Dorothy Gale traveled all over Oz picking up a motley crew of friends and enemies as she and Toto searched high and low for someone to help her get home to Kansas and Auntie Em. In the end, as she begged for help from the Good Witch Glinda, she finally realized that the answers were within her all along.
“If I ever go looking again for my heart’s desire, I won’t look any further than my own backyard because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with,” Dorothy realizes. The scarecrow and the tinman feel they should have figured it out for Dorothy but Glinda disagrees, “No she had to learn it for herself.”
I have seen the movie many times (maybe you have as well). I think it covers nearly every aspect of life’s journey – growth, resilience, fear, tolerance and so much more. However it wasn’t until the last few years of my corporate career, when I had an excellent executive coach, that it occurred to me that if The Wizard of Oz were to be written as a business story, the role of “executive coach” would surely be held be Glinda. She listened and provided the tools (including the shoes) to help Dorothy build the courage she needed to find her way home. Dorothy returned home armed with an awareness of the unique gifts she had all along. That’s what coaches do. That’s what my coach did. He also helped me see that I had been “unofficially” coaching people for years. It was this revelation that inspired me to change careers and make coaching part of my new life’s work. I can’t imagine ever growing tired of seeing people begin to truly understand the personal power of their unique gifts – the ones they’ve had the power to use all along. Ruby Red Slipper are optional.
I would enjoy hearing from you about times when you discovered a hidden “power” you had all along and how you chose to use it in transformative ways. Feel free to comment or email me.