It’s that time of year again, when Anthony Robbins descends upon us from his island in the South Pacific, encouraging us to ‘Unleash The Power Within’. His seminars are made up of folks from all walks of life. Some are even paid to go as part of their work professional development. But the underlying motivations that drives people to attend is the promise that they can fulfil their potential as human beings, and of course, make quite a lot of money along the way.
Ask most people what they expect before they attend these seminars, and you will hear phrases like ‘motivation’, because that is what most people understand Anthony Robbins to be -a motivational speaker. And looking at his own publicity, sainthood seems to be beckoning - ‘advisor to leaders around the world’, ‘Peace Negotiator & Humanitarian’, ‘Successful Entrepreneur & Honoured Business Strategist’, ‘Philanthropist’ ‘Innovator in Psychology and Intervention’- the list goes on.
Now
I am not casting doubt on whether he is any of these things, but what the public
should know is that if they go to an Anthony Robbins seminar expecting just a
motivational talk, they will discover that they are getting a whole lot more
than they bargained for. First of all, once you’ve paid your thousand or so
bucks, don’t expect that will be it. ‘Tony’ has a lot more planned for you
than just a measly four-day seminar! But more about that later.
So how does ‘Unleash The Power Within’ work? It is quite simple really. Tony uses four main methods.
1.
Good Solid Sensible Advice
‘Select your goal. Stick to it.’ Stuff like that. This is all very sound and
sensible advice that we do need to hear. Whether you need to pay a thousand or
so bucks to hear it though, is another matter. And yet this most important part
of the seminar, once you wade through all the anecdotes, jokes and hyperbole, is
only a small proportion of the overall product.
2.
Love And Hugs
Everyone wants to be loved. And love is in the air at a Tony seminar!
Periodically, the audience is encouraged to give each other warm, deep,
meaningful hugs; the same kind of hugs that Sannyasins (or Orange People) give
each other. With the lovely bouquet on stage, there is often an evangelical tone
to the gathering, with Tony preaching soulfully and passionately to an attentive
audience.
3.
Whip 'Em Up Into A Frenzy
Tony is, more than anything, an entertainer. He tells jokes. He tells long
anecdotes that make you laugh and cry, and he leads a frenetic chorus of
whooping and a- hollering. Before he enters the stage in the mornings, a group
of volunteers (most of Tony’s workers are unpaid - there’s one tip for you
budding entrepreneurs!) dances and claps, getting the audience to their feet. By
the time Tony gets on stage the music crescendos and he performs his trademark
shake of the outstretched hand, followed by a clap, coupled with a holler that
builds to a crescendo. This is part of his connection strategy, and is a ritual
that will be repeated by both he and the audience many times over the next four
days, particularly when he feels the audience is losing focus.
4.
Theatre Games
Most of his
audience, being set on paths to financial freedom, have probably never done any
acting classes, and they may think they are undertaking radical new ways to
‘Unleash The Power Within’ when they are taking part in Tony’s activities,
but in truth, all they are doing are playing basic Theatre Games. Sure, they're
fun! Sure, they might be good for you! But again, do they really need to pay
thousands of dollars to do it? A walk up Devonshire Street from the
Entertainment Centre to The Actors Centre could see them participate in an Impro
class for considerably less cash and considerably less of the other stuff.
Plus...
Completely Screwing With You
Another method,
which also falls into the ' Lets Whip ‘Em Up Into A Frenzy' category, is
one of the most disturbing parts of the seminar. This involves using a method of
confrontation where the lights are lowered and a feverish music is played.
Audience members are encouraged to walk through an imaginary ring. I’ve seen a
woman go absolutely hysterical during this and have to be taken away in an
ambulance. This is where the cultism of Robbins’s group makes its most public
appearance. Unbelievably, the audience are told they ‘cannot’ leave the
auditorium during this, and volunteers guard the doors and physically restrain
people from leaving. A number of upset audience members have venue staff to
thank for their intervention, for whilst Robbins hires the auditoriums he
performs in, audiences are in effect the guests of that establishment and as
such, must abide by the policies of that venue, which often includes a basic
‘People are free to come and go as they please’. (And I kind of think it may
be against the law in some countries to detain people against their will, not to
mention the fact that these people are blocking fire exits.)
When Robbins moves into a venue, the instructions are very clear: the air-conditioning must be set at 15 degrees Celsius. Then there is the last minute request one evening to open the venue an hour earlier the next day. For the audience who have been there all day and all night till round about midnight, it is a huge ask to come in an hour earlier, but Tony explains it is necessary. Naturally, with so little notice, the venue is unable to comply, and the next morning, Tony apologizes to the angry audience that ‘they wouldn’t open the doors for us’. This further builds up an atmosphere of them being special and apart from the rest of the world. And of course, with the air-conditioning set so low, it is too cold to nod off.
A big part of Robbins’ strategy therefore, is sleep deprivation. By the end of the seminar Tony needs you tired, irritable, and unable to make rational decisions. This is because very few people would make a rational decision to spend $12,000 on one of his Mastery University courses.
And he is not even there for the last day. By then, he is back lazing by his pool on his island in the sun, paid for by all the poor saps who have forked over their life savings to him. He brings in a nutritionist to speak. Full of beans, he harasses the audience all day to eat salads, not to smoke, not to drink coffee, etc. Perhaps he doesn’t want to be seen to be associated with people harassing people for money, because at the end of the last day, when everyone is exhausted, the pitch comes, and it comes hard! "Don’t ask where am I going to get the money! Look at it like this. If your wife was dying and you needed $12,000 for her operation, you’d FIND the money! That’s what I’m asking you to do."
At the end of the proceedings there are courses and books aplenty to purchase. And they will be purchased! For you see, if his bully-squad spot anyone with the slightest interest in further study, they are whisked away into a guarded room and badgered more into signing away huge sums of money. I saw a man physically restrained from entering that room. He ran to away screaming "They’ve got my mother in there!"
Another demonstration of the cultism of the group concerns a conversation I overheard between two Robbins team members during a visit to Sydney. These were two that were members of the small group of workers that travel with Robbins, distinguishable from the white-clad volunteers by their black suits and ties. Whether or not they are paid, I cannot say. A younger member had presumably expressed concerns about being away from his family for an extended period and wanted to go home. I saw a slightly older team member usher him to a far corner of the venue. The ‘elder’ was unaware that I was only a matter of feet away. He used sentences like: “I know you miss your family, and you feel guilty about being away from them, but you know, they don’t wanna come on this journey with you, and we’re your family now. We all here for you. If you go back to them… blahdy, blahdy blah. It was the kind of conversation that you associate with cults and send a chill down your spine.
Anthony Robbins does nothing illegal. He has headed United Nations Committees and has a swag of rich and powerful admirers (of course, they get one-on-one advice). Clearly he is a man who can and does achieve, and there are probably many success stories. But I would wager that for every success story there are a at least a hundred hard-luck stories. My simple advice to anyone considering going into anything run by him is firstly, to keep your money and your sanity, and don’t. But if you do feel compelled to attend. Go with a critical mind, and armed with knowledge of what his tactics and his motives truly are.
Craig CoventryNB.
When I first wrote this article I could find very little criticism of Anthony Robbins, which is one the reasons I felt compelled to speak out. As time went by it was heartening to see more and more writers critical of his confrontational tactics and cultish manner. It was also interesting reading how litigious his organisation has been with those critics. His mainstream persona has always been of a ‘motivational speaker’. He has even appeared in movies playing himself. There is still nothing illegal about what he is doing, but at least now there is enough information out there for people thinking of attending his seminars to access.
15th April, 2019.