Diggs Digs Deeper: How I’m Building My Career with AT&T

I began my career with AT&T over eight years ago as a Retail Sales Consultant in Fort Worth, Texas. My upbringing and the support of my mentors has guided me every day since. My name is Patrick Diggs, and this is my #LifeAtATT.

Two Cultures

Growing up in a religious family I’ve always been taught to have faith in what God has planned for you. I was also taught to always work with the gifts and knowledge that you’ve been given as well.

I actually grew up in a primarily Hispanic community. This came in handy as my father and I lived alone, and he worked three jobs at once, which often left me home alone. That was until I met my childhood best friends and became part of their family, too. I learned Spanish from them, traveled outside of the country for the first time with them, and so many other things. Their mom always made sure I was fed. None of this was due to my father not providing, but because of their culture and understanding of my situation. My aunts, on my dad’s side, and grandmother filled in as mother figures for me as well. That was my village.

Being raised by two different cultures greatly shaped my leadership style. In the same way I was welcomed into the Hispanic household and shown their ways of doing things, I welcome everyone into my “home” or personal space regardless of their differences. There’s always something to be learned and the greatest learning happens outside of your comfort zone. Allowing differences in will make you to learn new things and appreciate those differences for what they are.

Getting Started

After a few years in retail, I took a position to help launch our IHX team in 2017. I soon found myself returning to retail to help launch our Experience Store in 2020.

I told myself when I came back to Retail from IHX that I wouldn’t make any lateral moves and that I would only take a promotion. Well, I did make one more lateral move to the Experience store but that put me in a place to be able to really progress my career. I transitioned again during the pandemic to assist in reopening the Preston Royal store where I later became the Assistant Store Manager. In March of 2021, I made the jump to Virtual Sales Experience (VSE) and helped turn the pilot program into a full-blown division.

During my time at VSE, I was able to use my creativity to assist in creating content that was used for the promotion of the channel. I became a mentor to a few different reps and helped guide them along their paths to further their own careers. This was my first experience in doing this. My mentor at the time would always tell me, “you’ve gotta make your own luck.” To me, this meant putting in the work needed to get to where I wanted to be.

Coming Full Circle

Towards the end of 2021, I returned to Retail again – this time I would become the Retail Store Manager at the Experience Store, bringing me full circle. My current Area Manager pushed me to be better all of 2022. Every time I would line out a vision or goal, she would challenge me to think bigger. My mentors have always encouraged me to think multiple steps ahead. A few years ago, I began using the tagline “Diggs Digs Deeper” because I’ve made it a point to always look past, or “dig deeper” than, the surface of things to find more.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced in my career was getting out of my own way. Too many times in my career, I’ve had the urge to try something new, but the fear kept me from trying. When I finally ripped the band aid off and took a leap into the unknown, I was able to grow. Ironically, the job code for the role I took was RISC (Retail Integrated Solutions Consultant), so I literally took a risk.

If I have learned anything in my career it is always be yourself and understand the unknown is your friend. You have more room to grow when you get outside your comfort zone. Remember: complacency is the enemy of progress.