What Mission Control Taught Me About Communicating When the Stakes Are High with Dr. Joeletta Patrick

ABWIPPM Presents:

When something goes wrong on the International Space Station, there is no time for panic, blame, or vague updates. Flight controllers are trained to communicate with precision — delivering the right information, to the right person, at the right level of urgency, in real time. No guessing. No sugarcoating. No silence.

Project managers face the same reality every day. A missed deadline. A budget overrun. A stakeholder who finds out too late. But research tells us the breakdown rarely comes from a lack of skill — it comes from how (and when) we communicate under pressure.

In this session, Dr. Joeletta Patrick draws on 28 years in the NASA ecosystem, including her time as an ISS Flight Controller, to share the communication framework she used in Mission Control and has taught to teams ever since. You'll leave with two practical tools for delivering difficult project news — because in high-stakes environments, assumption is the enemy of execution.

Earn 1 PDU for attending!

About the Speaker

Dr. Joeletta Patrick is the Founder and CEO of JD Patrick and Associates LLC, a Greensboro, NC-based leadership development and STEM engagement firm. A retired NASA civil servant, she began her career as an ISS Flight Controller at Johnson Space Center in Houston before moving into STEM Engagement Program Manager roles at NASA Headquarters and several NASA centers. A systems thinker and opportunity revealer, Dr. Patrick now translates the high-stakes decision-making frameworks of Mission Control into practical leadership tools for professionals and organizations.

She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from NC A&T State University, along with an MBA and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus.