Member since October 2026
Capable teams can still get stuck repeating the same problems. Alicia Watkins helps organizations recognize the recurring patterns beneath those problems, understand what is driving them, and tell the difference between a loop that keeps repeating and a transition that calls for a different response.
Alicia is a pattern recognition and strategy professional, researcher, writer, and co-founder and Head of Operations at a cybersecurity consulting firm. With more than 11 years of experience spanning technology, procurement, business operations, and creative strategy, she has supported more than 1,000 technology users, identified approximately $85,000 in vendor discrepancies, and improved procurement processes. Her background in criminal justice, with an emphasis in Crime Scene Investigation, shapes an investigative approach: look closely at the details others overlook before choosing a solution.
Through Pattern Shift™ and The Pattern Room, she uses real-world professional experience, memorable metaphors, and examples from different industries to help audiences question assumptions, connect overlooked details, and investigate problems before rushing toward solutions. Her content work has also built an audience of 70,000+ followers and more than 1.2 million likes on TikTok, giving her practical experience communicating ideas to different audiences.
Audiences leave able to:
Tell the difference between a recurring pattern and a genuine transition
Ask better questions before rushing to a solution
Look at a problem through the individual, the relationships, and the system around it
I'm passionate about investigating how people, teams, and organizations work, especially when the explanation isn't immediately obvious. I enjoy discovering connections between seemingly unrelated subjects and finding the common patterns that influence how we think, communicate, make decisions, and solve problems.
My interests span cybersecurity operations, technology, human behavior, history, psychology, design, and investigative research. I'm particularly drawn to the details people overlook, the recurring problems no one has stopped to examine, and the connections that become visible when you step back and look at the bigger picture.
Through Pattern Shift™ and The Pattern Room, I'm developing ways to turn those observations into practical tools for understanding workplace dynamics, navigating organizational change, and making more informed decisions.
For years, I searched for the work that would finally make everything click. I explored criminal justice, technology, business operations, production, acting, and creative design, often diving headfirst into something new, learning it, and discovering that mastering a skill didn't necessarily mean I wanted to spend my life doing it.
For a long time, I wondered why I kept moving between different fields. Eventually, I began to recognize a pattern: I was drawn to the discovery itself. I wanted to understand how things worked, investigate what others overlooked, and figure out why people and systems behaved the way they did.
What looked like a collection of unrelated experiences was giving me different perspectives on the same kinds of questions.
Today, as Co-Founder and Head of Operations at a cybersecurity consulting firm, and through my developing work with Pattern Shift™ and The Pattern Room, I explore how those connections appear in people, organizations, and recurring problems. I've come to see that sometimes finding your direction isn't about discovering one perfect path. It's about recognizing the thread connecting the paths you've already taken.
I spent years trying to find my place, following opportunities and interests across different industries. I studied criminal justice, explored IT, worked in procurement and operations, pursued production and acting, and studied creative design. Each new direction brought something different to learn, but I often found myself losing interest once I had mastered the work or discovered that the day-to-day reality wasn't what I expected.
I used to think I was searching for one particular career or passion. Over time, I began to see that my interests shared a common thread: I wanted to investigate, understand how things worked, recognize patterns, and connect information that initially seemed unrelated.
My professional experiences reinforced that curiosity. Whether examining technical problems, identifying discrepancies in procurement, coordinating business operations, or observing human behavior, I became increasingly interested in what lies beneath the visible problem and how different parts influence the outcome.
That perspective now informs my work as Co-Founder and Head of Operations at a cybersecurity consulting firm and my developing Pattern Shift™ framework. I explore how recurring patterns emerge, how people and systems influence one another, and how we can distinguish between a problem repeating itself and a situation genuinely changing.
I didn't arrive here through one straight career path. I arrived through exploration, experience, and gradually recognizing the connections between them. Now, I want to help others see those connections, too.
A band can be full of capable musicians and still sound wrong. Why talentedpeople and well-intentioned teams produce poor outcomes, and how to tellwhether the problem is a part, the relationships between parts, or thearrangement of the whole.
New processes rarely fail because the plan was wrong. They stall because of how people interpret uncertainty, power, and new expectations. Drawing on operations and cross-industry experience, Alicia shows how to read the human side of change without excusing poor outcomes. Attendees learn to understand context while still holding people and systems accountable.
Teams often keep applying familiar fixes to a situation that has changed, or tear everything down when only one pattern needs attention. This talk introduces a simple way to tell a loop from a transition, with examples from operations, technology, and everyday work. Attendees leave with questions they can use in their next team meeting.
Using the investigative mindset behind her criminal justice training and operations work, Alicia walks audiences through separating what is known from what is assumed before choosing a solution. Attendees leave with a repeatable way to question the obvious explanation and compare alternatives.
For years, I searched for the work that would finally make everything click. I explored criminal justice, technology, business operations, production, acting, and creative design, often diving headfirst into something new, learning it, and discovering that mastering a skill didn't necessarily mean I wanted to spend my life doing it.
For a long time, I wondered why I kept moving between different fields. Eventually, I began to recognize a pattern: I was drawn to the discovery itself. I wanted to understand how things worked, investigate what others overlooked, and figure out why people and systems behaved the way they did.
What looked like a collection of unrelated experiences was giving me different perspectives on the same kinds of questions.
Today, as Co-Founder and Head of Operations at a cybersecurity consulting firm, and through my developing work with Pattern Shift™ and The Pattern Room, I explore how those connections appear in people, organizations, and recurring problems. I've come to see that sometimes finding your direction isn't about discovering one perfect path. It's about recognizing the thread connecting the paths you've already taken.
I spent years trying to find my place, following opportunities and interests across different industries. I studied criminal justice, explored IT, worked in procurement and operations, pursued production and acting, and studied creative design. Each new direction brought something different to learn, but I often found myself losing interest once I had mastered the work or discovered that the day-to-day reality wasn't what I expected.
I used to think I was searching for one particular career or passion. Over time, I began to see that my interests shared a common thread: I wanted to investigate, understand how things worked, recognize patterns, and connect information that initially seemed unrelated.
My professional experiences reinforced that curiosity. Whether examining technical problems, identifying discrepancies in procurement, coordinating business operations, or observing human behavior, I became increasingly interested in what lies beneath the visible problem and how different parts influence the outcome.
That perspective now informs my work as Co-Founder and Head of Operations at a cybersecurity consulting firm and my developing Pattern Shift™ framework. I explore how recurring patterns emerge, how people and systems influence one another, and how we can distinguish between a problem repeating itself and a situation genuinely changing.
I didn't arrive here through one straight career path. I arrived through exploration, experience, and gradually recognizing the connections between them. Now, I want to help others see those connections, too.
A band can be full of capable musicians and still sound wrong. Why talentedpeople and well-intentioned teams produce poor outcomes, and how to tellwhether the problem is a part, the relationships between parts, or thearrangement of the whole.
New processes rarely fail because the plan was wrong. They stall because of how people interpret uncertainty, power, and new expectations. Drawing on operations and cross-industry experience, Alicia shows how to read the human side of change without excusing poor outcomes. Attendees learn to understand context while still holding people and systems accountable.
Teams often keep applying familiar fixes to a situation that has changed, or tear everything down when only one pattern needs attention. This talk introduces a simple way to tell a loop from a transition, with examples from operations, technology, and everyday work. Attendees leave with questions they can use in their next team meeting.
Using the investigative mindset behind her criminal justice training and operations work, Alicia walks audiences through separating what is known from what is assumed before choosing a solution. Attendees leave with a repeatable way to question the obvious explanation and compare alternatives.
