Lessons from Oz

“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking.”

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

I’m a student of history. I like old things, antiques, postage stamps, and presidential autographs. I enjoy American standards, and old black and white (or Cinemascope) movies, particularly those of my parent’s generation, the “greatest one” that withstood the Great Depression, and fought (and won) the biggest war in our history. Their music, films, and stories speak of their quiet courage, good humor, personal sacrifices, and enviable, national unanimity. Almost every story had a “moral.”

The parallels between their times and ours are obvious. The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, deflation, and lost opportunity. Explanations vary, but include high consumer debt, ill-regulated markets, overoptimistic loans, few new industries, and class warfare – all spiraling into a cyclone of reduced spending, falling confidence, and lower production.

Like our parents, in times of national upheaval, Americans seek relief (respite) in satire, song, frivolity, even fantasy (Avatar comes to mind) – momentary (lyrical) escape from the daily trials and travails of “keeping on.” In 1939, such a fantasy took the form of The Wizard of Oz, the story of Dorothy, Toto, and an assortment of lovable but woeful characters, each seeking a missing ingredient that would bring purpose to their ordinary lives, and carry them home to safety and serenity. The stories of Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the cowardly Lion are allegorical. Each embarks on a hopeful journey for magical resolution of their deficiencies… great courage, a genius brain, a sympathetic heart…only to discover that what they sought and struggled for, they already possessed. They simply needed to empower themselves to unleash it. A matter of unalterable belief, but then bold action. “Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there’s no place like home.”

It’s true, each of us is empowered, but sometimes we need a wizard to remind us what should be obvious – that all of us are capable of achieving wondrous things, but most of us are unwilling to embark on stranger, different pathways than the ones we’ve already traversed, howsoever bumpy and aimless. We can train and counsel those unable but willing, but it’s those able but unwilling folks that drive us batty and back into personal sales. Yet, that’s our role, as managerial wizards (parents, pastors, BFFs) to convince (cajole, coerce) our Associates (children, flock, girlfriends) to take bolder steps to personal success, to fearlessly stand up to warty green witches, to reassure everyone that a gorgeous rainbow returns even after the most ferocious tempest. But to become a wise, omnipotent wizard, many of us have to make unknown journeys.

A professional journey from producing to profiting… from hoping to planning…from pleading to leading…from work to entrepreneurship…from barely surviving to wildly succeeding.

A more personal journey… from ignorance to knowledge…from fear to courage…from paralysis to powerfulness…from victimization to accountability.

It can be done. You are infinitely capable. But are you willing to TRY to be better, to be guided, to change YOU before expecting others to change? Is temerity holding you back, or simply not knowing what to do? “Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!”  In Oz, those fearsome creatures turned out not to be so scary after all. The same thing with today’s economic ogres…not so scary either! Be assured, you newly dubbed “wizards,” that rainbows return with you or without you. Many lie hidden, obscured, just round the bend. You may have to walk. “Just follow the yellow brick road.”

~ By Marty Rueter