Many people spend a lot of time and sometimes invest a lot of money on people advertising their own personal business, relationship, and leadership maxims. They can be listened to in TED talks, be followed on inspirational or educational vlogs and blogs, and podcasts. Many are people who claim to be self-made millionaires, inspirational speakers, and well known leaders. Differentiating between theories and maxims is an important step to take when seeking professional advice and especially when making important decisions.
Kimraluna.com
Kimra Luna is a perfect example of someone offering one opinion and explanation of leadership. Her entire business plan is built around the fact that she was a nobody, became a somebody, and you can do it too. She is one of many self-made entrepreneurs with a unique story. Her edgy look and heartfelt story is enough to make anyone want to give her techniques for making money a try. This source of this leadership example is referred to as a maxim. It’s an educational platform built from Kimra’s personal experience as a businesswoman/leader, or as she calls herself and her followers, a Freedom Hacker Mastermind. She offers business advice from the perspective of someone who started from nothing and made it to the top.
gettheguy.co.uk/
Matthew Hussey is a TV personality who travels the world as an inspirational speaker and human-dynamics coach, and selling his NY Times best-selling book to women seeking relationship advice. He produces YouTube video blogs, offering empowering words about many subjects regarding “How To Get The Guy.” His perspectives on men, women, relationships, and human attraction are based on his own personal experience as “one of the leading experts in human attraction,” as declared by his company GetTheGuy.
slideshare.net
Colin Powell is a highly respected, famous man who is a retired general of the United States Army and former US Secretary of State. Through his personal experience, he’s build an arsenal of useful information regarding leadership and shares it through public speeches. While he sometimes shares his own experiences from his unique perspective in order to convey a message, he’s actually sharing what sounds like process leadership approaches used by the military. A recent speech related to psychological development called Kids Need Structure can be found here.
All these leaders offer thought-provoking ideas and concepts, motivational speeches on stage or on air, and offer practical ways to put your new knowledge into practice. Whether you’re in the market to be an online entrepreneur, a dating expert, or a powerful leader, social media is a great place to start! Just remember that the information you stumble upon may be a maxim based on an individual’s perspective, rather than a theory that’s backed by years of research.
References:
Flamenco, R. (2014, December 11). Branding & Starting your Business w/ Kimra Luna. Retrieved June 24, 2015, from http://www.takerightaction.com/kimra-luna/
Bryl, N. (2013, April 24). Interview With Rising Star Matthew Hussey, Bestselling Author of Get The Guy and International Love Guru. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
(Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Colin_Powell
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.
I think with social media, today, we need to be even more aware of the difference between that two and really think about what we are reading online or watching on you tube and other media sources. Like you pointed out in your post, there are many people out there who post leadership articles on how they made it to the top. The reader must be aware that because it worked for them does not mean it will work for the reader.
As we have learned, leadership depends on a great many variables such as the leaders personality, their position in the company and opportunities just to name a few. Suffice to say, not all leaders are created equal and the reader or buyer of the material must keep that in mind.