completing her bachelor’s degree. Since she had always enjoyed caring for children, including her two younger siblings, she selected pediatric nursing as the clinical focus for her master’s. By combining graduate school with her work as a staff nurse, Thompson completed her MSN one year after her BSN. Upon graduation, while still in her early 20s, she was appointed to the faculty of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
Shortly after settling into her new role, Thompson once again looked to the future and decided she was destined to become an academic administrator. She didn’t waste any time enrolling in doctoral study. Meanwhile, though still single, she continued to fulfill her passion for children by adopting a little girl. A few years later, she married and gave birth to a second daughter. In 1982, Thompson graduated from the University of North Texas with a doctoral degree in higher education administration and a minor in business management, a combination that has served her well in her many leadership positions.
Throughout her years as a student, professional nurse and faculty member, Thompson has exercised and honed her leadership skills. She credits her strong family ties and military upbringing for developing the confidence, self-discipline, self-reliance, assertiveness and optimism needed to pursue a variety of leadership opportunities.
One of her first formal leadership roles occurred during her undergraduate education, when she was elected to serve as president of the Louisiana Association of Student Nurses. Throughout her academic career, she has held formal leadership positions, ranging from maternal-child concentration coordinator to department chair to associate dean. Some of Thompson’s most important leadership contributions, however, have come about through her service to community and professional organizations.
Volunteerism has been a constant theme throughout her career. Says Thompson, “I think we each have an obligation to share our skills and talents to make a difference for people in need.” She has used her specialized skills and talents in maternal-child nursing to make a difference by coordinating a pregnancy loss support group, serving on a task force on teen pregnancy and chairing a board affiliated with an adoption agency. While living in Louisiana, she received the Athena Award from the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, which acknowledges outstanding community service by a woman in business. Thompson was the first nurse to receive the award.
Members and constituents of Sigma Theta Tau International have also benefited from Thompson’s leadership contributions for more than 35 years. She was inducted into the honor society in 1971 and attended her first international convention in 1987. In describing that experience, she says: “That was where the light came on and I got it! I was so impressed by the organization, the mission, the presentations, the development opportunities. I knew this was where I belonged professionally.” Not long after that convention, she returned to her home in Louisiana and proclaimed, “Someday, I want to lead that organization.”
For the next few years, Thompson’s pursuit of leadership opportunities in the honor society was more difficult than she envisioned. “I learned a lot about risk-taking, failure and persistence,” she says. She agreed to run for the position of local chapter president, and lost. After finally achieving that goal, she put her name forward as a candidate for regional coordinator, but was not selected for the ballot. As a matter of fact, it took three attempts to achieve her goal of being nominated as a candidate on the international ballot. Through all these experiences, she continued to serve at the local level as a grassroots volunteer. Ultimately, Thompson was elected and served as a regional coordinator, then as second vice president, vice president, president-elect, and finally, president of Sigma Theta Tau International, from 1999-2001.
Even after her presidency, Thompson continued to serve as a leader at the international level of the honor society. She applied her business expertise to serve as chair of the Sigma Theta Tau International Building Corporation, and then as chair of the Nursing Knowledge International (NKI) board of directors. In each of these roles, Thompson made positive impressions on her professional peers.
Past President Daniel J. Pesut, APRN, BC, PhD, FAAN, who served on the board of directors of the honor society during Thompson’s presidency, describes her as, “caring, sensitive, disciplined, tenacious and courageous.” He observes: “Pat has tremendous depth of knowledge and experience with the honor society and with each of our subsidiaries. Her homegrown wisdom about what works for the organization sets her apart as a highly qualified leader as we move toward Vision 2020.”
Recalling his experiences working with Thompson, Pesut says: “Pat knows this society from the inside out. When we worked together on the board, she always reminded us to consider the needs and perceptions of our members. She has a great sense of participatory democracy. I think of Pat as a network weaver. She was always making connections, bringing people together and closing the loop. She taught us a lot about listening, backtracking, summarizing and building consensus from group discussions.”
Linda Everett, RN, PhD, agrees. Everett, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at Clarian Health in Indianapolis, served as treasurer of the honor society during Thompson’s presidency. “Pat is competent, organized, focused, passionate and grounded in reality," Everett says. "She understands the society and our members from a grassroots perspective. She can lead people beyond their traditional ways of thinking by convening disparate groups, negotiating with them and building consensus. I learned a lot from Pat about how to conduct a meeting. Her calm, even manner puts everyone at ease, even in the midst of controversy.”
In addition to building consensus, Thompson gives everyone a chance to make important contributions. Many of her colleagues joke that her favorite word is “opportunity.” As former co-workers from Louisiana and Arkansas say, “When Pat shares an opportunity, you better get ready to work, or get out of the way.” Vision 2020 will offer an array of opportunities for Thompson and members of the honor society.
Although she has a history of focusing on career goals and achieving them, Thompson’s new position as chief executive officer of Sigma Theta Tau International is not one she envisioned. “I never aspired to this position,” she says. “I have tremendous respect for my predecessors, Nancy Dickenson-Hazard and Nell Watts. They were strong and stable leaders who brought unique talents to the organization and accomplished important work for the society. Even though I have been involved with Sigma Theta Tau for more than 30 years, I always worked as a volunteer. I never considered that I could be paid for doing this work that I love.”
When the CEO position became available, the search committee encouraged her to apply. “I was shocked by the notion of it, and I really hesitated before deciding to pursue it,” says Thompson. “I cautiously considered the scope, the responsibilities and the travel associated with the job.” Eventually, she agreed to apply. She describes the three-phase interview process as “the most difficult and rigorous pursuit of my professional career.” The search committee considered highly qualified applicants from around the world and determined that Thompson was the right person for the position.
When asked to share her thoughts about the challenges that lie ahead, Thompson says: “As we move out in new international directions, maintaining relevance to our members will be the key to our survival. Our membership is already very diverse, from the perspectives of age and culture. It will be challenging to identify and maintain a menu of services that addresses the needs of such a broad group of people.
“We must remember,” she continues, “that our members have diverse roles and talents that they use to influence the health of the world’s people. Many of our members provide direct care in clinical settings, some contribute by educating students, others produce nursing science and others serve as managers and administrators. We must be sensitive to their variety of needs and interests. It is our challenge to identify and provide the resources and support systems to help these nurses fulfill their roles most effectively.”
Thompson reveals her confidence and optimism when she says: “I know that every one of our members is a leader. Every member makes important contributions to promoting health, and the sum effect of all those contributions is huge. As we move to become intentionally global, we will make alliances with like-minded organizations around the globe, and together, we will all use our talents to make a difference.” RNL
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| Suzanne Prevost |
Suzanne S. Prevost, RN, PhD, COI, is professor and holder of the National HealthCare Chair of Nursing Excellence at Middle Tennessee State University School of Nursing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA.
