Why you can trust this site

If you care about being an informed, effective member of society and wonder whether you should trust this site, let me tell you a bit about me, the site’s creator.

I’m Pat McLagan. I’ve spent more than five decades helping organizations, leaders and followers navigate complex change — working with Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, universities, and communities on six continents, including three decades working in (including one decade living in) South Africa before, during, and after the end of apartheid and the launch of the nation’s multi-racial democracy.

The information you’ll find in Claim Your Voter Power draws on that experience and on rigorous, carefully validated research. Every fact and link is verified across multiple sources, cross-checked for accuracy, and held to a nonpartisan standard acceptable to readers on any side of the political spectrum. All sources are documented and available on the site. This project has no political sponsors, accepts no candidate or party funding, and is guided solely by the evidence.

My research team includes three AI platforms. They do not generate conclusions — that’s my job — but surface data, pressure-test claims, and flag what doesn’t hold up. I direct the questions, evaluate every output, and make all final judgments on data merits, not political leanings.

My credentials: I’m the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Association for Talent Development, one of 100 Inspiring Minds of a Century recognized by the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development, a member of multiple academic journal advisory boards, and the designer of two global, field-defining competency studies that still shape how organizations develop people.

I’m also the author of The Age of Participation, Change Is Everybody’s Business, and The Shadow Side of Power: Lessons for Leaders (and Their Supporters) — and the ongoing Power Mesh series on Substack. Beyond paid work, I’ve served on professional and civic boards, including as past Chair of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation (US) and as an advisor to the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature — pro bono commitments rooted in the same conviction that drives this project.

I believe the US and the world are entering a new era requiring a significant upgrade in leadership and followership mindsets and skills. That shift — from passive observer to informed, capable, courageous citizen — is personal for me. After decades watching organizations succeed or fail based on whether people felt equipped to act, I’m convinced the same dynamic is now playing out in democracy itself. I bring to Claim Your Voter Power the discipline to stay with the facts, the rigor to check them twice, and the conviction that you — a citizen or elected leader, when informed and supported, will make better decisions.

Patricia McLagan