About the Author

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Heart’s Passion

Before starting her private consulting practice in Denver in 1994, Walston served for seven years as Vice President, Private Banking in California, where she developed to her credit 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.

With maturation and spiritual curiosity, Walston was constantly and keenly interested in developing self-awareness. Observing and benchmarking how she approached the normal transitions of her life, she noted that her invisible ally—courage—served her well. She made drastic career changes every six to eight years, and each industry she entered was significantly different from the last. Yet as she moved through the fields of education, real estate, banking, and business consulting, Walston was able to transfer her skills with relative ease from one business sector to another.

When asked how she could so easily maneuver through these career transitions, Walston replied that the desired outcomes were easy for her to envision and implement as long as she drew upon her heart’s desire and her innate, everyday courage. In each industry Walston was motivated by the excitement of creating self-fulfillment. Creativity, an essential element of her character, partnered with her courage to “invent” herself through each step, both in her professional and personal life. Walston relates to the ancient Chinese proverb: “He who hesitates before each step spends his life on one leg.”

Assisting others is a goal in Walston’s life, whether as a friend, consultant, speaker, coach, author or hospice volunteer. Fascination with the richness of life and a deep commitment to upholding the highest of human values have been the threads from which Walston has woven her life experiences. She values experiencing all aspects of life with passion. She challenges herself beyond the status quo, pushing for excellence in sports, travel, relationships, writing, consulting, coaching, and speaking.

For a long time, Walston didn’t realize that this approach to life was unusual—it was part of the way she was raised. Living life with gusto seemed natural, innate. But she knows, now, that is not so as witnessed by the many dispirited individuals she coaches and the organizations she consults for. Living life with verve is a cultivated skill.

With courage as Walston’s strength, she has been able to design meaningful goals for her life. And doing so has enabled her to claim her heart and spirit. Aristotle said, “Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes the other virtues possible.” The word “courage” comes from the French word corage, meaning “heart and spirit,” which tells us that acting with courage is really about acting from your heart and spirit — from the center of your being.

Writing has never been one of Walston’s ambitions. As an entrepreneur, consultant and public speaker, she preferred to express herself orally, so researching and writing three internationally published books has been one of her two greatest acts of courage. As she continued to nurture this forgotten virtue, she discovered that during those particularly difficult times, courage became an invaluable companion during the more ordinary trials of life.

Sandra’s articles have been featured in Chief Learning Officer, Training & Development, HR Matters, Malaysia, Zig Ziglar’s Newsletter, Personal Excellence: The Magazine of Life Leadership and Strategic Finance. She is certified in the Enneagram, a system of understanding nine different personality types and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicatorâ. She is a Newfield Network Coach.

With over sixteen years of experience with finance professionals, and a former Vice President Private Banking, Sandra has instructed for seventeen years at the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program courses such as “Courage Leadership: Do You Demonstrate It or Are You Stuck?” and “Personality Models: An Introduction to the Enneagram: Nine Ways of Living and Working.”

Walston enjoys golf, skiing, yoga, travel, cooking, meditating, and being a hospice volunteer. Her favorite courage quote is by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Everyday courage has few witnesses. 

It is no less noble because no drum beats and no crowds shout your name.

 

Partial List of Published Articles Available Here: Articles:

 Partial List of Acknowledgments:

• Instructor, University of Denver, Graduate Tax Program

• Guest speaker of Dr. Donna Sockell, Director, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, Boulder

• Candidate for honorary doctorate degree University of West Florida

• Interviewed for Entrepreneur magazine, “Marketing Smarts,” January 1996

• Completed Joel Roberts’ Advanced Excellence in Media Training, December 1999

• “Meet the Pros,” March 2001, National Speakers Association, SF Winter Workshop spoke on “Break All the Odds, Defy the Rules: Do You Have the Courage to Launch a Book?”

 Educational highlights:

• B.A., California State University, San Jose, California

• Life Standard Teaching Credential, specializing in education

• UCLA Extension continuing education classes with a focus in Business.

• Qualified to administer and interpret the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® to assess challenges in team building, leadership, stress, time management, gaining group consensus, and developing camaraderie, competence and trust.

• Certified in the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a personality system that describes nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Memberships:

• Colorado Author’s League

• National Association for Executive Females

• Rocky Mountain Association of Psychological Type

• The Denver Orchid Society

• Certified volunteer for the Denver Hospice