I know the Secret of Success.(And by the time you finish this article, you’ll know it, too.) Now, not only do I know the Secret of Success, but I also know the Two P’s (Passion and Purpose), the three C’s (Courage, Character and Conviction) and the Three E’s (Enthusiasm, Excitement and Energy) of Success. I have combined Positive Mental Attitude with Positive Skills Training. (Look out, world!) I have taken the Ten Steps to Top Performance. (Step Six: Greet People Properly.) I believe in the Golden Rule of Selling (“Sell Unto Others . . . “).I have the Key to the Vault.
I, along with nearly 20,000 others, have these things because I have been to the Mountain. Mount Motivational Seminar.
Imagine a place where all spouses are loving, all children respectful, all relationships fulfilling, all steaks well-marbled and all cars German. You can get there.
An entire industry has developed to convince people that (1) They are not successful, and (2) They can be. All they have to do is get the right guru to show them the way. Then buy the book, the tape, the day planner, sign up for the seminar or the workshop.
“The appeal is to people who are into self-improvement,” says Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. “To them, it’s a career. They listen to the tapes in the car, they attend the seminars. It’s a personal preference. Some people like to go to the opera, some go to Art Institute, and then there are those who do this kind of stuff.”
“People are looking for ways to meet the challenges of the millennium,” says trend-spotter Faith Popcorn. “The world is changing fast and they need new ways to cope with things like downsizing. Big companies are toppling and entrepreneurship is the new venue of the ’90s. There is a desire for a more spiritual life. We live apart from our families and we’re desperate for some connection. The seminars fit in with all these trends.”
At the same time, there’s nothing really new about this quest for success. “It’s an old enthusiasm,” says Dr. Lawrence Lavengood, professor emeritus at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. “Since the 19th Century, when you had the old Lyceum lecturers circuit, we’ve had a combination of entertainment and self-help.”
In the 1920s, it was a French doctor, Emile Coue, who taught Americans to repeat after him: “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better.” Then it was Dale Carnegie, and now it’s Tony (“Awaken the Giant Within”) Robbins and Stephen (“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”) Covey. Covey’s book has been a best seller for more than five years.
It’s a different kind of success that’s being sold. Not the old “He who dies with the most toys wins” model. Something Deeper. “He who dies with the most substance-free grandchildren wins.”
This merger of success and religion, capitalism and spirituality is as red-white-and-blue as the Mall of America. It goes back to Colonial days. Our Puritan forefathers proved that God had elected them by being decent, hard-working, honest folks. Then, in the late 19th Century, Social Darwinism added the concept of survival of the fittest.
“That’s when the gospel of success was born,” says Martin E. Marty, who teaches the history of American religion at the University of Chicago. “If you went from office boy to the head of a huge corporation, that was proof you must be God’s favorite.”
The logical conclusion is seen today in books like “God Wants You to Be Rich” and “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.”
“For a couple of decades now, we’ve had a secular spirituality in this country which says that people can essentially reinvent themselves,” says Bernard Beck, an associate professor of sociology at Northwestern University. “Losers can become winners. Our favorite American myth says if you want something hard enough and are willing to work for it, you can get it. All you have to do is believe in yourself.
“If someone convinces you that they can help you with this process, and the process doesn’t take too much time–you can fit it into a day and the parking is included–that person is going to be very successful.”
One of those persons is Peter Lowe.
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Lowe is the man behind the recent Success 1996 seminar at the United Center. He comes highly recommended. He happens to be a confidant of Mother Teresa. (Seriously. In his vid-bio–he moves in slo-mo–he’s standing in front of what looks like the Taj Mahal. Maybe it is!) His stable of secular evangelists includes former presidents, generals, prime ministers, Olympic athletes and country singers. George Bush, Gerald Ford, Colin Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Bonnie Blair and Johnny Cash. They make up to $60,000 for a 30-minute performance. Even megamillionaires like Bill Cosby like to pick up chump change.
Lowe sells success as if it were buns of steel. If you’re willing to grunt, sweat, strain, tug, twist and endure failure after humiliating failure, you can get it. He did. His main success in life has been selling success. (Only in America!) He began with an audience of four–he calls his first seminar “Failure 1981”–and has now reached 650,000 people with a combination of positive thinking and Christian teaching. Just two years ago, he was losing money and the IRS was on his back. Now, at 37, he’s president and CEO of Peter Lowe International Inc., a $20 million organization that sponsors seminars and hawks books, tapes, worksheets and newsletters. Twenty-five seminars are planned for this year.
