Todd Wangsgard
Enterprising, results-driven, and grounded are words that describe Todd Wangsgard. He brings 24 years of leadership and organizational development experience to his clients.
Clients value his ability to create clarity out of the business fog that prevents most companies from enabling greatness and developing the capabilities of their associates.
Todd has excellent professional experience. He was Senior Manager of Training, Talent Management, and Communications for ATK Lake City, a government-owned, company-operated manufacturing center in Independence, Missouri. He organized the training department, developed and implemented all levels of leadership curriculum, and oversaw the operation’s succession planning and teambuilding strategies.
As the Manager of Professional Development for ATK, a $4 billion aerospace and defense company, Todd led the creation of employee and leadership assessment and development initiatives for operations in 23 states.
Todd worked for Intermountain Healthcare, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, the intermountain west’s largest physician, clinic and hospital network. He founded IHC University and managed the implementation of curriculum as well as the administrative team of IHCU.
An industry cross section of Todd’s clients represent higher education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.
Todd holds a PhD from Walden University in Leadership and Organizational Change. He has also earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. from Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) in communications.
Todd is affiliated with a number of professional organizations and holds certifications to teach a number of programs. He is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a Master Facilitator for Achieve Global, and a Certified Professional Behavior Analyst (DISC).
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FranklinCovey Consultant Blogs | Todd Wangsgard
Tearing Down Our “Walls”
After my first year of college, I decided to take a break in my formal education to provide volunteer service abroad. Eighteen months into my two-year commitment in southern Germany, politics in Europe and Asia took a dramatic turn and the Iron Curtain that long divided two Germanys suddenly came crashing down. What a thrill to witness history in the making, first-hand, as droves of East Germany residents streamed across the border in anything that moved.
Most travelers from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) who were privileged enough to afford their own motorized means of transportation chugged along in a tiny two-cylinder, two-stroke, sub-compact Trabant sedan, nick-named the “Trabi.” These Communist-manufactured and dangerously thin-walled cars were partially produced out of wool and cotton – literally! If something broke down, owners were routinely forced to scavenge spare parts from other cars or attempt to create their own make-shift parts or repairs with whatever worked – rope, packing tape, and scrap lumber notwithstanding.
You can imagine the surprise from everyone in the West when entire enclaves of 8, 10, and even 12 people came pouring out of these smoky, fragile, and oft-times unsafe vehicles.
Then again, why should we have been surprised?
From the time the eastern portion of Berlin had been cut off from the West in 1961 until November 11, 1989 – an over 28 year span – this occupied people had become accustomed to living on government rations, working in low-paying jobs that were largely chosen for them, and were led to believe through decades of propaganda that their state-directed lives were better, more meaningful, and somehow richer than lives lived beyond their borders.
They knew better.
Over the course of those three dark decades, upwards of 200 freedom-seeking citizens had given up their lives during futile attempts to flee East Germany. Now, an entire nation was suddenly free to come and go as it pleased. And go, they did! The very moment the borders were opened, these humble, oppressed, and resourceful people did whatever it took to catch a glimpse of freedom, to breathe deeply the air of autonomy, to escape the drab, grey life of their past and begin to soak in the vibrant colors of their future. They were the epitome of proactivity.
They came with family, neighbors, and complete strangers. They drove, biked, and walked across. Nothing stood in their way. Fences were opened. Guards stood down. No longer were they forced to live behind literal and figurative walls.
What walls do you live behind?
I don’t mean literal walls of grey brick and messy mortar, but those figurative walls that mentally separate us from our own potential. Your window of opportunity is not likely to appear as obviously to you as did the widespread announcement of emancipation to East Germans that was broadcast across Europe and the globe. Nonetheless, all of us possess the power to proactively break down our own self-imposed walls, not waiting another 28 years, but rising to action as soon as we acknowledge and release the potential lurking latent in each of us – as soon as we admit that the walls of bad habits, co-dependent relationships, abusive behavior, or self-limiting thinking are separating us from healthier lifestyles, more meaningful interpersonal bonds, and richer, more rewarding careers and contributions. Be Proactive! (www.franklincovey.com)
The people of the GDR didn’t choose the timing of their exodus to freedom. But chances are, you can!
1 Comment to Tearing Down Our “Walls”
[...] serve a purpose, but don’t let them get in the way. Look for a door, and walk through it. Tear down those walls that separate you from your [...]
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February 16, 2010