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 | Economy
On Becoming a Transition Person: Lessons from Opa
Mahatma Gandhi suggested that people should focus first on improving themselves and then allow others to be inspired by their example, their determination, their integrity to values. These days we could use as many uplifting and positive role models as possible to lean on, learn from, and emulate. By following Gandhi’s mantra, “Become the change you seek in this world,” perhaps you and I can become that uplifting story for others, as well as ourselves.
Opa Kurt, ca. 1942
In the early 1930s my maternal grandfather, Kurt, was living the relatively simple, easy-going life of an adolescent Austrian amid the cobblestone streets of Vienna. His family had quite limited means, but he chose not to focus on what he didn’t have. Instead he saw the rich history and art by which he was surrounded. He sensed the global significance of the financial and cultural center that Vienna had become. He pondered the possibility of choosing and learning a trade that would allow him to become a contributing member of a struggling economy.
At twelve years of age, Kurt (the oldest of three children) was told by his parents that they could no longer afford him. They informed him, he would be leaving the bustling city to spend the upcoming summer working on his grandparents’ dairy farm, nestled in the pastoral setting of Upper Austria.
Kurt loved the city. He had dreamed of attending a nearby vocational school and working with his hands in heavy industry. He eagerly awaited his anticipated return to the city following a busy summer on the farm. He would soon learn, he wasn’t welcome back. His parents’ believed leaving him on the farm was a better choice for financial and practical reasons.
Kurt had other plans.
Unannounced, he returned three years later to the porch of his parents’ apartment in Vienna, eager to share his plans to return to school. As his mother answered the door, and before he could get in a word, she said (in German, of course), “You imbecile! You idiot! What are you doing here?!”
Kurt overlooked this less-than-warm reception and explained how he desperately wanted to attend school in Vienna. His parents made it clear that they would be unable to support him. Fortunately his excellent grades not only garnered him an invitation to study at a prominent Viennese technical college, but also earned an apprenticeship to cover his room and board. He created the circumstance snecessary to fulfill a dream.
Opa (German for ‘Grandpa’) went on to perform admirably in his studies. He became an accomplished and award-winning machinist in his industry. He was even recognized for a handful of his own inventions. Then suddenly, as with most all young men his age, he was drafted into Hitler’s war.
Late in World War II, my grandfather was captured by the Allies along the Russian front and sent to a British prisoner of war encampment near the Polish border. This likely saved his life. He would later recount that his time spent in captivity was more pleasant than the time he spent with his comrades. His own countrymen ridiculed him, hazed him, and excluded him. At least while imprisoned he was fed decent meals and treated with a measure of dignity and respect.
Kurt survived the war and returned to his lovely young wife, Johanna, to start a family. They had two daughters while living in Vienna and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1956 to start a new life.
My grandfather became the change he sought in his world. To me, he embodies the 7 Habits concept of a Transition Person.
Each of us has within himself the capacity to set aside our past, to refuse to allow our circumstances to dictate our future, and to chart a course for our friends and loved ones that resembles our worth and potential, instead of our history.
Change does not equal loss
How many times have you heard someone say, “Everyone fears change?” Employees have experienced profound changes in the workplace for decades and yet the headlines would suggest no one is ever prepared for change. Certainly we at least get a little better at navigating change, each time it is thrust upon us. But what is it that really paralyzes people each time a significant change is in the wind?
People don’t fear change.
I’ve never met a baby that didn’t want its soggy diaper changed. Most employees can think of at least a handful of things they’d like to see their boss do differently. The present economy is nothing to get excited about; the majority would certainly like to see some changes for the better. If I came to you and said, “Well, there are going to be some changes around here. We’re going to start with your compensation,” you might initially get nervous. Our first thoughts tend to be negative. “What are you taking away from me? How much more will we be asked to give around here?” What if I then told you, “We’d like to triple your salary?” Would you be okay with that kind of change?
People fear the possibility or the reality of loss.
Granted, a lot of the changes we are asked to swallow have a downside to them. But by assuming that all change is bad, we predispose ourselves to the paralysis of inaction, negative thinking, and helplessness. Most of us know someone who was victim of a corporate downsizing, only to share with you months down the road that his or her departure was possibly the best thing that ever happened. Of course, that can only happen when someone chooses to find the silver lining in a change that, at first, is quite devastating.
Think of the current or pending changes that are brewing in your workplace. Take inventory of the potentially positive upside to those changes. Channel your time and energy toward those activities that will bring about the good that often accompanies change. You will increase your value to the organization and find your positive outlook to be infectious. Seeing change as a force for constant improvement and innovation is a much more viable perspective, no matter where the landscape is moving.
The recent tragedy in Haiti has certainly commanded the world’s attention. No one would ever suggest that their change in fortune was good. Yet each day that we peer into the news of Haiti’s recovery, we learn of countless stories of rescuers and those being rescued who are making the most out of their circumstances, in the shadow of unimaginable devastation. These are the Haitians who are likely to thrive into the future and serve as a force for good in rebuilding an even stronger community and nation.
From change can emerge enormous good. Yet in change some might dwell on only the bad. Which will command your attention?