Has Motivational Speaking Become a Business?
*This story is inspired by the Quora question “Has motivational speaking become a business?” and a shorter version is posted on Quora.
The short answer is of course a resounding “yes”. Motivational Speaking has without a doubt evolved into a business, one where you can have a business model, a business strategy, marketing strategies, and even business taxes. The advantage for most motivational speakers is that by working for themselves, they are their brand and they sell themselves before selling any speeches. But how did it become a business? Let’s have a look at the history of motivational speaking. Where did it originate?
Motivational speaking is a term that the public only started using during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before that, anyone speaking on a stage who was not an actor was simply known as a public speaker. And before that, in the times of ancient philosophers, they referred to themselves as orators.
Let’s start right at the beginning . . .
“Ancient” Times
It’s believed that public speaking training had already existed in ancient Egypt, but public speaking, or oration, was only written about for the first time by the great philosophers of ancient Greece. These included the likes of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These same philosophers, or great thinkers of the time, were known as orators. They spoke about their thoughts and their writings publicly and they had a deep passion for their subject matter. Keep this in mind, as this is a trend we’ll notice with speakers through the ages.
After the Greek philosophers, the next time public speaking was written about was during the time of the Roman Republic. Politics was the order of the day and orators were spreading their (mainly political) messages publicly. One well-known deep thinker and orator of this time was the philosopher Cicero. Cicero’s assassination ushered in the rise of the Roman Empire, and the orators of the Roman Empire focused more on entertainment than politics. This time was also most likely the birth of stage theatre and acting.
Ancient China is also known for having deep thinkers and orators. The best known of these was Confucius, a philosopher and teacher (yes, another form of orator) who is more than likely one of those responsible for our modern education systems.
“Pre-Modern” Times
So, as we can see, orating, or public speaking, has been around for centuries and is nothing new to our society. The first time in history that we started hearing specifically about motivational speaking was just before and during the American Civil War. Ralph Waldo Emerson, credited as one of the first motivational speakers, was a lecturer and activist in the late 1800s. At first, he did not like the limelight but felt so strongly about his subject that by the time the Civil War broke out, he was in full-on activist mode, giving speeches (although he called them “lectures”) about the need for the immediate abolition of slavery.
Emerson, although he may not have been considered a great philosopher in the traditional sense, was definitely thinking deeply about the ills in society. And his belief in right and wrong was so strong that he needed to speak his truth to see actual change in society. Even though he called his speeches “lectures”, his purpose was always to motivate for the abolition of slavery, hence Emerson being called one of the first motivational speakers.
Around this time, many motivational speakers were incidental public speakers. They had lived long lives, had lots of experience in their fields, and delivered inspiring speeches during significant times in history. One of these could be considered The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. In a bid to bring an end to the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln delivered an iconic speech, which was much inspired by the Declaration of Independence of 1776, at the opening of a new cemetery. There was a war being waged, people were dying, and the President was called upon to deliver an inspiring speech to uplift and motivate those remaining.
In the early to mid-1900s, folks started writing more and more about communication theory and motivational speaking became more of a trend, especially among the American people. It’s recorded that in 1944, before the invasion of France, George S. Patton would give motivating and inspiring speeches to his soldiers (mostly inexperienced in war) to encourage their active participation in each new battle.
Even though he had a long history of motivational speaking, right through the 1930s and 1940s, Mahatma Gandhi’s most-remembered speeches are those in the last 2 weeks of his life. During this time, India, and what is now called Pakistan, were experiencing extremely violent riots as a result of the recently imposed Partition (conveniently timed with Independence from Britain). Also a deep thinker, Ghandi fought for everything he believed in using the power of his words.
“Modern” Times
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In 1963, 100 years after the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr., a pastor, activist, and deep thinker, delivered the iconically motivational speech “I Have a Dream”. This speech has been used numerous times since then as an example of a call to action for the implementation of equality for all.
Jane Elliott, a preschool teacher in Iowa, unintentionally became an activist and motivational speaker. How? After King’s assassination in 1968, Elliott was shocked to her core by her young pupils’ responses to this news, reactions they had heard verbatim from her parents. She set out on a mission that inspired the “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes” experiment to showcase the effects of blatant discrimination. It started small, in her preschool classroom, and expanded to a worldwide phenomenon seeing her invited to speak at various universities and appear on several TV shows.
During the 1990s, iconic South African President Nelson Mandela, who had endured 27 years of political imprisonment, survived exile, and years of harassment by the Apartheid government, chose forgiveness instead of revenge. As the President, he delivered many inspirational speeches around the beginning of South Africa’s democracy, which were intended to unify the nation that had previously been so divided.
From around the 2000s and onwards, technological advances made it possible for the general public to have access to TVs, computers, and the Internet in their homes (and in later years, even in their pockets), and the motivational business started booming. Influential people all over the globe now had access to a much larger audience via the web. With Brené Brown, Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, and Steven Dossou all at their fingertips, suddenly everyone had access to the life advice of amazing motivational speakers.
“Post-Modern” Times
It’s always uncertain what the future will look like, but either way, motivational speakers have a rich history to expand on and explore even more. You may have noticed throughout this essay, that people who end up being influential motivational speakers are also great and deep thinkers. They have strong core beliefs and values and embody those beliefs and values in everything they say and do.
Are you a deep thinker? Do you have a message that the world needs to hear? Do you think you are the next great motivational speaker? At Sail Force Catalyst they won’t only train you how to be a compelling motivational speaker, but they’ll also teach you how to run a motivational speaking business. So, not only has motivational speaking developed into a business, but it is also considered a legitimate career choice.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ralph-Waldo-Emerson
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/gettysburg-address/
https://www.vedantu.com/english/famous-speeches-of-mahatma-gandhi
https://www.britannica.com/topic/equality-human-rights
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/class-divided/transcript/?
