Committee
Territory and community: Lessons in Leadership from the Maasaï
Event language(s)
English
Deadline for registration: Friday 16 October 2026 - 6:00 PM (UTC+9)
Price:
CCIFJ Member 3,000 JPY (excluding VAT)
Non-Member 4,500 JPY (excluding VAT)
For cancellation made one week before the event, we would ask you to send a substitute, otherwise we will apply a 50% cancellation fee.
Cancellations made on the previous day and the day of the event will be fully charged.
CCIFJ is reserving the right to cancel or shift to another appropriate date if the minimum number of registrants is not satisfied.
What can we learn from Kenya’s Maasaï and other traditional societies about being more relevant in what we do and who we are?
HR BREAKFAST
TERRITORY AND COMMUNITY
LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP FROM THE MAASAÏ
Date: October 20, 2026 (Tue) | Time: 9:00am - 11:00am
Ask a Maasaï chief what matters most in his life and in his role as a leader, and two answers invariably come first: my territory and my community.
From there arise fundamental questions:
- What does the community need to survive, protect itself and thrive?
- What resources and tools does it need?
- What obstacles will it encounter along its journey?
- How should decisions be made, responsibilities shared and knowledge passed on?
Drawing on English explorer Anthony Willoughby’s lifelong experience with traditional societies, and on his recent journey among the Maasaï with Tokyo based Executive Coach François-Xavier Lienhart, we invite you to an interactive and exploratory conversation about what traditional wisdom can teach us about leadership in today’s organizations and, in particular, in modern Japan.
Together, we will explore some fundamental dimensions of leadership: wisdom, strength and beauty; courage and protection; power and responsibility; decision-making; authority and seniority; symbols and rituals; tradition and modernity; transmission and culture; community and belonging.
Rather than offering ready-made answers, we shall use these perspectives to question some of our assumptions about leadership and organizational life.
- What makes us relevant as leaders?
- What gives meaning to our actions?
- What do the communities we lead actually need from us?
- And what should we preserve, change or pass on?
Takeaways
Participants will have a unique opportunity to step outside their usual organizational frameworks and reflect on important aspects of their lives as leaders and members of a community. The discussion will encourage reflection on our own behaviours, the meaning of our actions, and the contribution we make to the organizations and communities to which we belong.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
This HR Breakfast is not a training session. It is designed to bring together the HR community in Japan, along with professionals interested in the topic, to exchange perspectives and engage in meaningful discussions with the speakers and fellow participants.
As this is a community event the presentation is intentionally concise, leaving ample time for questions, interaction, and peer exchange.
AGENDA
- 9:00AM | Doors opening
- 9:15AM | Presentation Starts
- 10:30AM | Q&A & Networking
- 11:00 AM | Event ending
GUEST SPEAKERS
François-Xavier LIENHART
François-Xavier became an Executive Coach in 2022, graduating from the INSEAD Coaching Certificate Program after a career of 35 years in the corporate world, including significant CEO positions in large and and small organizations. His practice is based on the Systems-Psychodynamic approach and uses the Person-Role Organization model, incorporating context and culture, with expertise in various coaching tools. He coaches individual executives as well as teams.
He is also a certified Hogan Leadership assessor and accredited coach with the EMCC.
He has been based in Japan for more than 20 years.
Anthony WILLOUGHBY
Anthony was raised in Africa, vaguely schooled in the UK and arrived in Japan by boat in 1973, aged 22, at the end of the Trans-Siberian journey. He has now lived and worked in Japan for more than 35 years.
Over the past five decades, his work has taken him on journeys and expeditions across Papua New Guinea, East Africa, Mongolia and many other parts of the world.
He has spent time learning from Indigenous and traditional communities as well as working with young people, business leaders and organisations in very different environments.
Forty years ago, drawing on these expediton experiences, Anthony founded one of Japan’s first outdoor leadership companies, built around journeys, expeditions and learning through experience. The company continues today. His work is now evolving around a question that has emerged from those journeys:
- What makes people feel relevant?
- What can we learn from the Maasai and other traditional societies about belonging, contribution, responsibility and knowing our place in a community and what might those lessons mean for how we live and work today?
Anthony believes that some of the oldest human instincts, understanding our territory, knowing what is worth protecting and growing, belonging to something larger than ourselves and having something meaningful to contribute may have much to teach us about being relevant in a rapidly changing world.
CONTACT
Alice Frantz - Learning & Development Manager
a.frantz@ccifj.or.jp
Event Location
