Problematic Influencers and Exploitative Practices

This chapter discusses the problematic aspects of influencers who exploit vulnerable people and sell products by claiming to have exclusive knowledge. It also highlights the history of similar trainings and the lack of accountability in the self-help industry.

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Episode notes

In this (now) trilogy exploring the world of self-help 'mogul' Rachel Hollis, Kate reads a handful of listener emails and walks through the 4-part Venn diagram she's been building since October, mapping the similarities between cults, conservative religions, multi-level marketing schemes, and large-scale self-help gurus that hold conferences like Rachel Hollis and her former 'hero,' Tony Robbins (remember, "I own you?"). In the first hour, Kate reads emails while analyzing Rachel's RISE conference and how the format compares to historical examples of known manipulative marketing strategies (e.g. low-key mind control). She walks through the psychological tactics tied to her former 'hero,' like aggressively teaching psychotherapeutic concepts in his favor (reframing, limited beliefs), resurrecting trauma, using NLP, hosting LGATs, etc. After many listeners reached out asking for more time to write in, she decided she'd air this episode first, but part 3 will be all e-mails. Overall, Kate's exploring her hypothesis that she can link many large-scale self-help & motivational speakers to being deeply rooted in some form of hybrid MLM/evangelical preaching/self-development movement, that when used for nefarious reasons can turn into cults, but best case turn into snake oil empires making professional manipulators and paraphrasers into multimillionaires at the expense of our mental health, preying on generations of vulnerable people who are being told (and sold) that they are 'Made for More.' Enjoy?

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WORKS CITED

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20837138

https://www.payscale.com/data/gender-pay-gap#section14

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janebradley/tony-robbins-self-help-secrets

https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Large_Group_Awareness_Training

https://thefincheranalyst.com/articles/lgats-and-fight-club-dissecting-a-delusion/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large-group_awareness_training

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_large-group_awareness_training_organizations

https://www.trajectify.com/blog/2020/2/18/five-lessons-learned-at-my-first-awareness-training

https://innersunshine.medium.com/large-group-awareness-trainings-1-0-good-and-bad-cc8bc22df4e

https://littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-the-editor-rachel-hollis-is-not-the-embodiment-of-female-empowerment/

https://hbr.org/2020/08/institutional-investors-must-help-close-the-race-and-gender-gaps-in-venture-capital