So why do people follow motivational speakers? Why do some companies hire them? It may seem counter-intuitive at first. But motivational speakers basically are the descendants of old P.T. Barnum - selling people what they want to hear. Their mantra is that you can get what you want, merely by desiring it - by having the right attitude - and that other things, like talent, education, quality, and cost control, are less relevant. Any company that follows the formula of the motivational speaker is driving the bus off the cliff.
And yet, many companies hire these clowns and stay in business. The reason is, of course, that the damage done to the company, while extensive, is not always enough to sink it - right away. It may take time for employees to be "de-motivated" by these experiences - realizing that a motivational messiah is being paid a million bucks, while they, as working employees, are denied raises. And it may take a while for the more talented employees to see the writing on the wall and leave. But will happen, over time.
You see, if you are in business selling widgets, what will make your company more successful is to have better widgets and a lower cost. Once you do that, all the "motivation" in the world won't make an ounce of difference. The company selling crappy, overpriced widgets will fail in the marketplace, no matter how many motivational speakers they hire. And yes, this is in part what happened to GM.
When companies start to fail, the writing is on the wall for everyone to see. Managers, often confounded with difficult choices, opt to deny reality (and thus deny having to make hard choices) by going to esoteric solutions or to motivational seminars - both of which often serve only to accelerate the demise of the company.
But the key here in understanding these folks is to look at their own records. The record of "achievement" is often spurious and vague, if not outright fraudulent. They have accomplished little in the way of real progress in life, other than to shout their blandishments at motivational meetings.
Having a good attitude in life is, of course, a good thing. But like these misguided "self-esteem" classes they hold in the inner city ghettos, attitude without an underlying factual basis to support it is meaningless at best, and corrosive to the soul at worst.
Telling some poor kid from the ghetto who is failing all his classes that he should have "self-esteem" is not the answer - the kid knows he sucks at school and his father is a crack addict. Self-esteem is the goal of getting good grades, leaving the ghetto, getting a good job, and taking care of yourself. You can't have the reward of self-esteem without the sacrifice and hard work it takes to get it.
Similarly, telling a worker at a company that sells substandard products and is losing market share that if only they had the right ATTITUDE the company would be profitable, is nothing short of cruel. All this is doing is taking management ineptness and passing it on to the worker - as if the worker were at fault for the poor management and problems in the factory.
And that, in short, is probably what the managers who subscribe to this nonsense are doing - trying to say "Hey, it isn't me - it's these crummy workers and their lousy attitudes! I hired the best motivational speaker there was!"
The reality is, most workers want to do a good job. They want to cut costs and help the bottom line. You don't need to "motivate" them to "think outside the box" to provide "continual quality improvement." In most cases, they are trying to do just this - but their ideas are dismissed at meetings or are told "we'll get back to you on that." Before long, they stop trying. If your workers are not motivated, it is the fault of management for de-motivating them, and a motivational speaker is not the answer.
And sometimes, closing the factory and moving on IS the only solution. But many managers, particularly the middle-level kind, reject this because it means they will be out of a job. So motivational speakers are hired and the real problems of being competitive are papered over with blandishments and sloganeering. The underlying problems of bloated management, high labor cost, low productivity, poor product design, outdated manufacturing equipment - and other real-world issues that good management should address - are ignored.
If you find yourself thinking of hiring a motivational speaker - or worse yet, a consultant - maybe it is time to throw in the towel and admit failure. The motivational speaker cannot save your company through "attitude". And hiring a consultant is just a tacit admission that you've forgotten how to run your own business.
* * *
Just a thought.