In an unexpected setting, the Missouri Department of Corrections has become the stage for transformational leadership.
Laura Fehrenbach has been with the state of Missouri’s probation and parole department for 26 years, serving as the district administrator for the last ten in southern Missouri. She works with justice-involved individuals who are either on probation or parole. These individuals have either just been released from prison with part of their sentence left to complete, or they have been given the opportunity to avoid prison by making better choices in the community.
Laura believes that people in trouble simply need better opportunities and the chance to be seen for who they are, not just their actions. That’s why she chose the career in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Positive Changes in People’s Lives
Every day, Laura is making positive changes in people’s lives. Her belief in second chances is so strong that she refers to the people she works with as clients, not convicts or parolees.
At probation and parole, the mission is to improve lives for a safer community.
Historically, they’ve focused their attention and resources on high-risk, high-need individuals, often overlooking those who are doing well in the community. Then, Laura was introduced to Transformation Ozarks by the wife of the Branson Fire Chief, Ted Martin.
Ted believed probation and parole should be involved in this community initiative and he invited Laura to participate in a Transformation Ozarks Community Transformation Table. During Laura’s first session, focused on the value of initiative, she knew she needed to share this with her clients.
Transformation Ozarks aims to make the entire region between Stone and Taney County a better place to live and work for everyone. This movement focuses on unifying people around good values and collaborating for the common good. Through the Transformation Tables process, it provides everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate these values in a way that makes a difference in their own lives as well as the community.
As a participant, Laura experienced the positive difference the Transformation Tables made in her own life and was inspired to extend this opportunity to her clients, who she views as deserving of service rather than being labeled as broken or dysfunctional. She sees participation in the Transformation Ozarks Community Transformation Tables as an opportunity to engage individuals, who are still on supervision, as active and valued members of the community.
“The most powerful ripple in any room belongs to the person who chooses to serve, not the person who is seen.”
What We Learned in Paraguay
The Stage Is a Microphone, Not a Generator
This is the core misunderstanding of how influence works. Most of us believe leadership influence flows like a broadcast signal: the more prominent the speaker, the more powerful the signal.
But influence doesn’t work like a broadcast. It works like a ripple. Ripples are generated by contact — by the specific, personal, relational moment in which one person’s character touches another’s.
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