There’s something about him that reminds you of Elmer Gantry. In fact, his parents were missionaries and he has a degree in theology. And his spiel, including “a free optional 14-minute bonus session,” balances between sincere and smarmy.
When they make his life into a movie-of-the-week, and they will, James Woods will play him.
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Nineteen thousand of us are freezing our jelly buns in the United Center. (Can the key to success be air conditioning?) We have paid between $49 and $225 to see the Motivational SuperStars at Success 1996, an all-day marathon that is part revival meeting, part comedy club. We’re mostly Baby Boomers. A third of us are between 35 and 44, a third between 45 and 54. Twenty percent of us make under $45,000 a year, 20 percent between $45,000 and $60,000, 20 percent between $60,000 and $75,000, 20 percent between $75,000 and $100,000 and a golden 20 percent of us pull in more than 100k a year. Eighty percent of us are married. Sixty percent are male. We’re in sales (30 percent), management (20 percent) and self-employed (15 percent). We’re mostly white and–just a guess–Republicans for Clinton. And we’re ready to rock.
The day begins at 8 a.m. with sports announcer Dick Vitale invoking the sacred name of Michael Jordan–he whose statue stands 12 feet high outside the stadium–for the first time today. But not the last. Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team is to motivational speakers what George Washington cutting down the cherry tree is to presidential scholars.
During his speech, Vitale demonstrates the major principles of motivational speaking: Talk fast, keep moving and ask frequently for “A show of hands.” He dispenses duh advice: “Be on time,” “Write down your goals,” “Make the most of today,” and “Be the best damn person you can be.” He asks: “What good is success if you don’t have a family?” (Which must be why so many successful men have two or three families. See “The First Wives Club.”)
Vitale ends with: “You’ve been awesome, baby. And you can take it to the bank: Mr. Jordan–a year from now–Jubilation City. The man knows how to win. So, watch ESPN and ABC. And I did have hair like John Travolta.”
Don’t worry, he’s just the warmup act. We still have Barbara Bush, who looks like George Washington and says, “I honestly hate to give advice”; Larry King, who looks like the Joker and wakes up yelling “Stella!” ever since Marlon Brando kissed him; and Bill Cosby, who looks like Dr. Huxtable’s father and motivates me mightily with his lifestyle that includes a major domo and perfect diamonds.
And then the big guns. Zig Ziglar, whose voice sounds like a Juice-o-matic and whose book “See You at the Top” sells like one, is offering dozens of tapes and videos. You can buy them individually or purchase “The Whole Shootin’ Match”–four dozen tapes, a dozen videos, three books including “Closes! Closes! Closes! Vol. 1 and 2,” a planner and a Personal Achievement Action Manual. A $1,395 value for $995.
“Life is a series of choices,” says Ziglar, who once weighed more than 200 pounds but is now slim with a blood pressure of 110 over 60 and a cholesterol level of 164. (Motivational speakers share!) “Success is not an accident, it’s a deliberate plan. Without hope, there is no change. You can’t control what happens out there. You can control what happens in here.” He thumps his heart as if he’s guest-starring on “ER.”
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After the seminar, I grab a taxi, bushed. Being motivated is exhausting. The driver sees the streams of people leaving the United Center and asks me what’s going on. Motivational seminar, I tell him. He slaps his head. He heard about it! He wanted to go! He forgot!
Right there in that taxi I have an a-ha! moment. The Secret of Success is simple, I realize. Buy a calendar!
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE MOTIVATIONAL SUPERSTARS
“Motivation is the key and the key to motivation is the picture you have of yourself.” — Zig Zigler
“Someone’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality.”
“Go where there’s no path and leave a trail.” — Leo Brown
“The American Dream is not success but freedom.” — Charlton Heston
“I don’t have any more problems. Why? I call them opportunities for growth.”
For circumstances to change, you have to change.” — Peter Lowe
“Every day say, ‘I’m the best. I’m the best. I’m the best-I’m the best-I’m the best.’ It’s not lying to yourself. It’s telling yourself the truth in advance.” — Brian Tracy
“Two words they say at every graduation these days: ‘God speed.’ It means, ‘You’re in trouble.’ “– Bill Cosby