Managing Leadership^®

Together with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, Americans will inevitably see reruns of the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” Why does it strike such a chord with us, and why so much so at this time of year?

Certainly, its signature song, “Over the Rainbow,” rings true with so many who yearn to improve their lot, to rise out of the unending struggle that their lives sometimes seem to be. We recognize the call in that song that if “they” can have a better life, why can’t we? It’s just over there, over that symbol of promise, of hope.

But that isn’t the only suggestion of restless movement in the movie. The main characters, with their unique personalities, flaws, and ambitions, set out on a journey to appeal to a powerful wizard who can shore up their weaknesses, bestow on them their dreams.

We all recognize that also. The desperate hope that our suffering can be relieved, our wishes for a better life fulfilled by means of the effortless incantations of powers moved by our innocent earnestness, who are sure to see that we are deserving of their merciful attentions. They are also just over there.

So off we go, to petition them. We search, we explore, we are convinced we can find a better way, a better life, waiting for us to find it, just a little further on.

But what we really learn, of course, is that the resources we seek are revealed in us as we pursue them. We discover within ourselves the goal of our journey as a result of the very act of our undertaking it. And that, as it turns out, is more than enough to fulfill our dreams – or, at least, to keep our hopes alive.

That is a vital part of the American experience. People struggling across vast continents and great seas, hoping to find release from their suffering in this fabled, magic land. Once here, we see that things aren’t quite as simple as that, at least not where we are at the moment. So we struggle on still, through these mountains, across those plains, over mighty rivers, seeking greener grass, mining for gold, for the easy way out.

And when we come to the end of one frontier, we look back in amazement at what we have created in our search. We see that we were right to insist that we need not submit passively to misery, and right to persist in undertaking the most frightening adventures to uncover a better future.

But that tension persists. We still hope to find a yet easier way, an even better future. We don’t wait for it to come to us, though; we get up to find it, to demand it – and that is how we ultimately create it; or something like it. Always opening new frontiers, always sure that what we seek can be found, and that we ought to find it.

But an even better one is out there, somewhere. And these dreams that we dare to dream really can – really do – come true.

I’m thankful there are those in the world who still believe that – and who act on that belief.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my compatriots, wherever they are in the world. For our other friends, we don’t take many holidays in the States, after all. Please indulge us this one, so quintessentially ours – and spare us a thought as well, if you will.

See you on Monday.