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
Dinner with Dr. Daniel Amen
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We were privileged to enjoy Dr. Amen’s company Monday night at “The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity” certification dinner at the McCune Mansion in downtown Salt Lake City, as he fielded Q&A with about 75 of us who will be initially selling and delivering this revolutionary new FranklinCovey offering. Never before has a FC program been so science- and research-based. Dr. Amen’s work will transform my and others’ outlook on what a healthy brain is and requires. Don’t wait for “The 5 Choices” program in order to add several years to your life. Read his latest book, “Change Your Brain, Change Your Body” right away!
Life in a Bento Box
Recently while traveling to British Columbia I found myself at a Korean barbecue restaurant. I ordered a quick lunch in a bento box to save time and still capture the international flavor of Vancouver. How convenient! How compact! How interesting! Naturally I drew an analogy from the bento as a comparison for life.
How convenient.
So much of modern living is about having more and having it faster. The bento was certainly quick. I only had about 30 minutes for lunch, so knowing the bento choice was an ‘express’ favorite was reassuring. Don’t we typically look for the quick fix, the fast answer or the easy out? But then again there was also less time to savor…
How compact.
So many flavors packed into a small space made it easy for the proprietor to make his margins and for me to enjoy ‘true Korean.’ I also knew I was much less likely to walk out feeling guilty and bloated for not repeatedly stepping up to the all-you-can-eat buffet. Forcing portions into tidy little compartments is much like attempting to separate life into distinct, unrelated pieces that never touch. Or do they, actually?
How interesting.
I wanted something different, and did I get it! While there was the familiar Asian ginger dressing over my mostly iceberg lettuce salad, the kimchee and mystery mussels kept me guessing. I didn’t eat it all. My theory: If you can’t identify all of it, best not to force all of it down. I did still need to teach another half day of a management class, after all. In the moment many of us are reaching for the different we experience a subconscious pang for the familiar. While the Cracker Barrel is not my favorite eatery, visions of their predictable meatloaf and green beans flashed across my mind during this experimental lunch. Much of success in life comes from stretching for something new while maintaining momentum with the tried and true.
I find that most of life’s joys and successes are precariously poised amongst the trade-offs between our comfort zone and periods of discomfort, experimentation, and uncertainty.
Sleep or Die
Another gem from Schwartz’s, “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working:”
“In a famous series of experiments, researcher Alex Rechtschaffen and his colleagues at the University of Chicago put a series of rats through the equivalent of hell by systematically depriving them of sleep. Within days, the rats began to eat significantly more than usual, perhaps as a way to get more energy to compensate for their lack of sleep. In less than a week, the rats lost control of their body temperature, began losing their hair, and developed lesions on their bodies that wouldn’t heal. Within seventeen to twenty days, they we dead.”
You and I can’t change the effect of our natural circadian rhythms, only work with or against them. This requires maintaining a pattern of sleep consistent with elevated levels of melatonin in our blood stream that surges between 11 pm and 3 am and choosing to work in intense intervals throughout the day that include periods of renewal, such as meditation. The “rat race” alternative is not productive nor sustainable!
Lovin’ this book…
FranklinCovey Poised to Reinvent Productivity
Get ready!
This fall the geniuses in our Product Development team will be consumed by FranklinCovey’s biggest product launch in history. We are set to, once again, redefine the field of time management. Not since the ubiquitous Franklin Planner covered the globe in seven-ring binders has such a movement had more impact on personal and professional productivity.
The 5 Choices
Yes, that’s the name of the course. Of course, the number 7 still shines in the halls of FC, but 5 now gets a whole new following, positioned to reshape how people think about information, technology, balance, priorities and renewal.
One of the books that was researched to create The 5 Choices is Schwartz, Gomes and McCarthy’s “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The four forgotten needs that energize performance.” The authors not only reinforce Dr. Covey’s four dimensions of sharpening one’s saw – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – but they offer new research on the increased productivity that results from regular breaks in a sustained effort in order to maximize focus, concentration and yield. Read it!
I’m looking forward to the certification event I’ll be attending for full-time FC consultants in Salt Lake on July 18-20. I’m sure I’ll want to share more details with you then. But for now, plan on attending a complimentary worldwide launch event in your hometown. Here’s the insider link to the pre-registration site. We are conducting 170 of them across the globe. Theres ’s sure to be one close to you.
Let your first choice be to not miss out!
