Wizard of
Oz Leadership Lessons
Seventy years ago MGM produced one of the best and most
beloved movies of all time, based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of
Oz. The original book was published in 1900, the first of 14 Oz books written
by Baum, to be followed by dozens more from other authors. The 1939 film,
starring Judy Garland, is so well crafted it continues to enchant audiences
today… and also offers some important leadership lessons.
You have to hand it to Dorothy. She fully engages the
wonders, adventures, friendships, and dangers she encounters in Oz, but she is
never deterred from her purpose of finding her way home. Does your organization
have that clarity of purpose and vision? How, as a leader, do you keep
yourself, and your followers, focused on that purpose?
Exceptional
Teamwork derives from aligned WIIFM.
What’s In It For Me? The reasons why each of the
protagonists want to go to Oz are different, but the destination is the same.
Everyone needs to get to the Emerald City to see the Wizard. The journey is
safer and more productive traveling together, and ultimately the Scarecrow,
Tin-Man, Lion and Dorothy become a powerful team that defeats their nemesis and
creates a better future for Oz.
Great causes must accommodate individual purposes. Effective
leaders seek to understand the personal needs and motivations of followers, and
help to align individual purposes with the higher purpose of the organization.
Head,
Heart, Courage, and Spirit are cornerstones of character.
The Scarecrow needs a brain. The Tin Man a heart. The Lion,
courage. Dorothy, her home. One reason the Wizard of Oz endures is because it
deeply resonates with our experience of the human condition. We recognize that
to be our best as a human, or team, or leader, we must draw from head, heart,
courage, and spirit. Yet none of us are fully complete in these respects, and
our endeavors are often interdependent.
The leaders we need for today’s world, not to mention
tomorrow’s, are those who have significant mastery of these four “meta-factors”
of character: wisdom, humanity, courage, and resilience - and who also
recognize their limitations. A remarkable leadership tool, recently developed,
is an instrument called the Tilt360. Tilt goes beyond most 360 instruments that
focus on skills and competencies, to assesses these four meta-factors of
leadership character. The assessment report provides a guide for leaders, best
used working with a coach, to further understand and build on their strengths
in these cornerstones of character.
Deal with
what comes at you, but don’t lose faith.
Just when you think it can’t get worse, here come the flying
monkeys. So deal with it.
Companies that sustain success face brutal reality head on,
while at the same time never lose faith in their ability to prevail, notes Jim
Collins in his book, Good to Great. Collins observes, “The good-to-great
companies faced just as much adversity as the comparison companies, but responded
to that adversity differently. They hit the realities of their situation
head-on. As a result, they emerged from adversity even stronger.”
The world is full of lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! Wise
leaders keep their people moving down the yellow brick road - they deal head-on
with obstacles, stay true to their values and mission, and always expect and
give help along the way.
Understand
the difference between a role and who you really are.
The Wizard manipulates trappings of wizardly power to evoke,
fear, awe, and respect, but is able to provide genuine help only after he is
engaged as a real person. Both wizards and leaders do well to present a
powerful facade of office to the world, and at the same time cultivate personal
authenticity that sustains engagement with followers. Believe your own press
clippings and ignore that person behind the curtain at your peril. It is in
authentically connecting to other people that real leadership magic begins.
Framing can
be magical.
Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre
commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks
through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities,
seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they
come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But
they have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma. Therefore, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I
hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of ThD. (Doctor of Thinkology, the
Wizard explains.)
Framing based on smoke and mirrors ultimately is exposed as
a sham. Framing based on substance - true wisdom, humanity, and courage -
provides deep value that changes lives.
No one else
can do it for you.
At the end of the movie Glinda the Good Witch informs
Dorothy she has always had the power to go home. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dorothy rightly inquires, only to be told, “Because you have to find out for
yourself.” Some things you simply have to experience for yourself. Leadership
is one of them.
While perhaps informative, reading a book does not fully
equip someone to ride a bike, drive a car, fly a plane, or be a leader. All
these things require experience. Reflection on experience in a way that informs
how to handle future experiences is the fundamental key to development.
Leadership is a developmental process. Help along the way is essential, but no
one else can develop for you.
Leadership is much more than telling people to go down the
yellow brick road. It’s about authentically engaging them in the adventure.
***
by Tom Stevens (c)2009
Tom Stevens helps leaders create and sustain exceptional
organizations. To contact him, visit www.ThinkLeadershipIdeas.com or call 800
727-978
raserijobs.applyto.co
raserijobs.applyto.co
