Outdoor adventures are part of the curriculum, as are exercises that put participants 'in touch with their emotions.'' Popularly called ''personal growth training,'' this approach is being enthusiastically embraced as the ''latest'' in leadership development. As an outgrowth of the humanist psychology movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the basic objective is to empower participants to assume greater personal responsibility for their lives and (ultimately) greater responsibility as leaders of their organizations. Yet, amid all the enthusiasm for this methodology, no one seems to be taking an objective look at its effectiveness. In this article, Jay Conger challenges both the assumptions on which personal growth is based, as well as the relevance of the learning experience to corporate leadership. The ability to be ''emotionally honest'' with oneself, for example, may well improve the quality of an individual's personal life-but there is no objective evidence to link emotional candor with better leadership. An outdoor adventure may engender the courage to take greater risks, but this type of risk taking seems much different from the risks one faces in daily corporate life. Conger raises a question sure to ignite controversy: ''Have we fallen for the medicine man's snake-oil?''