Stages
Last Wednesday between client events, I took a quick stroll down memory lane while visiting my collegiate alma mater in the small eastern Idaho town of Rexburg. I slipped presumptuously through an unlocked backstage door of the performing arts building to find this single work lamp illuminating the space where I once played the lead in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” just 23 short years ago. I took advantage of the solitude and sat in the middle of the house seats to ponder the production that was a central part of my freshman year of college.
So many decisions are made during this formative stage. The first time living away from home. Contemplating the career one might pursue. Making friends who are in a similar stage. Reinforcing life-views that shape one’s future.
This recent pondering got me thinking about subsequent stages that make us who we are. For some, the stage of courtship and marriage. Extended volunteer service, sometimes internationally. Children. Career changes, lay-offs and even self-employment.
The wild swings in the economy over the past 15 years have certainly reinforced the need to remain focused on things that matter most. Today the economy remains uncertain. One thing is certain, however: our ability to purposefully engage in a new stage, learn, contribute, and grow.
For any of us feeling stagnant on the current stage, perhaps now is the perfect time to deliberately embark on a new one. What are the most important things to you? What are you particularly good at? At what points throughout your life have you performed at your best? Who should your consider a valued partner in this proposition?
There’s nothing quite like opening night on a new stage to generate the creative tension required to keep us performing at our best.
Curtains up!
“Enjoyed” Every Minute Of It!
Hearing Mike Reilly’s voice over the loud speakers shouting, “Todd Wangsgard, You are an Ironman!” was quite a rush. But it paled in comparison to the waves of emotion that would wash over me spontaneously along the 12 hour and 55 minute journey I took last Saturday through the vivid desert of southwestern Utah.
The primary goal for my first Ironman (and yes, there will be a second) was to “enjoy every minute of it.” I borrowed this from a first-timer Ironman participant and USAT executive who posted a video online last October about his preparations. “What a great concept,” I thought. “Just prepare yourself to enjoy the entire experience.”
I enjoyed every minute of it! Now, I simply need to redefine “enjoy.”
There were moments, like the first ten minutes of the swim when I thought my lungs would collapse or burst or both. The run was a brutal climb – two times – up the double lap course following Red Hills Parkway in 95-degree heat. But during the hard minutes of last Saturday’s epic adventure, I was reminded of the journey that had brought me to that point, and instantly I could feel the encouragement, kind words, and prayers (yes, there’s no doubt this feat required some Divine intervention) that had been and were being offered on my behalf.
Serendipity – defined by dictionary.com as “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident” – is a rule I strive to live by. It requires some luck. But luck certainly favors the prepared. There were countless desirable discoveries that occurred during my first IM experience that will take a while to commit to print. Suffice it to say, the most important discovery was that anyone can accomplish anything he or she puts his or her heart and soul into.
What is that one thing – big or little – that you’ve been wanting to accomplish for a long time, or just decided to do last week, or you know will make you a better parent, leader, employee, human being? How long have you put it off? How long before the time required to get it done runs out? How many more “can’ts” before you decide it’s “can?”
If you’re feeling brave (and I know you are), add a brief comment to this posting describing that one thing you’ve been meaning to do. I’m sure there are plenty I need to commit doing right alongside you. Let’s get it done together!
My Test of Iron: Principles Govern
In exactly 10 days I will embark on a personal challenge unlike anything I’ve attempted to undertake in my life. Hundreds of thousands have done it. For me, it’s new. Its original creators thought to conceive an event that would test the human limits of physical endurance. And while recent years have witnessed the advent of longer courses and more strenuous tests, the Ironman distance triathlon remains the standard of individual sport maxims. 2.4 mile swim. 112 mile cycling. 26.2 mile run.
I was inspired 2 years ago on May 2nd by a participant in my 7 Habits of Highly Effective People workshop in Livonia, Michigan, who claimed to have completed three Ironman events. He was not in “Ironman” condition at the time – admittedly so. But he was roughly my age and build and – more importantly – he hadn’t just thought to do it, he had done it! Three times!!! It was in that moment that a new goal was cast in my own mind. “If he can complete three Ironman events,” I thought, “I can certainly complete just one.”
Just before my not-so-dry-run at Sand Hollow on April 2nd.
I went home and registered for my first Olympic distance tri (roughly one fourth the Ironman distances), to take place a mere 6 weeks later. No, my training was not ideal in duration or intensity, but then again my goal was to simply finish with a smile. A second Olympic tri and two marathons later (the running is certainly the hardest on my body), here I am contemplating the ultimate challenge that Saturday, May 7th, is about to bear.
