Valleywag
It's not immediately obvious that Silicon Valley — an island of science and reason in a country overrun by alien abductees, jabbering Pentecostals and creationists — would fall for Tony Robbins. But there are six reasons why the motivational speaker is attracting a following, including San Francisco's enduring attachment to new-age cults, and the geek's enduring adulation of the charismatic high-school jock. For the full list:
1. TED. I blame the organizers of Technology, Entertainment, Design, the annual spring mind-expander in Monterey for technology execs, and those seeking their money. TED tries to mix it up, by inviting, this year, Tony Robbins. (The video follows at the base of the page.) But they should have known better. There were Valley people there, who'd never seen presenters more charismatic than Steve Case; Robbins overloaded their circuits.
2. Jock worship. Tony Robbins is the ultimate high-school jock: 6'7" tall, broad, charismatic. He's the archetype of a high-school jock, maybe one of the ones who could have bullied the geeks into doing his homework, but didn't. The geeks, no matter how successful they become, never ever quite leave high school behind. Wrote 5'9" Mark Pincus of Tribe, the online classifieds site: Tony Robbins is an impressive man and a real leader and I'm someone who previously thought he was a cheesy infomercial peddling guy in hawaiin shirts. I will definitely go to one of his events. Clear we can all learn a lot from him about our own growth and transformation.
3. Greed. Just take a look at some of the motivational speaker's slogans. Unleash The Financial Genius Within You. Produce immediate cash flow. Don't let MILLIONS OF DOLLARS slip through your fingers. We'll help you get VERY RICH. Need I write more?
4. Salespeople. Silicon Valley may like to think of itself as the office park that geeks built. But the high-tech salesman is equally emblematic of the industry's culture, and Robbins speaks to them. Look at Robbins' leading acolytes: Marc Benioff, the Oracle tchotke marketer who founded an online contacts book for salespeople; and Sandy Montenegro, worked for Siebel Systems before she became a fixture on San Francisco society pages, or what passes for them.
5. Cults. San Francisco, home to the Manson Family, has always fallen for them. Let's take, for example, Marc Benioff, a fourth-generation native of the city, as he likes to boast, has cycled through gurus as often as he's slacked on his yoga regime. Dalai Lama, make way, for Tony Robbins.
6. Sleeplessness. One Valleywag reader submits: Re: Tony Robbins' popularity in the Valley. Could it be that they are all insomniacs and are therefore over-exposed to late-night TV infomercials?
Comments
Chris Anderson will get a finders fee for every motivational package sold by Robbins to each Googling and other assorted minor Web 2.0 player that was sucked in by the blazing allure of TED...
Please don't blame San Francisco for Charles Manson. He came into his own down in So. Calif. Nobody must have given him the time of day up here.
Everybody came to San Francisco during the height of the "drug culture." We had a flavor of rock and roll named after us, after all.
The real reason is this:
Tony has made it his goal to study what makes people successful, to distill out workable strategies and philosophies, and to package them so that others can learn from them.
This jives with both the meritocratic and anti authoritarian spirit of the valley.
Contrary to what you seem to think, Tony mostly promotes enlightenment ideals. The notion that there are techniques to achieving what we want (rather than luck) and the notion that even ostensibly successful people might learn something from a "success coach" is anathema to a lot of old school "A student" types, such as Valleywag has revealed itself to be composed of.
Also, according to his own stories, Tony was not popular in high school nor was he a jock.
The real scoop in this is that TED has found an unlikely scientists who has peddled his discoveries in infomercials yet has (like Newton, Gallileo, etc.) found much scorn during his lifetime.
Sign #34011 you may be in a cult: You compare your guru to Newton, Gallieleo, etc.
I'm not denying that it's a bit cultlike, but that's part of its charm. Valleywag is a cult, and I feel like I've got Tom Cruise level superpowers now that I can actually post comments.
Tony is not a professor, and he wasn't on your dissertation committee, yet he still has some wisdom about his chosen area of expertise.
Tony is boldly anti-authoritarian, or, if you like, not very scientific.
It's true his methods could use more rigor, but he's generally just trying to help people bring out the best in themselves. My tongue-in-cheek comparisons to Newton and Galileo aside, it's some bold, groundbreaking stuff. This is why TED wanted to bring him in.
TED also brought in Rick Warren who seems to have melded the latest in self-help (mainly self-actualization) rhetoric with the bible, thus making the bible infinitely more useful...
Seriously... Robbins is a joke with big teeth. What has he ever accomplished himself with building a company? Hmmm... Maybe thats why the web 2.0 douchebags love him. I am sure Rose was there cheering - unwashed hair and all.
The Manson Family lived in LA.
And are you seriously making fun of SF for not having good society pages? Please go back to New York.
San Francisco has society pages which don't even come close to matching the absurdity and self-importance of those in New York. The local fan base of Tony Robbins, on the other hand, is somewhat embarrassing.
This guy's pseudo-philosophical bullshit is a joke. I guess the People's Republic of San Francisco is jealous of all the LA and the Church of Scientology so they decided to get a cult of their own.
Oh give me a break beer and Nick...
Tony Robbins is no more annoyingly earnest than most of the music on your iPods... think about it...
There are two alternatives: Either you're sooo gen-X that you can smell earnestness a mile away, or well... you have been personally burned by a Tony Robbins acolyte, probably an ex, who tried to get you to lose weight.
The reference to web 2.0 culture made by Nick is accurate.... there is far less self-consciousness about appearing to have fallen victim to someone else's ill-conceived earnestness, and a blatant fearlessness about appearing passionate.
Correction: the 2.0 reference was Opie's...
All I know is that last year, I spent a flight from San Jose to Seattle surrounded by people fresh out of a Tony Robbins seminar and it was during that flight that my fear of flying was supplanted by an intense desire for the 737 to shoot into the ground like a fucking lawn dart.
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