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Sam So
Dr. Arini
English 102
November 6, 2019

Comparative Rhetorical Analysis

The motivational speakers that I will be comparing are Tony Robbins and Nick Vujicic.

Their speaking styles are rather different, but they both have complete command over the use of

rhetoric to draw their audiences in. Both motivational speakers have a huge following and speak

to audiences of almost every demographic. Tony Robbins is more associated with wealthy

professionals, celebrities, and intellectuals, whereas Nick Vujicic is well-known within the

Christian faith. The rhetorical texts I chose are their TED talks, websites, a Facebook picture,

and an ad for walking on fire.

Both of our motivational speakers grew up facing and overcoming challenges that

ultimately led to their calling. Tony Robbins came from a broken home and suffered from a

pituitary tumor that caused him to grow ten inches in high school. His moment of exigency came

about when he attended a seminar of motivational speaker Jim Rohn that changed his life. Nick

Vujicic was born with no arms or legs as a result of tetra-amelia syndrome and was bullied a lot

growing up. His moment of exigency followed an attempt at suicide when he was just ten years

old. The love and encouragement from his family helped him find hope and meaning in life

through faith in God, leading him to give talks at prayer groups. These experiences are

incorporated into their TED talks and enable the use of pathos to tap into the audience’s

empathy.
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Tony Robbins’ TED talk explains why we do what we do and suggests that we can live

fuller lives if we live for others. He establishes ethos when he shares a story about how a stranger

bringing his struggling family food during the holidays inspired him to do the same for others in

need. He started with feeding two families over the holidays, then four the next year, then eight

the year after that. With help from some friends, he fed more and more families until he

eventually built the foundation that fed two million people in thirty-five countries during the

holidays in one year.

Nick Vujicic’s TED talk is about overcoming hopelessness by finding your purpose in

life and turning walls into doors. He establishes ethos by sharing that he has spoken at five

congresses and met seven presidents. His largest audience was a hundred ten thousand people

and he has thirty thousand invitations to speak. They both end their lists with “not to brag” and

that the audience too can do what they did. It is an effective method at establishing credibility to

get their message across.

In using logos to strengthen his main point, Nick Vujicic paraphrases a quote by William

Barclay. “The greatest two days in anyone’s life are the day you were born and the day you knew

why” (qtd. in TEDxTalks). His message is to brush aside the lies that we and those around us tell

ourselves, that the riches of this world will not give us hope. Instead, we should seek truth by

dreaming big and finding our purpose. Tony Robbins tells his audience a similar message with a

quote of his own. “Effective leaders have the ability to consistently move themselves and others

to action because they understand the “invisible forces” that shape us” (qtd. in Robbins’ TED).

While watching both videos, I found myself thinking and feeling that whatever state I am

currently in needs to change. A lot of motivational speakers use a type of cause and effect

rhetoric in their message: You have a problem and I have the solution.
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We see strong use of pathos in the TED talks of both motivational speakers. Tony

Robbins uses images of Rosa Parks, the man standing in front of a tank at Tiananmen Square,

and Lance Armstrong to invoke emotion in his attempt to persuade his audience that decisions as

a result of hardships shape our culture. At the end of his talk, he shares a story about a woman he

coached who lost someone she loved during 9/11 and another story about two men, one a

terrorist Muslim and the other a Jewish man living in New York, that were coached to

collaborate on a project of peace after the events of 9/11. Nick Vujicic shares his story of

meeting a nineteen month old child that also had no limbs at one of his speaking engagements.

He knew that the child would grow up being subjected to the same type of bullying and negative

thinking he had experienced as a child so he invited the child and his father on stage with him.

Everyone in the audience was in tears as he shared that “when you don’t get a miracle, you could

be a miracle for someone else.”

When Tony Robbins speaks, he is extremely energetic. His loud and rapid speech is

accompanied by equally loud hand gestures and lots of movement. He uses profanity and humor

to keep the audience entertained. When talking about Lance Armstrong overcoming the

difficulties of testicular cancer by winning the Tour de France multiple times, he mentions how

hard it would have been for any male to do that, especially if you ride a bike. He snaps his

fingers as hypnotists do when he really wants to drive a point and asks the audience to say “aye”

whenever he asks a question. The audience laughs and cheers in response to everything he says. I

found his energy contagious, making me feel motivated to get out there and do something for

someone other than myself.

