[Sorry for cross-posting this but I did not know what a LGAT was! This belongs here and not in the original group to which I posted it. Sorry]

www.thegreatamericanbusinessowner.com

Does this sound like Landmark Lite to you? I just learned about the seminar schemes and Landmark. If you have been through this kind of experience I would love to hear from you!

There is a man in San Diego who seems to hail from Landmark Training. He uses much of the same stuff in his personal development training seminars now focused on small business owners; he spoke of Landmark training but he sneers at it. I got caught up in his 7 week seminar that requires you to focus totally on the group. He does the intense 3 day session where you get deprived of sleep and he does the “processes” to change you. He is now extending the seminar involvement for a year. My wife and I dropped out. There is a formal and a networking meeting like Landmark.

His biggest buzzword is “commitment.” Sound familiar to anyone? The demands are excruciating and if you don’t do them you obviously aren’t “following the program.” His letter to us when we quit the program is included here. Since he claims to have an MBA in contract negotiations we thought it best to drop out by email. He wanted a chance to negotiate the terms of our surrender.

We laid down $1595.00 for his business seminar. It started up about business but now seems focused on the formal party, the network party, the shirts with logos and doing massive homework, filling out forms and keeping commitments.

Here are the daily rules for living during the 7 week seminar:

Commitment

1.Be On purpose and Have Fun
2.Be committed to your family and ask for their support during your PGA Program.
3.Be committed to yourself, your Success Partner, your Team and your PGA Program. Success Partner and Team Support
4.Support your Success Partner and everyone on your team and on your committee(s).
5.Attend all PGA functions and be on time
6.Complete and wear your t-shirt to the Midpoint Meeting and the friendship Party.
7.Each Day Listen to your Asking Tapes.
8.Each Day Be Abundant - put $1.00 in your Success Partners Bank.
9.Each Day Call your Success Partner each day.
10.Each Week Attend your weekly success meeting.
11. Two Week: Support Two Preview Evening and Bring your friends and family

Learning

12.Be Coachable - Be open to feedback from your Coach.
13.Do Personal Clearings as soon as possible and only to build better relationships.
14.At All Times: Know where your PGA notebook is and be within 5 minutes of it.
15.Each Day:Review your Purpose, Goals and Results.
16.Each Day Speak the truth, come from Integrity and have dignity in everything you do
17.Each Day:Overcame Limitations, Control Dramas Ways to Avoid, Mechanisms, etc.
18.Each Day:Ask Powerful Questions and Practice the 5 Points Personal Power
19.Each Day Work to improve ali areas in all 12 domains
20.Each Day:Read for 15 minutes from the reading assignments.
21.Each Day Write in your Daily Log your biggest lesson of the day.

Achieving Your Goals

22.Each Day Take Massive Action do more then you did the day belort
23.Each Day Look at your Image Pages and get committed to your vision and goals.
24.Each Day Schedule everything into your calendar of events.
25.Each Day:Complete at least 2 Action Steps and your Team Activities.
Improving Your Support System and Mastering Your Personal Development
20.Each Day Ask two or more people for support.
27.Each Week: committed to adding one or more people to your support circle.

Restrictions

26.No alcohol 3 hours before any PGA function
29.No illegal drug use during the PGA program
30.No dating anyone from any of the Seminars for 30 days after the PCA formal.
31.No disclosure of anyone else’s experiences. Talk only about lessons you learned.
32.No disclosure of any of the Weekend, Eagle or PGA Seminar Processes.

I have read and understood the PGA Ground rules and I agree to follow them.
******************

Don't get me wrong. I thought that it was something wrong in me. I could not take the pressure. I was pushing so hard that my wife was worried I might have a heart attack. I finally just caved in.

He asked at the last meeting we attended, for new ideas. I thought it would be a good idea to pass along the ideas I had in mind since he seemed to be pushing something other than business. He read parts of that letter to the group without my permission. For that reason I feel it is fair to include his comments here.


HIS LETTER

Hi Don and Amber,

Thank you for your email.

Many of the points you made are valid and I would love to have you discuss them with me and the group.

This is why I do not like email.

People make up their minds, take a position then fire a broadside and then shut the door.

This is not what I have been teaching you during the seminar.

You can not have been applying the lessons I have been teaching and leave the group in this manner.

The proper way to do this is to honor your agreement by attending the meeting tomorrow.

We can all fully discuss these issues – many of them are excellent and I will take them to heart.

