Fordyce Maxwell: “He seemed to  be an exponent  of the talk fast, talk loud, think later, school”

The fact that there John Humphrys was indulging in one of his tedious harangues so I moved first to Radio 3 then the off-button is by the way, it’s the motivational speaker I wanted to mention.

He seemed to be an exponent of the talk fast, talk loud, think later, school. He was also an expounder of what one of my early bosses called – referring, I fear, to one of my fledgling articles – “the bleeding obvious.” Yet as far as I could gather from the introduction given to the lad on Five Live he is making a healthy living from doing that. His advice, before I reached the change-station button, included setting small, achievable targets, focus attention, don’t get distracted, oh, and buy his motivational DVD.

It baffled me when I was working full time and occasionally had contact with some of these people, and baffles me now, how so many millions of us are suckers for “advice” on how to live and succeed that thousands of speakers and writers can cash in on our need. Specific subjects such as dieting are an obvious example. The only advice needed on how to lose weight is “Eat less”, but that wouldn’t sell many books, DVDs or magazines or fill TV and radio time.

But variations on the theme of “Eat less” probably keep as many people in jobs as the civil service. And how many more make a living advising us how to be more confident, more assertive, more attractive, get religion, be better at our job and generally “Oh my god, look at me go” is anybody’s guess.

What worries me is the end result of this advice. Does anyone seriously want to become like any of those super-enthusiastic, glossy, motivators? Too many of those I’ve seen seem on the edge of desperation, trying too hard to convince. I don’t envy them their job any more than I envy cold-callers for double-glazing.

Samuel Smiles with his original Self-Help book of 150 years ago has a lot to answer for with the vast industry that spawned. Although, I seem to remember – yes, I read it when I thought that sort of thing might make a difference and I’ve read a few of its successors since in the interests of research – Self-Help was based on acquiring knowledge and the benefits of hard work.

Now we’ve got motivators, TV “talent” shows, PowerPoint presentations, The Apprentice and dodgy bankers succeeding in business without really trying. I don’t think that’s an improvement. «

Fordyce Maxwell: “He seemed to be an exponent of the talk fast, talk loud, think later, school”

Fordyce Maxwell: “He seemed to  be an exponent  of the talk fast, talk loud, think later, school”