Return to Oz

A wonderful lesson of leadership from Oz.... 
and Michael Clouse.  

Return to Oz

We're off to see the Wizard... The wonderful Wizard of Oz... He truly is a wonderful Wiz, if ever a Wiz there was...

Seems "We're all off..." to find something. Searching for answers ... Sometimes for people ... Whatever it takes to get from where we are to where we want to go.

Dorothy just wanted to get back to Kansas. And, lest we forget, the friends she met along her way were searching, too: for brains, a heart and courage.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic metaphor for leadership. Dorothy discovered that leadership begins with knowledge in action—"Just follow the yellow brick road"—and ends with the realization, "There's no place like home."

Because from time to time we all need to be reminded, that if we just stay the course, we will reach our goals. Yet, the real wizardry of Oz is more subtly intertwined throughout the movie.

Remember, Scarecrow believed he didn't have a brain, but he masterminded Dorothy's rescue. Convinced he was without a heart, the Tin Man tried, repeatedly, to contain his emotions. And when it mattered most, the Lion, still searching for courage, was absolutely fearless. Each one possessed exactly what he had been searching for all along.

And yet concealed in Oz's last scene is perhaps the greatest leadership lesson of all:

Dorothy: Can you help me...

Good Witch of The North: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.

Dorothy: I have?

Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?

Good Witch of The North: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.

Dorothy believed the Wizard had the power—turns out he was just the little man behind the curtain.

Dorothy had the Ruby Slippers—the real power—all along. And that's what true leadership is about. Helping people see their power, helping them bring out the greatness that was really there all along.

Because the dreams you dare to dream really do come true...but only when you decide it's time to wake up and live them!

"Oh Auntie Em, it's you..."

-Michael S. Clouse