Sandra Ford Walston is the principal of a 15-year-old learning and leadership consulting firm based in Denver. Known as The Courage Expert and innovator of STUCKThinking™, she is a national speaker, corporate trainer, poet, and internationally published author. With an emphasis on understanding courage behaviors and individual personality and leadership styles, the consultant/author specializes in organizational behavior that guides people to step up to their next level (“He who hesitates before each step spends his life on one leg.” – Chinese proverb). She provides action learning skill-based programs for public and private businesses, including Caterpillar, Inc., Procter & Gamble, the FBI, Hitachi Consulting, IBM, Wide Open West and Farmers Insurance. She is an ad hoc faculty member for The Woodhull Institute and the Advanced Management Institute. She taught for eleven years programs for the Colorado Society of CPAs and she instructs four programs at the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program. She is a candidate for an Honorary Doctorate Degree.
Prior to starting her private business consulting practice in 1993, Walston served for seven years as Vice President, Private Banking in California, where she developed over 35 million dollars in aggregate deposits. Her success as a banker was enhanced by her previous accomplishments in real estate, selling residential and income properties. She earned sales volume awards for six consecutive years.
Walston is the internationally published author (Greece and Brazil) of the regional bestseller COURAGE: The Heart and Spirit of Every Woman/Reclaiming the Forgotten Virtue endorsed by Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield, Harriet Rubin and Neale Donald Walsch, to name a few. Prior to contracting with Random House in 2001, she started her own publishing company and was the 2000 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY winner. Her second book is currently agent represented extends the original research and highlights the male and female insights on the merit of overcoming the 12 obstacles at work that keep you stuck along with the corresponding courage action skill that allows for more self-fulfillment. Walston writes for Chief Learning Officer and she has written for many other magazines including Training & Development and Strategic Finance. She has presented for major associations and Fortune 500 companies.
Walston earned her B. A. in Social Science from San Jose State University and she holds a Lifetime Teaching Credential in California. She is certified in the Enneagram, a system of understanding nine different personality types within three general categories and she has advanced qualifications to administer and interpret the Myers-Briggs Type Indicatorâ to access challenges in team building, leadership preferences, communication and time management. She believes that integrating spirituality and work leads to a more naturally propelled and happy employee, resulting in reduced attrition and improved bottom-line performance.
Sandra says of her work and life, “I am fascinated with the dynamics of the human condition; therefore, my desire is to contribute my passion in a way that enhances each individual’s personal and professional gifts. One way I seek to accomplish this is to awaken people to the original definition of the word courage, meaning ‘heart and spirit.’ As a practicing contemplative, I hold myself 100% accountable for each precious day. I feel blessed to be able to have a career that expresses my calling.”
“Courage is the gift that lifts your spirit.”
www.sandrawalston.com