The Economist: A cynic watching Anthony Robbins, the megalosaurus of motivation

Key topics:Tony Robbins’ massive global influence and eventsHigh-energy marketing funnel and transformation claimsCharisma, stamina, and persuasive performance style.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..From The Economist, published under licence. The original article can be found on www.economist.com© 2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved..The Economist.If you have gone to church as a non-believer, or watched a tedious sport like cycling with people who are fanatical about it, you will know what it is like to be a cynic at a Tony Robbins event. You will be bored, but also fascinated. You will feel a bit superior, and also wonder whether you are the one who is missing the point.Mr Robbins is probably the most famous life coach on the planet. On a promise of helping people live “extraordinary lives”, he claims to have reached an audience of 100m over his 45-year career. His clients include Serena Williams, Hugh Jackman and Marc Benioff. He writes books and hosts podcasts. He fills stadiums with immersive events, delivering motivational sermons while his followers whoop and do firewalks. And earlier this year, he threw open the virtual doors for a free, three-day online event called the “Time to Rise Summit”.It could also have been called “Time to Enter the Marketing Funnel”. In the days leading up to the event, registrants get emails telling them that just signing up has “set them apart as a leader”. That was easy, you think. The clock is counting down to what will be a launchpad to “unstoppable growth and transformation”. Blimey, you think. And for just a small fee you can join the Gold Card Experience, which, among other things, promises you access to an “intimate” Zoom channel with no more than 1,000 other people. Unstoppable growth and transformation is probably enough for now, you think..Read more:.Warren Buffett’s life advice may be more valuable than his portfolio: Beth Kowitt.On the first day, you join a YouTube channel where tens of thousands of people are already online and waiting for the event to start. The screen shows inspirational messages like “Discover the Adventure that Comes from Becoming More Every Day” and “You Don’t Rise To The Level of Your Goals, You Rise to the Level of Your Decisions”. Each word makes sense but as the sentence unfolds, you are less and less sure what it means. Your fellow participants have no such doubts. The chat window fills with messages. “Let’s gooooo people,” “SUPER EXCITED” and “I still have no sound.”When the countdown ends, someone who has had far too much caffeine announces that 1.2m people have signed up to attend. A personal trainer appears to conduct a couple of warm-up exercises. The camera cuts away occasionally to show devotees who are watching the event on Zoom; they are presumably Gold Card Experience members. People are frantically jumping up and down in their living rooms. It’s totally baffling—like watching the Moonies do a HIIT session.And then, finally, the man himself is there. Mr Robbins may be 65 but his physicality is central to his appeal. He is exceptionally tall. He works out and wants you to know it. His teeth are like limestone cliffs. His voice rasps and his veins bulge. He seems to be a product of deep geological time: the megalosaurus of motivation. The chat window is a sea of emojis. “i love u tony!!!” says someone. “I want to change everything,” says another, which seems a little unfocused.And then he’s off and running, growling into the camera. He tells anecdotes that he has plainly told many times before, including how he cured a woman of her phobia of snakes in ten minutes. He talks about pattern recognition and the hero’s journey and testosterone surges and the lessons of the Wizard of Oz. He says things like “Someday leads to a town called nowhere,” and “If you want to take the island, burn the boats.” There is even a deeply unconvincing soundtrack of cheering and applause. You shake your head as the chat window explodes with more heart emojis.Still, what Mr Robbins says matters far less than how he says it. He is genuinely engaging. He often seems to be on the verge of tears when he tells his stories. He acts as if the audience is right there with him, encouraging the watching hordes to make some noise, clapping along weirdly as dance music blares, asking for shows of hands. He smiles as if he really means it.Above all, he keeps going and going. He talks for almost three hours straight on day one, and does the same thing again the next day and the day after that. And just when you think that must be it, an email arrives to say that Tony will be doing a fourth bonus day of rising. These displays of stamina strengthen the faith of disciples and raise a nagging question in your mind: if this is all nonsense, why is he so damned energetic and why do I feel so tired? You may not buy what Mr Robbins is selling. But you cannot deny that he sells it extremely well.

The Economist: A cynic watching Anthony Robbins, the megalosaurus of motivation

Related Stories

Britain’s “pensioner communism” is crumbling, and Brits retired in SA won’t shed a tear

Cathy Buckle: Waiting for the yellow-billed kites

BNC#9 | Summerton Q&A: Winner-takes-all investing, stubborn boards, hostile bids, and the AI future

Three execs gone overnight: Inside the crisis at Africa Bitcoin Corporation