In contrast, Nick Vujicic is solemn in his approach and speaks slowly. That is not to say

that it is any less effective or intense. There is a moment when he asks the audience who the
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biggest discouragers in their lives are. Pathos and logos are at work when he points at them with

his shoulder repeating, “You are, you are, you are, you are” in a chilling yet powerful tone. The

absence of limbs does not limit his mobility as he hobbles from one end of the table to the other

as he speaks. You can see his gestures through small movements in where his limbs would have

been. There was a divine gentleness that I felt in his words, as if they were coming from his soul.

It made me want to be a miracle for someone, in a way where it had to be me.

Tony Robbins’s website has a great deal of advertisements for the different events you

can go to. His live events are held at vacation destinations like Fiji and are portrayed as beautiful

sandy beaches. The private coaching site shows a picture of Phil Jackson hugging Michael

Jordan, projecting success if you work with his life coaches. The exclusive retreats site brings up

Mastery University which is a collection of live events, a mind and body rejuvenation

experience, financial insights, and one-on-one custom coaching, all valued at over twenty-four

thousand dollars. The training programs and supplements sites direct you to purchase overpriced

merchandise and nutrition supplements that claim to cleanse your body and boost physical and

mental energy. There is a testimonial section that has celebrities and CEO’s praising what Tony

Robbins has done for them to achieve breakthroughs. The images used in the professional layout

show audiences in a large stadium cheering for him as he poses like a rock god. He invites you to

shell out thousands of dollars per event for what he promises will change your life. His net worth

is around five-hundred million dollars so it is pretty safe to say that his primary motive is profit.

Even so, one of the links compels the audience to help Tony financially support organizations

like Feeding America and Operation Underground Railroad. I am struggling to believe that there

is no ulterior motive, that his desire to help people is genuinely selfless.

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Nick Vujicic’s website also promotes his events but focuses on Christian ministry and

giving. The layout is humble in comparison and the items for purchase are priced far more

reasonably. There is an image of him speaking to an audience of young children packed into a

gymnasium. One of the links invites you to know God and explains what Christianity is and what

it is not. Another link informs us of his prison ministry in which he saves, disciples, and

empowers inmates to share the message of hope in Jesus Christ. Everything about the website

points to a motive of sharing his Christian faith. In addition, his net worth is around five-hundred

thousand dollars, a thousand times less than Tony Robbins. The humility that Nick Vujicic

shows seems more genuine, walking the walk in spite of living life without limbs.

Nick Vujicic posted an interesting picture of himself on Facebook that led me to research

the meaning behind it. The caption reads, “A historical place where east meets west in Sarajevo

in this street.” We see him lying down in the street on a painted compass rose line with the

words, “SARAJEVO [MEETING OF CULTURES].” He is staring into the sky as if looking to

heaven for help. The photograph was shot at an angle that makes him look like Jesus hanging on

the cross, another example of pathos. The message seems to be that he has the answer to bridging

the gap between the Muslim east and the Christian west.

Tony Robbins invites his audience to participate in a firewalk as a symbolic milestone

and a formal step towards personal growth. He establishes ethos by saying that over four million

people over four decades have joined him in this ritual without being seriously harmed. The

pictures show participants as triumphant with their fists in the air. This baptism by fire can be

compared to the Christian baptism by water as making a public statement to follow your God, or

guru in this case. Both motivational speakers are incredibly effective in their use of rhetoric, but

Tony Robbins has a certain je ne sais quoi that turns me off to his teachings.
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Works Cited

Robbins, Tony. “Tony Robbins - The Official Website of Tony Robbins.” Tonyrobbins.com,

Robbins Research International, Inc., 2019, www.tonyrobbins.com

Robbins, Tony. “Why We Do What We Do.” TED, Feb. 2006,

www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do?

TEDxTalks. “Overcoming Hopelessness | Nick Vujicic | TEDxNoviSad.” YouTube, 17 Oct.

2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P2nPI6CTlc

Tony Robbins firewalk. “The Tony Robbins Firewalk.” Medium, 8 Dec. 2015,

www.medium.com/@tonyrobbinsfirewalk/the-tony-robbins-firewalk-47a87ddbb815

Vujicic, Nick. “A Historical Place Where East Meets West in Sarajevo in This Street.”

Facebook, 28 Oct. 2019,

www.facebook.com/NickVujicic/photos/a.10150288127460573/10162395499895573/?ty

pe=3&theater

Vujicic, Nick. “Life Without Limbs // Nick Vujicic.” Life Without Limbs, Life Without Limbs

Inc., 2019, www.lifewithoutlimbs.org