We were lucky to catch up with Adrianne Patrick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Adrianne, appreciate you joining us today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

When you tell someone you believe in them, that is a gift that stays with a person forever. The kindest thing anyone I have worked with has done for me is to express through words and actions that they simply believe in me, appreciate me, and support me. That is a powerful lesson for all of us to practice. We need to surround ourselves with people who build other people up, not the opposite. Be the person who singles others out with authentic and sincere upbuilding and encouragement. It immediately injects energy and inspiration into others, who will then turn around and pass it on. It is one way we can change the world for good. It is also a beautiful leadership quality. I have a mentor in my job who embodies these qualities and who has met with me once a month for years, just to check on me and show care. Just being there for someone is the secret. Another one of my work colleagues is in his 90’s and always makes time to e-mail or meet consistently to remind me of the big picture and that I am fighting the good fight. These kinds of people are treasures and we should all strive to be like them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

My name is Adrianne and I’m an attorney, acting judge, singer, dancer, musical theatre performer, pianist, world traveler, writer, and passionate difference-maker. For the last six years I have had the privilege of serving as Executive Director of Main Street Wadsworth, a 501(c)(3) economic development non-profit dedicated to the revitalization of a historic downtown business district. Our mission is to create an unmatched downtown experience through events, grants, small business assistance, art murals, beautification and preservation projects, networking, and downtown projects. We enhance quality of life and build community, and what job can be more rewarding than that? We are a volunteer-driven organization and I have the best volunteers and stakeholders in the world–I want them all to know how much I value and appreciate their hard work and dedication. Before I entered the non-profit world I was an attorney with an intellectual property law firm for years, and before that I served as a civilian Contract Negotiator for the Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force. I have traveled to over 20 countries, interned for the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg, and studied abroad at the Miami University Dolibois European Center (MUDEC), named for my personal hero and WWII interrogator of the highest-ranking Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials, Ambassador John E. Dolibois. I have held secret security clearance twice in my positions, which also gave me the clearance needed to work the high-security RNC in Cleveland in 2016.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

A Pattern of Circles is the autobiography of my hero, John E. Dolibois. He chronicles coming to our great country as a young boy and immigrant from Luxembourg, learned English and excelled in school, and went on to serve his adopted country during WWII as an interrogator of the highest-ranking Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Ambassador of his home country of Luxembourg, the first American to serve as ambassador in the country of his native birth. He passed away in 2014, sharp as a tack until the end, and continued helping government agencies hunt Nazis and bring them to justice even in his final years.

I also highly recommend The 360 Degree Leader by John Maxwell, a book recommended by my mentor years ago. It essentially teaches (and these are all paraphrases from the book now) that leadership is not a position, but influence. It shares that there are plenty of people in leadership roles who are not leaders at all. Leadership is a desire to innovate, to improve, to create, and to find a better way. That means that most leadership occurs from the middle of an organization, not the top. True leaders teach others how to be leaders and lift others up. The book goes on to say that if you want to be a leader, it will not bother you to serve others. Finally, the book teaches that what really matters is that we are willing to do whatever it takes to make a positive impact wherever we happen to find ourselves in life. The book’s lessons are powerful but counterintuitive, so be prepared to feel uncomfortable when you read it (and even more uncomfortable when you put it into practice).

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being authentic goes a long way to proving yourself to others. When I started as Executive Director of Main Street Wadsworth I was the youngest local leader, a female millennial who recently moved to a small town, and it was my job to revitalize the heart and soul of my new home: our historic downtown district. You can imagine that there were people who were uneasy with handing such a massive task to someone who didn’t exactly fit the part and quite frankly did not have the “right” credentials. I cannot tell you how many people have come to me years later and said that they didn’t think I would succeed, but I have, and they are glad and grateful about it. I did not enter the role as some expert who needed to tell everyone how to fix everything. I made it clear I was inexperienced and eager to learn and that we were all going to learn together about how to apply the Main Street Approach to make our downtown better. I met with hundreds of people and organizations my first year, asked endless questions, took hundreds of pages of notes, and did not stay in the safety and security of my office. I was out meeting people and connecting the dots, proving through my actions that I was committed to doing what I set out to do. I was willing to pick up trash on the sidewalks; no task was below me. When I was willing to ask others for their feedback and help and actually use others’ suggestions, that earned trust. Today my biggest supporters are people who have lived in this town their whole lives and have seen that my intentions are genuine and backed by years of blood, swear, and tears. It is a commitment to consistently trying to do what is right. It is falling down seven times and getting up eight. That has made all the difference.

Today our downtown has zero vacant first-floor spaces, 30 new small businesses, 70 historic building renovations, $500,000 in grants, over 150 new jobs, 5 statewide awards, and over 150 free community events that have created memories for 25,000 visitors per year and supported our 100+ small businesses.

When someone asks me what I do, I tell them, “whatever it takes.”

Wherever you are in your life, reader, you can let your light shine and make this world a better place. Start small and see where God leads you. 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mainstreetwadsworth.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/MainStreetWadsworth
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/MainStreetWadsworth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/main-street-wadsworth
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/MainStreetWads