Michael Scott Karpovich, a certified professional speaker from Michigan, sums up clearly what it takes to be a leader in rural America. We need diversity of strengths and skills and teamwork to be effective decision makers. He uses the characters in the Wizard of Oz to demonstrate what is needed for an effective leadership team. 

Dorothy displays many of the skills prevalent in rural communities. It wasn’t until a crisis, the tornado, came to Dorothy that she exhibited her fairness, kindness, and firm resolve. Her determination came from what she was missing – her home in Kansas. She clearly saw her goal and what was needed to get her and the group to reach that goal.

The scarecrow tries for the brain he so desperately seeks, but what he lacks makes him even stronger as a leader. If the scarecrow had a brain, he wouldn’t be as creative and carefree. Entrepreneurs associate with the scarecrow. They don’t always listen to what can’t be done, and so we have many of our greatest inventions and innovations.

What the tin man lacks in having a heart actually allows him to make the tough decisions. Karpovich points out that every group needs the tin man. When the tough decisions need to be made, you need to be “heartless” but fair.

The cowardly lion shows his cowardice at every turn. In our world he is looked on as cautious. This is a positive way of describing his leadership skills. In rural America and elsewhere, caution often tempers the exuberant enthusiasm of the scarecrow and helps Dorothy with dangers they encounter along the yellow brick road.

The Wizard represents people who enter our communities and tell us how they are going to make us a great community. Like the wizard, these resource providers often come up empty in their promises.

We need to create and control the destiny of our communities. That doesn’t mean we can’t search for help, but we need to be aware that rural development is a long-term process and must come from the inside out. We must look to the resources available with firm resolve (Dorothy), risk (scarecrow), calculation (tin man) and caution (cowardly lion).

I agree with Michael Karpovich’s view of the Wizard of Oz and how it shows leadership in the 21st century. No longer is leadership a solitary position. The Wizard of Oz characterizes the type of team we all need to put together.

The Center for Rural Affairs is engaged in leadership development throughout northeast Nebraska. The analogy of the Wizard of Oz will strengthen the conviction rural leaders need as they search for a better future for rural America.

Contact: Michael L. Holton, michaellh@cfra.org or 402.582.4915 for more information.