Internationally recognized leadership expert John C. Maxwell (motto: "Leadership Resources Impacting the World's Influencers") descends upon Nairobi on March 8 to deliver a one-day seminar about values-based leadership. You can attend this exclusive event for the low price of 65,000 Kenyan shillings ($860).
Kenya's love for self-help books is well-known. There does, however, seem to be something vaguely predatory about charging $860 _ half the average annual wage _ for a seminar in which people will spend the day learning how to impact influencers.
According to John Maxwell's web site, "a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way," and "a great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position." I'm not sure what either of those things really means, but... yeah!
It is pointing out the obvious to say that a man who identifies himself as a "leadership expert" and has published 56 books, some of which are compilations of "lessons" from others of his books, is selling snake oil. And it's up for debate whether his "lessons" are relevant anywhere in the world. You could, however, make the case that preaching the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership (sorry, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership) in places like Kenya is a bit like going to China and telling everyone to conduct business in Yuchi.
dear nick wadhams: i love your blog. it's a must-read for a lot of friends in DC too.
always on point, and just sassy enough. :)
Posted by: NairobiNotes | January 14, 2010 at 03:36 PM