To be clear, my goal is not to win or even place in my age group, but rather to enjoy every minute. Now, I’m sure there will be several minutes where I question my level of enjoyment. But I feel ready.
The whole training experience has been an opportunity to personally apply many of the precepts we offer in our FranklinCovey curriculum:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- Be Proactive – I couldn’t get off the couch and onto my trainer, onto the trail or out to the pool without some initiative.
- Begin With the End in Mind – My visualization of participating in and finishing the IM has consumed my psyche since the time my wife pressed ‘Enter’ on the keyboard to register me. (Yes, in a moment of ambivalence, I recruited Jana to initiate the first formal step of commitment. It was sort of like having someone else pull your loose tooth or rip off a big Band-Aid.)
- Put 1st Things 1st – Prioritizing time to train has been a rewarding challenge in itself, one whose multi-dimensional benefits have been surprising.
- Think Win—Win – Yes, it’s an individual sport, but wouldn’t have been possible without the encouragement and sacrifice of my wife and kids.
- Seek First to Understand… – Listening to my body has become a critical exercise in knowing when to push and when to take it easy.
- Synergize – The combination of training activities and public accountability of my progress have combined to keep me on track and deliver results.
- Sharpen the Saw – Say no more.
- The Four Cores of Credibility: Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, Results – I said I would do it; I must keep my word to myself and others. I clearly declared my intentions. My capabilities have increased with each passing week’s training focus. Next weekend will certainly reveal the results.
FOCUS: Achieving Your Highest Priorities (time management)
- The Productivity Pyramid: Mission-Vision-Values, Long-term Goals, Short-term goals, Weekly and Daily Planning – All of these must have been more or less aligned over the past 24 months to pull this off.
And the list goes on…
I share this not to boast, but to convey the enormous effort this has required and, more importantly, how more acutely than at any other time in my life, I’ve come to appreciate that principles govern. This is the Goose and the Golden Egg (P/PC Balance). This is maintaining those ever-important Emotional Bank Accounts, with self and others. This is the Law of the Harvest.
So for 12+ hours on Saturday, May 7th, beginning at 7:00 a.m. Mountain, if my self-imposed sojourn happens to cross your mind, know that you’ll probably already be on mine. After all, it was a participant just like you who planted the seed.
Who Got You Here?
While on a recent business trip to Alabama, I found myself free for a day in the middle of a week’s consulting. Remembering that my aunt had told me we have ancestors in Alabama, I decided to ‘look them up.’ The ones I’m aware of are all dead. But why not connect with my past – see who I might dig up. (poor word choice)
With a family tree in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, I proceeded south to Montgomery, Alabama and then west to Fort Deposit and Mt. Willing, where many members of my dad’s mom’s family once lived. While underway, I thought I’d call my aunt, just to get any more tidbits about the family that may help me find something, someone. She explained how she’s always imagined that our forbearers were wealthy plantation owners, lounging about their estates sipping julep. She then conceded that it is more likely we hail from a family of back-woods red necks. Upon winding my way to the first of two cemeteries, I surmise her second theory is probably more accurate.
I quickly found the resting place of my great-great-great-grandma, Charlotte Pace! While standing over her grave marker and that of other extended family, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect, gratitude, even reverence, for what they did to survive, thrive, and ultimately get me here.
This ponderous moment caused me to reflect on the many people who have personally influenced me for the better – my favorite 4th grade teacher, a little league football coach, my mentor and scout camp director, countless friends and family, many great bosses and work associates, and of course my amazing parents. In their own way, each of them made a contribution to me – some of them on purpose, others by accident or fate. Either way, I’m grateful to everyone who’s helped make me who I am.
Each person was/is a leader – a person of great influence.
Leadership is about “finding your voice and helping others to find theirs.” Dr. Covey calls this The 8th Habit “Leadership really is the enabling art. Great leaders enable their people to produce far more than they could dictate themselves. Leadership is the highest of the arts, simply because it enables all the other arts and professions to work.”
Who brought you to where you are? What kind of leadership did they display? What kind of leader are you to others? So you know who got you here; now, who are you getting there?
Up In Smoke
This was my neighbor’s three-story house. It exploded and burned to the ground last Saturday. It was gone in less than an hour.
The man living here (…uh, who lived here) had a hobby of manufacturing homemade fireworks – the really big ones. He was home alone the morning of this tragedy and in the process of drilling a mortar in his basement shop when sparks began to fly. A small explosion erupted in his hands; he quickly escaped the house with minor injuries. It only took seconds for the small fire to spread to the stock pile of chemicals that he kept nearby. One explosion led to another and soon the house was quite literally gone.
