Full Bio

 

Patrick Leddin, PhD

For more than three decades, Patrick Leddin, PhD has been leading teams and studying leadership. His hands-on leadership experience has stretched from leading soldiers as a U.S. Army master parachutist, infantry, ranger-qualified officer to working with senior corporate leaders at KPMG Consulting, FranklinCovey, and his own companies.

 

A Snapshot of Patrick

  • A Wall Street Journal best-selling author and Amazon #1 new release in Workplace Culture author of The 5-Week Leadership Challenge.

  • Successful entrepreneur that has co-founded two businesses with his wife, including the Leddin Group, LLC and The Wedgewood Group, Inc. (an Inc. 5000 company which was sold in 2012). 

  • Former associate professor and Director of the Practice of Business Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches Corporate Strategy, Negotiation, Advanced Marketing, and Crisis Leadership.

  • Patrick leads The Disruption Project at Vanderbilt University, where he studies how people ranging from household names to unsung heroes succeed in the face of disruption.

  • Founder and host of the weekly podcast Leadership Lab, with a 1 % Global Rank; and has more than 100,000 followers on LinkedIn. 

  • Served in the U.S. Army as an airborne infantry ranger-qualified platoon leader and company commander. 

  • Has a more than 19-year relationship with the FranklinCovey organization that has included the positions Director of Strategic Partnerships and Senior Delivery Consultant. 

  • Lives in Nashville with his business partner and wife of 30 plus years. They have two adult children. He is an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber, including Mount Kilimanjaro. 

  • Received his PhD in Strategic Communication from the University of Kentucky.

Author

Patrick is the author of the Wall Street Journal Bestseller The 5-Week Leadership Challenge: 35 Action Steps to Become the Leader You Were Meant to Be and A Winning Culture in Government, Oliver’s Spot: The 5 Ps Leading Teams to Top Results and Oliver’s Spot for the Public Sector. His new book Disrupt Everything, co-authored with the World’s Bestselling author, James Patterson, will be released on September 29, 2025. 

Keynote Speaker, Consultant, and Coach

His speaking engagements and consulting work have allowed him to partner with clients and present to countless audiences in the United States, Canada, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Great Britain, Aruba, Iceland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Guam, and many other countries around the world. Past clients include Vector, General Electric, Samsung, U.S. Secret Service, Penn State Leadership Academy, Trilogy Health Services, Ecolab, Long John Silver, and Boston Consulting Group.

Entrepreneur
Patrick and his wife Jamie have been successful entrepreneurs with several businesses.  Wedgewood Consulting Group, Inc., an Inc. 5000 company, was founded in 2001. For over 11 years, Wedgewood Group assembled an amazing team, opened offices in multiple cities, achieved double-digit annual revenue growth each year, and while serving an impressive list of clients before being acquired in 2012. In 2018, Patrick and Jamie launched the Leddin Group, LLC to help leaders and teams achieve their full potential and accomplish their top priorities. And, in 2024 they founded Disruptive Insights, to support the launch of his new book and journey. 

Patrick is also the founder and host of the Leadership Lab Podcast, which held a 1.4% Global Rank and the current host of FranklinCovey’s C-Suite Conversations. He has had the privilege to interview and talk leadership with more than 120 guests to date, including Stephan M.R. Covey, Patrick Lencioni, Marshall Goldsmith, James Patterson and more. Due to his content, teachings and inspiration, Patrick has built an engaged community of more than 100,000 followers. 

Professor

In addition to his work at Leddin Group, Patrick served as Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Practice of Business Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he taught Corporate Strategy, Negotiation, Advanced Marketing, and Crisis Leadership. Now he leads The Disruption Project at Vanderbilt University, where he studies how people ranging from household names to unsung heroes succeed in the face of disruption. Patrick brings his years of practical experience to the classroom, allowing his students to meld theory with real-world implementation.

Education

Patrick received his PhD in Strategic Communication from the University of Kentucky.

Personal

Patrick lives in Nashville with his wife and business partner of over 30 years. They have two adult children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Patrick is an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Nothing inspires Patrick more than the parallels that nature provides to our lives.