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Influencing Violence, Inspiring Fear Essay

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Influencing Violence, Inspiring Fear
World renowned speaker and author John C. Maxwell has sold over eighteen million books that highlight the most important aspect of leadership. He is responsible for the training of over five million leaders in over one-hundred countries and developed several key leadership theories, including “the seven factors that influence” (Maxwell, 2013). What Maxwell’s factors do not include is the intent or application of this influence, be it for good or evil. The application of each seven factors is significant in the leadership traits of Osama bin Laden, the face and former leader of the Sunni Islamist militant terror group Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden’s use of character, relationships, knowledge, intuition, experience, past success and ability, not only inspired the terror group Al-Qaeda, but drastically increased the world’s fear of terrorism.

Character – “True leadership always begins with the inner person” (John Maxwell)
For the majority of the free world, the character of Osama Bin Laden is relative to the attacks of September 11th, 2001. In the years to follow, the evidence collected as a result of a worldwide, multinational manhunt, revealed the complexity of the Al-Qaeda leader. In her published memoirs, former wife of bin Laden, Najwa bin Laden claims her husband had conflicting personalities (Farmer, 2009). Najwa cited her husband as a disciplinarian who would often beat their (his) children for displaying to much joy, laughing too much

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