Europeans don't want to learn...

I love learning - looking at things from new perspectives, adding to a portfolio of idea's. But something has struck me in the past month which is making me think - hard.

I attended a presentation recently, from an excellent presenter - some body who I would certainly recommend others to go and see and listen to. He mentioned in his presentation that he ran both open general courses and specialist/client focused courses, over either one or up to 3days. I went up after his slot, and asked when his next general open course was in the UK: "I don't do them normally in Europe these days - I don't get enough attendee's." OK, where do you run these events then was my question? "Asia - I run them regularly in Singapore, and all around South Asia. People want to learn there, and are willing to pay - in Europe, most don't."

A couple of days later, I got an invite to a series of seminars from a global sales guru. These were either available in America, one slot in Europe - or a whole plethora of options in South East Asia. Last week, I got one of Brian Tracy's excellent newsletters, together with his latest dates list. This year he's running one seminar of one type in Europe on one day. There are alternate options in America - but I notice around 60% of his courses are to be run in The Gulf and Asia, all offering his full portfolio.

OK, now there is a debate that perhaps the Asian's have not heard about these people and their programs, and perhaps this is just simple brand extension into a new market; and perhaps there are not enough 'experts' in Asia at present to fulfil demand. But following the simple principle of "the money follows the need", then the move into Asia is logical.

The more frightening conclusion for me - not that people want to learn, but that by conclusion: the European's don't. Now personally, that's more frightening than lower wages!