Last night I tuned in for one of my favorite guilty pleasures — watching The Biggest Loser on NBC.
The episode featured celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels being hurled off of the Auckland Sky Tower, the highest structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
(OK, she had a sort of bungee cord apparatus that kept her from falling to her doom. But you know there were still some cheers).
Michaels is one of those people you either love or loathe. She screams at the contestants. She’s snotty. She calls her workouts “beatings.” Professional trainers cringe at her technique.
She’s also widely adored and credited with inspiring thousands — maybe hundreds of thousands — of people to lose weight. And those contestants she screams at all seem to genuinely love her.
So is she a role model for how we can lead and inspire our audiences? Or an abusive train wreck we should do anything to avoid?
Well … it depends.
Some people truly want a boot in the backside
We have a character inside the Third Tribe who’s got a big personality. He expresses himself strongly, he’s not real big on self-doubt, and he likes to throw down challenges. He’s got a huge heart, but he’s not exactly soft-spoken.
Some Tribers absolutely love his message. He tells them to quit making excuses — to get off their lazy backsides and get to work. And they feel inspired and energized.
Others just want to smack him. My guess is they’re the types who kick themselves enough without any help from anyone else. They find him demotivating, depressing, or just plain annoying.
Some people want empathy and support
Interestingly enough, our outsized friend has a business partner who’s soft-spoken, humble, and empathetic.
He’s extremely effective at helping people overcome their fears, deal with self-limitations, and move...
