The popular success of television programmes like The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den has thrust the creation of a viable business into the spotlight as never before.
Pursuing a business career may even have surpassed media studies as the first choice for young people looking at their further education options.
It has certainly created celebrity status for its presenters and given regular participants an income generating opportunity as motivational speakers on the corporate circuit.
The latest Dragon is the effervescent Hilary Devey, whose track record in building a highly successful business as a female in the macho world of road haulage, is an inspiration to any budding entrepreneur; but here is what she said when she took up the offer to appear on the programme
“Though it is an entertaining programme, and, let's face it, some good business ideas do slip through the net because the entrepreneurs fudge their pitches or the sums just don't add up, Dragons' Den does get people thinking about self-reliance, sacrifice and having the guts to develop a business idea and then be brave enough to hold it up for scrutiny - for better or for worse!”
Business leaders
So, if you are planning a trade conference or a high powered management seminar or simply wanting to inspire your sales force or impress clients at a gala dinner, how do you go about hiring one of these celebrities?
How easy is to sprinkle some celebrity star dust on your event? And can the stars you see on reality television recreate their ‘act’ in front of a live audience?
The answers to all these questions are many and varied but, leaving aside the normal budgetary constraints, it often rests on what you mean by ‘motivational’
Sometimes people really mean ‘entertaining’ and are simply looking for someone to deliver amusing anecdotes albeit related to these TV shows or to business generally.
Others are looking for inspiration; a speaker who will get the audience on its feet punching the air at the end. Yet another group will be searching for that elusive magic formula which will guarantee them similar success.
Some clients find it difficult to accept that Lord Sugar and Sir Richard Branson are truly awful public speakers and struggle to motivate by oratory alone. This is partly because neither of them likes doing it and also because both would much prefer to use their time more profitably elsewhere.
They are not really for hire at all but if you happen to see one of them speaking somewhere, there will probably be an exceptional reason behind their appearance. In the case of Lord Sugar, for example, he will turn up at a corporate function if you are willing to make a donation of £50,000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
By way of contrast, one of the earlier Dragons – Simon Woodroffe of Yo Sushi and Yotels fame – is a born performer and even likes to finish his act with a song. Simon’s sheer energy and enthusiasm is enough to inspire any audience to get up get out and get on with it.
Sahar Hashemi, who created Coffee Republic with her brother Bobby and then followed up with Skinny Candy, a guilt-free confectionary brand, is another natural presenter with a pleasing up-beat style.
Mike Southon, who writes a regular column in the Financial Times each weekend, and has grown several businesses himself, can also deliver speeches in a show-business format. Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham, the former Director General of the CBI, is another successful businessman who is comfortable in the spotlight, centre stage.
But these are relatively rare examples of celebrity businesspeople who motivate by the power of their oratory. Others in the market rely on putting across business success in less emotive formats and many use PowerPoint presentations to support their arguments.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the World’s Greatest Living Explorer (according to the Guinness Book of Records) is one; and David Dein, the football entrepreneur who masterminded Arsenal’s remarkable record of achievement under Arsene Wenger and was a prime mover in the formation of the phenomenally successful Premier League is another. Both are charismatic presenters with a motivational message.
Other Dragons prefer to keep a lower profile although Duncan Bannatyne, James Caan and Peter Jones can be persuaded to speak; as can Karren Brady, Lord Sugar’s assistant on The Apprentice who has an impressive track record in producing bottom-line profits in the murky world of professional football.
Another truly dynamic female with a fantastic reputation is Michele Mone, the founder of lingerie firm MJM International, which has ranges such as ‘Michelle at George’ and ‘Ultimo Bras’. Michele is also a very competent host for awards ceremonies.
Sporting legends
Motivational speakers with a business angle include celebrities who first made their names in the world of professional sport; these are people attempting to use their sporting success as a metaphor for business success. It is not an easy transition to make but a successful second career as a speaker could prove more remunerative than the career that preceded it.
Some, like Kris Akabussi, Roger Black, Frank Dick and Steve Cram from athletics, Sir Geoff Hurst, Paul Fletcher and Viv Anderson from football; Sir Clive Woodward, Gavin Hastings and Will Carling from rugby, Garry Herbert, Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sir Steve Redgrave from Olympic rowing, actively market themselves and work hard at it: but all have different styles and very different price tags.
As do personalities like Tessa Sanderson, Sharron Davies, Penny Mallory, Sally Gunnell and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, the multiple-gold-medallist paralympian who is a particularly eloquent speaker.
If you don’t immediately recognise one or two of these names, it might be because their motivational skills have outshone their sporting prowess. You see, it really is important to define what you mean by ‘motivational’ and what your objective is in hiring a celebrity speaker in the first place.
America
In the USA the culture is different. They know exactly what they mean by motivational. It is very much part of the American dream. They applaud success. There is a huge market in all states – often funded by local universities – for people to share the secrets of their success.
It can be success in business, sport or politics and preferably all three. It is private enterprise as public entertainment. Every member of the audience will have paid a fee in the expectation that the speaker will toss them a nugget that will lead them to replicate the speaker’s success in their own field.
US President Ronald Reagan was arguably the most successful occupant of his office in the modern era. He came to personify the American dream by promoting free enterprise and the American way of doing business in which unfettered market forces took centre stage.
He found a UK soulmate in the shape of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to power after ten years of decidedly average governments. Reagan and Thatcher between them came to define a decade of economic revival which culminated in the defeat of communism as a viable economic alternative, the fall of the Berlin Wall being a visible symbol that the West had won the ideological battle.
22 years on, the US and the UK remain two countries separated by a common language. The UK boasts former government ministers like Michael Portillo, Gyles Brandreth, Lord Lamont and Lord Reid operating successfully in the corporate speaking market.
Given the parliamentary expenses scandal of recent years which has heaped added opprobrium on all politicians as a breed; this is nothing short of remarkable.
It has much to do with our rediscovery of individual enterprise as a liberating force. This in turn has allowed new role models to emerge who are available for hire; but only when you have the budget and you know exactly what it is you want them to do.
