ANTHONY GITONGA: Helping People Achieve Greatness

Anthony Gitonga is the CEO of LEAD Consulting, an organisation that focuses on leadership and personal development to help people discover, develop and maximise their strengths, perfect their purpose in life, and achieve their greatness. Anthony is a leadership author, speaker and coach with five books to his name. He believes that everyone has greatness in them and was created for a specific purpose in life. He tells ESTHER KIRAGU what makes him tick.

It’s a hot Wednesday afternoon and I am in a leadership conference in Nairobi listening to a speech by Anthony Gitonga. He is one of the many speakers scheduled to give a talk at this conference. I keenly listen to his engaging voice as it rips through the pin-drop silence in the room. Everyone seems engrossed, taking in every word that comes from his mouth with only occasional interruptions of applause from the crowd.

Anthony is a gifted speaker who captivates audiences with messages that inspire, challenge and equip. I am impressed and as soon as the session ends, I hunt him down requesting for an interview. A pleasant Anthony consents. I am curious to know the genesis of his great oratory skills. He smiles. “Mine isn’t a product of a couple of years learning in a formal school, it has been a self-taught school for ten years and even so I still continue learning because success is a journey not a destination,” he says as we start the interview.

 HUMBLE UPBRINGING…

This fifth born in a family of eight siblings didn’t always know he wanted to be a communicator. But growing up he could identify small, subtle indicators in his life that convinced him that communication was what he was cut out for. Born and raised in Nanyuki, his mum was a farmer and dad a matatu driver. He recalls his journeys to school being somewhat torturous, having had to walk barefoot for five miles to get to school. The cold breeze often numbed his fingers and toes by the time he got to Umande Primary School in Nanyuki. It didn’t help that the school had no windows and doors and its roof grass-thatched and the walls plastered with mud. Astonishingly, he says all the elements of this harsh weather in Nanyuki formed a great part of his learning experience.
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