Tony Robbins – born Anthony J. Mahavoric in 1960 – is an American author, coach and motivational speaker, and one of the best-known names in the personal development world. His reputation rests on two foundations: the seminars that made him famous, and the self-help books that carried his ideas further still, most notably Unlimited Power in 1986 and Awaken the Giant Within in 1991.
Decades on, the formula remains unmistakably his: high energy, direct address and the insistence that change is a decision rather than an accident. Whatever one makes of the style – and British audiences tend to arrive sceptical – the scale of the influence is not in dispute.