Corporate Motivation Goes Hilariously Wrong

I thought that many of the corporate motivational fads such as “trust falls,” teambuilding brigades and walking on hot coals went away after the dotcom bubble burst at the end of the 90’s. But I suppose this type of stupidity lives on in Europe, where nine staffers learned the hard way that motivation burns.

From Reuters here:

A “motivation day” organized by one of Italy’s biggest real estate agencies ended in tears and scars when nine staff had to be treated in hospital after walking barefoot on a bed of hot coals.

Alessandro Di Priamo, a former athlete now turned motivational trainer for companies, said the nine salespeople from the Tecnocasa agency had suffered light burns and none were seriously hurt.

“Firewalking helps people overcome their fears, seek new challenges and understand that most of what they see as their limits are self-inflicted,” Di Priamo told Reuters.

He said the hotel near Rome where the exercise was held used the wrong kind of wood and some artificial coal without him knowing.

Actually firewalking is as much an optical illusion as anything else. It is always performed at night on wood that has burned almost completely to ash. When you walk across it, the ash acts as an insulation against the skin and should prevent any burns.

When done wrong, by using real coal, or wood with jagged knots, you can be seriously injured. But the fact that these shenanigans are still being practiced is funny. Anyone else remember a goofy motivational corporate gatherings from the 90’s?