Novell 6

Dr. Arini
English 102

Comparative Rhetorical Analysis

I will be analyzing the rhetoric of two motivational speakers. The

first one is. Tony Robbins. Tony was born February 29, 1960 in Los

Angeles, Ca. He is an author, life coach, speaker and philanthropist. He

Left home at the young age of seventeen to work as a janitor and Tony

never attended college. He started off his motivational career by

promoting motivational seminars for Jim Rohn and from there Tony is where he is today. He

owns the Robbins-Madanes Center which trains life skill coaches to help people with addiction

and other issues. He also has a Podcast and YouTube channel where he regularly posts on them

both about personal betterment and how to improve your life. On top of everything else Tony

does he also is a part owner in the Los Angeles Football Club and Team Liquid, and eSports

professional gaming organization.

The second Motivational speaker I will be analyzing is Jordan Peterson.

Jordan was born June 12, 1962 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He did attend college

and got his bachelor’s in political science and psychology from the University of

Alberta and received his PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University. Since

then, he has taught and done research at Harvard University. Jordan has also written

several books his most recent being “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos”. He

also released a series of YouTube videos on Human Rights and the Criminal Code. It wasn’t

until the last few years Jordan has started doing more speeches on self-betterment and how to

improve your life.

In Tony Robbins video, “KEEP PUSHING HARDER” he shows different clips of

people. The reason I think he does this is to make the audience feel relatable to the people in the

video. He wants you to feel relatable because it will keep you more interested in the video since.

The audience I think Tony is trying to connect with in this video are maybe people going through

a tough time in work or life and people who do not have the motivation to keep going in their

career or life. He then brings up in the video to think about your wife, girlfriend and finance the

reason he does this is usually someone is struggling with one of these topics and wants to

connect to a larger audience. When he is speaking, he also very good at inserting pauses when he

says something odd right before he goes into explain how you should execute what he just said.

For example, he says “Everybody in life gets their musts. They don’t get their should.” After he

said that he had a brief pause before explaining what that means. It is also interesting in the way

he talks. It almost reminds me of my father or a role model in my life giving me advice about my

life. The reason he does this is because he is using ethos to maybe give the audience a relatable

way to receive the advice, he is trying to give you. Tony also says in the video what led him

down this path of motivational speaking. He says how he was a young fat kid and lost weight his

friends wondering how he did it asked him for advice he gave it to them, and they lost weight.

So, after that day Tony says he became “Mr. Solutions”. I would say what draws most of his

audience to Tony is his electric personality. And what I mean by that is he moves his hands

around to help draw the audience in. He also has a way of how he speaks that is entertaining and

to some informative. He also uses pathos to try and be relatable by bringing up how he was a

janitor or how he had an absent father which he brings up multiple times in his podcast. He also

brings up how he has coached leaders. After doing research I could be wrong, but I was unable to

find any examples of CEOs he has coached or world leaders. Although he does mention how he
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has coached these people to try to build his credibility to his audience. And in my opinion the

informative part is selective to the people that he helps such as someone that needs motivation in

their life. Or someone that may be dealing with depression and needs him for advice to help get

them out of the rough patch they are in in their life. I believe anyone that is self-motivated do not

need Tony Robbins in their life. Although I do understand why people may need him to help

them.

In Jordan Petersons motivational video “You Will Never Look At Life The Same” he

also shows different clips of people. Which is much like Tony Robbins video using pathos to try

and get you to relate to the people in the video. These people in the video tend to look down or

depressed just going through the motions in their life. One of the main things Jordan does

different while he is talking is, he tries to figure out what your problem is and then address how

to fix it. Whereas Tony Robbins will give you vague advice on how to improve your life.

Another similarity I did find Jordan uses gesticulates in a similar and large way like Tony does.

He also uses ethos by telling people his multiple psychology degrees. Which shows the audience

how he may be qualified to understand how people think and how he may be somewhat qualified

to give this advice. And by doing this it may make his audience more inclined to listen to him. I

also think the audience Jordan is trying to reach is very similar to Tony’s. where they are both

trying to reach someone, who is going through a rough time in their life or their workplace.

Which is probably the main target audience for any motivational speaker. One of the other main

differences they have is Tony almost makes himself out to be a father figure giving advice.

Whereas Jordan is more explain on how you can make your life better. I really enjoy the way he

does this by giving examples of potential problems and then telling you solutions. Rather than

Tony just giving generic advice. One other Difference I found between the two videos is Tony is
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sitting there trying to make it seem like he is talking to you one on one. On the other hand, Tony

is speaking from a podium as if he is giving a lecture. Now the only reason I can see him doing

the video like this may be since he was a college professor and may be more comfortable at the

podium. Since he is more comfortable there it may be easier for him to convey his message to his

audience. Which is you won’t ever look at like the same after his speech. Jordan also says during

the speech “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Which I think is an interesting concept.

What he basically meant by that is you cannot do two things at once. Such as setting fourth so

many goals in your life that you do not achieve any of them. Which I think could be good advice

for someone that wants a lot of different things but does not know how to get them. Such as a job

promotion, new car or better relationship with your family you need to prioritize what is most

important in your life. This is just one example of the several metaphors he uses and then goes

on explain what he meant by it and how it could portray to the audience. This is another way he

relates to Tony Robbins. As I mentioned earlier how Tony may say something odd or in a way

you may have never heard and then continues by explaining what he meant by it. I think this

tactic is very important in order to keep the audience intrigued on what you are speaking about. I

think this keeps the audience interested since you say something different or maybe an idea not

many people have heard of. After you have said this it will peak the audience’s curiosity on what

they meant by that and will keep them listening while they explain what they meant. Which is

when they will receive the advice Jordan or Tony are trying to convey.

After Looking into both of the speakers I found they have several similarities in their

rhetoric. They both also had very interesting life’s and seen hardship in them and had to

overcome different obstacles. Which in my opinion would give them each the credibility and
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skill needed to be the motivational speakers they are. If it were not for the life experiences they

both had I do not know if they would have the rhetoric they have today.
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Work Cited

Admin, Success. “Incredible Motivational Speech By Jordan Peterson.” Success4, 25 Sept. 2018,

success4.com/blog/incredible-motivational-speech-by-jordan-peterson.

Motivation Madness. “You Will Never Look At Life The Same | Jordan Peterson.” YouTube, 13

Jan. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-

oNXuLDIfU&ab_channel=MotivationMadness.

Peterson, Jordan. “The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast On.” Apple Podcasts, 14 Feb. 2021,

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695.

Robbins, Tony. “The Tony Robbins Podcast On.” Apple Podcasts, 27 Jan. 2021,

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tony-robbins-podcast/id1098413063.

The Motivation. “Tony Robbins: KEEP PUSHING HARDER (Tony Robbins Best Motivational

Speech).” YouTube, 12 Oct. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEL-

y1W1jjg&ab_channel=TheMotivation.

Tony, Team. “Success Magazine: Tony Robbins' 5 Steps to Your Best Year.” Tonyrobbins.Com,

31 Aug. 2019, www.tonyrobbins.com/news/how-to-have-your-best-year-yet.