Are You Motivated Yet?
There was an hilarious send-up of a motivational speaker on the final episode of Dexter Season 5 which we recently watched on Apple TV. He was smarmy, duplicitous, hypocritical, and received his just reward from his final audience.
All speakers today had better be “motivational,” in that they should be enthusiastic, interesting, articulate, and confident. But they had better have solid content which enables the audience to improve their performance or all the enthusiasm in the world isn’t going to keep them from their iPhones.
Silly affirmations such as “You’re your own best friend,” and “They can knock you down but they can’t knock you out,” and “Find yourself before you search for others” are insipid beyond merely meaningless. The rallies that are often staged where some former military officers, an astronaut or two, some ancient “motivators,” and a few others are dragged out on stage in order to sell the products in the back of the room are worse than a circus, where at least some of the acts are memorable.
People need pragmatic skills, not vapid oratory. It’s important to arouse people and even entertain them, so long as it’s in support of building their capabilities. But I’ve never seen anyone trod over hot coals to get to the office cafeteria or rappel down the side of the building to leave work at the end of the day. I did see not long ago a group of financial managers in 100° heat on a beach extraordinarily uncomfortable while racing to build sand castles under the supervision of a “motivational coach.”
Even the seagulls were laughing.
The guy on Dexter, a perfect synthesis of a half-dozen gurus, manipulated and schemed and felt everyone who paid to hear him was a pathetic loser. He was personally vile, but his acolytes chose not to see.
There are worse experiences, apparently, than seeing these people on stage, however—such as seeing them in sweat lodge.
© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved.
Colleen Francis
Brilliant piece Alan. I loved this season of Dexter in part because I saw in this character many of the motivation programs advertised today as “life transforming” events.
Alan Weiss
The hook with the show is that you wind up rooting for Dexter, a serial killer, but in this case anyone rooting for the motivational speaker is much sicker than Dexter.
Alan Weiss
Ironically, I received a voice mail today from a real “hot shot” who told me that “my team and I” were invited under special circumstances to a rally up here with Terry Bradshaw, Colin Powell, and another six people who probably need propping up to appear on stage. Only through him could my team and I get a special seating price for this great event. He was so bad that my phone slid out of my hands. How can you do this and claim you have honest work?
Bob Ligget
Completely agree about the empty aphorisms and affirmations. You were writing about that in Money Talks back in ’98 and I still hear it from speakers today. They’re all very earnest and overwrought and it just triggers my gag reflex.
About the rallies, I think the description is right on. The content is weak, I hear they still use those useless fill-in-the-blank “workbooks,” and hardly a minute goes by without a reminder of their books and CDs on sale at special prices today. I wonder though if people keep their expectations low that the rallies are perhaps an entertaining diversion from the office. Low-cost, high energy entertainment. They seem to fill a need, however useless they are. Of course, I never recommend friends or clients attend. Most of us can provide a workshop with higher value, and I try to educate those who ask to think about where they really want to spend their time and money and why.
Rene' Vidal
When a robotic speaker like Osteen packs the rafters consistently, one can only attribute it to ‘grace.’ What a bore. When a New Canaan priest berates a congregation of 12 on what ‘was’ a quiet Monday morning Mass no less, one has to wonder, Can we not do better?!