It was a simple postcard, designed to focus a spotlight on the positives that leadership training — such as that offered by Leadership Lawrence — can bring to Kansas cities and counties.

The postcard featured two photographs: One, a community in celebration. The other, a downtown block that’s seen better days. The postcard asked: “Which community would you rather call home?” The postcard said the difference between the two towns could be traced to effective leadership.

Apparently, the folks who put the postcard together didn’t realize that the stock photograph of the downtown block was taken on a real Kansas Main Street — in Effingham, a community of about 650 people 50 miles northwest of Lawrence.

Understandably, Effingham residents are not pleased by this slap in the face, inadvertent or not. Consequently, Leadership Lawrence, operated by the local chamber of commerce, has egg on its face. The postcard actually was paid for, designed and mailed on behalf of Leadership Lawrence and eight other community leadership programs by a Wichita-based nonprofit, the Kansas Leadership Center.

Officials at Leadership Lawrence and the leadership center say the mailing was a mistake. And they say they wouldn’t have knowingly used a real image from a real Kansas town. They’ve apologized, and Ed O’Malley, the president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Leadership Center, planned a trip to Effingham last week to apologize in person to Mayor James Potts and other community residents.

Potts, by the way, says he doesn’t hold any ill feelings toward the leadership center, which was founded in 2007 with a $30 million investment from the Kansas Health Foundation. The premise of the leadership center is that effective leadership in Kansas communities actually will have a positive effect on the health of our state’s residents.

The postcard was shortsighted and mean-spirited — regardless of whether the image was of a real Kansas town. Let’s face it: That photograph could have been taken in any number of communities in any quadrant of our state. The postcard was a slap to each of these towns, where Kansans make their homes. It’s never a good idea to try to elevate oneself on the backs of others.

In addition, to suggest that effective community leadership is the sole difference between a robust town and one that is experiencing difficulties is a simplistic view. Many factors play into a town’s successes and failures.

Perhaps some good will emerge from this gaffe by forging a relationship between Effingham and the leadership center. It’s hoped the Kansas Leadership Center will take this embarrassing moment and turn it into an opportunity.