Here’s something that occurred to me today.
Motivational speakers are a bit like diet books. If they really worked, you’d only need to see one, then you’d be sorted for the rest of your life.
There are hundreds of motivational speakers in the UK – enough to justify agencies who specialise in finding the right speaker for your event. Some are from the business world, others from sport or entertainment. Most of them have essentially the same message – free your mind of all the crap that is holding you back, then just stop procrastinating and get on with becoming a great person.
The trouble is, that second bit never really happens. People come away all fired-up from seeing a motivational speaker, then go back to their desks and carry on doing what they have been doing for the past ten years. That’s why there is so much work for motivational speakers. People need to go back for their regular fix.
If even ten percent of each audience went off and changed their lives after listening to one of these gurus, the speakers would soon go out of business. As it is, though, there is a never-ending stream of people wanting to be motivated, just for an hour or so. As with diet books, everyone knows that a motivational event won’t really make them do anything differently but they cling to a slender hope that this might just be the one that changes everything.
Like much of what passes for personal development in today’s companies, motivational speakers are simply there for the entertainment of executives. You might just as well send them to see a stand up comedian. They might even learn more.
7 Comments
31 July, 2007 at 7:43 am
Also, if their motivation techniques work as well as they claim, wouldn’t they themselves be motivated to get a better job than continually presenting a load of pyschobabble to bored execs?
It’s a bit like pyschics – how come Mystic Meg hasn’t won the lottery yet?
31 July, 2007 at 10:47 am
Guru – I think they make quite a lot of money from presenting psychobabble to bored execs. It beats getting a proper job.
1 August, 2007 at 10:46 am
Rick – your argument doesn’t necessarily follow. After all, hookers can make quite a lot of money from bored execs too, but that doesn’t mean prostitution beats getting a proper job.
1 August, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I bet a lot of them think it does.
if you can make in an hour on your back (or on your feet, in the case of the motivators) what it takes most people a week to earn, why do you need a proper job?
29 August, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Oh dear. We could fall out over this one.
30 August, 2007 at 7:39 am
Great – I like a good falling out. That’s what makes blogging fun.
The trouble with business-related blogs is that we’re all too polite to each other. If you read political blogs, like Stumbling and Mumbling, for example, they are arguing all the time.
Come on, let’s have a few good scraps!
31 August, 2007 at 2:52 pm
OK then. I think though you do have a point. There appears to be too many “motivational” speakers around. (That’ll wind ‘em up in the PSA)
http://www.jeremyjacobs.com
http://corporatepresenter.blogspot.com