By all accounts this was an accident, but certainly one that could have been prevented. It is not the first time something has gone awry while engaged in this hobby. Family members claimed on the evening news that this risky activity has been going on for decades. They claim smaller explosions in the past did not serve as the deterrent that they should have.
This wake up call for family, the local authorities, and the neighborhood got me thinking about some of the less obvious risks that we may be taking that jeopardize our livelihood in different ways.
Are there relationships I’m neglecting or mistreating that could someday “blow up” in my face. Are there habits in my professional practice that are leading me down a volatile path – less obvious patterns, such as not following up with my clients as thoroughly as I could, not keeping abreast of my industry’s latest thinking and research, or not proactively contributing to my division in ways that demonstrate initiative and make a meaningful contribution? Sure, these are acts of omission, rather than committing an overt act of mixing lethal chemicals in my basement. But the result can be just as serious and lasting.
In an economy that still appears to be limping along toward recovery, each of us should conduct a career “safety inspection” – ensure that the batteries in our smoke detectors are fresh, review all of the “exits,” and train those we care about on how to recognize behavior that might compromise one’s security. Professionally this can come in the form of soliciting valuable feedback from co-workers and clients, keeping your resume polished and poised, and seeking out creative ways to make a new and lasting contribution in the workplace. Consider adopting the timely advice shared by Dr. Stephen R. Covey and Jennifer Colosimo in their recent publication, Great Work, Great Career.
There’s no need to let your career go up in smoke!
Getting Comfortable in My Second Skin
In FrankilinCovey’s Leadership: Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results curriculum, Dr. Stephen R. Covey describes the new Mind-Set, Skill-Set and Tool-Set that are required to lead into the 21st Century. In an opening video he uses as an example of the 4-minute mile mental barrier that Roger Bannister broke in 1954, leading to a quick succession of others who ran even faster. He describes the added height that high-jumpers attained by adopting the “Fosbury Flop” method, over the more traditional scissor kick. He reminds us of the quantum leap in height achieved by pole vaulters when fiberglass material was introduced, replacing bamboo or aluminum poles.
This morning, I experienced a personal Tool-Set shift that has me convinced.
I should back up a little and remind readers of the Mind-Set and Skill-Set shift I experienced about a year and a half ago when I decided that drafting behind other cyclists definitely makes a difference in the speeds and distances an individual can achieve. (See post “Diary of a Draft Dodger.”) Lately I’ve been training quite intensely for my first Ironman triathlon. It seems anymore my life is defined by what happens on May 7th – a day that could be my last. (Surely, I jest, but some days it feels that daunting.)
I’ve never competed with a wet suit during the swim event of triathlon. I haven’t worn one for two main reasons: I didn’t have one and didn’t want to plunk down the cash, and the water in my first two triathlons wasn’t unbearably cold. However, in mid-Spring at Sand Hollow Reservoir in St. George, Utah, the water is expected to be a chilly 56 degrees. I bought a wet suit.
This morning was my first test swim in my new Quintana Roo full body swim skin. Normally, I swim a straight mile two times a week. I had planned to swim a mile today, but wasn’t sure what impact trying on the new suit would have. It is tight, so I figured there may be some fatigue associated with the tension – sorta like having a big rubber band stretched around your body that potentially limits motion.
My typical mile time is not fast – usually right around 31 minutes. Yeah, not terribly fast. This morning, as soon as I entered my second lap, I could tell something was different. Either I was telling myself I was going faster, and it was all in my head, or I was literally gliding through the water at a pace quicker than normal. I couldn’t help but notice how buoyant the suit made me. Oh sure, others had told me of the benefits (just like I had been told how great drafting was), but I was skeptical.
Bottom line: by the time I finished my 35 ¼ laps, I finished FIVE MINUTES FASTER THAN MY AVERAGE!!! I couldn’t believe it. That’s a 16% improvement in speed! Sure, I thought I may have miscounted the laps, but I hadn’t. It’s easy to miscount if you’re daydreaming, but this morning I was being particularly carefully to mentally register each lap to 35.
Needless to say, my confidence in May 7th got a pleasant boost. I’m actually excited to make the plunge into the frigid open water of Sand Hollow. And, yes, I openly acknowledge the very real benefits that come from the Tool-Set shift of using a wet suit.
What tools are you denying yourself, because what you’ve done has always “worked?” Where are you possibly settling for mediocrity in your performance, but don’t even know it? Where could you desperately use a 16%+ increase in efficiency, productivity, or performance?