But if I were to have followed them from the start you and Amber would not have been in the group in the first place.

I had to bend a lot of rules for you too.

The mid point meeting is where the real learning occurs.

That is what the mid-point meeting is all about.

The Fear

The unmet expectations

The broken agreements

This is the point where people say it is about everything else except what is really going on with them.

Trust me and do tomorrows meeting – then you will understand!

Make the same hard decision you made when you decided to do the program and do the mid-point tomorrow.

You will never regret the few hours you will spend tomorrow.

If you want to change your agreement then I will fully support you in doing so.

I will not put any pressure on you to continue – but tomorrow’s lesson is the key.

And I believe it will be the key to you really getting your goals.

I see such promise in both you and Amber and I know the struggle – I KNOW.

It is not about herding cats – and rules!

Trust me – 20 years and 70 mid-point meeting – I know the gift tomorrow will be for your goals and your relationship.

Love, Fran

**** End of Letter ****

Your comments would be greatly appreciated!

Don

New dress, same pig. You nailed it Don! Good awareness and I'm glad you and your wife got out.

All of this does sound familiar. The more you read here, the more you'll see the same themes.

"I thought that it was something wrong in me." This is important. These groups are very good at convincing you of the lie that if you fail or hesitate, there is something wrong with you (and of course, if you win, then it is because of them). There's nothing wrong with you, you've proven that.

Thanks for providing the information. Posting it here will no doubt help others who also question this group.

-lightwolf

Always the same song and dance.

The moment of enlightenment is around the corner... you only have to hang in there for the next step, the next essential moment, and if you miss this moment everything you have done so far is a total waste of time.... be not decieved, the carrot on the stick that keeps the donkey trudging forward is the carrot on the stick that keeps the donkey trudging forward...

This is the basic LGAT gambit... convince you that you are soooo close, you can almost touch it, you can taste the breakthrough that mysteriously evaporates like a mirage as you soldier on, endlessly, getting closer, as it endless recedes...

These hopeful seekers are like Zen novices who are so eager for Satori ...

Have faith in the power of the feet-mind.... FootMind is that powerful, usually correct instict to get up and walk out and don't give a flying Eff about their judgements trying to mindgame you into staying glued to your seat.

I felt sure that Fran Cannon of Cannon Training was my first contact with an LGAT (I didn't even know what that was). You both have helped me breathe a sigh of relief! Thanks for your support!

Cognatus Noctem :lol: :D

Mr. Cannon called to apologize about revealing parts of my letter (private) to the group. He said that he did not understand that it was private (even though it was written just to him). I did not speak to him but heard his message on my cell phone. He appeared to be trying to stroke me by saying that I had great ideas and, at the same time, attempting to bring me back into the fold with dire consequences if I don't continue.

Thanks to this forum and those who shared their views with me I can put salt on this leech and watch him fall away!

As part of our "cleansing" from this experience, my wife and I found new words to exchange for his BUZZWORDS:

HIS OURS OURS

SUCCESS >> WIN MASTERY
MASSIVE >> FULL BROAD
ACTION >> ENERGY WORK
GOAL >> TARGET AIM
PURPOSE >> TARGET PLAN
AGREEMENT >> PACT UNDERSTANDING
COMMITMENT >> VOW PACT
PARTNER >> ALLY FRIEND
COACH >> TUTOR MENTOR
RESULTS >> OUTCOME PAYOFF
VISION >> STANDPOINT FIELD OF VIEW
SUPPORT >> BACKING LOYALTY
PROCESS >> [SCREW THIS WORD - EVEN THE SYNONYMS SUCK]
HONOR >> GREATNESS CHARACTER
TEACHABLE >> SMART SAVVY
LIMITATIONS >> HURDLES SNAGS

The point we saw in doing this is to find words that are less controlling. We realized that "teachable" involves being open to nearly anything and this is not a safe place to be. Furthermore, by looking at the synonyms we sought to see the grey areas that he was hiding with words. Words are very powerful. I remember Truman Capote talking to Dick Cavett (yes, I am that old) and telling him that he was a "fag" and a "queer." He said, "if we use words like that ourselves frequently it takes all the power out of the word.

CN

P.S. If anyone is interested I have his entire first three weeks of handouts in PDF format. He told the group that we could freely use these documents. We were not allowed to disclose his "processes" though.

Personally, I would rather have processed cheese.

Quote
CognatusNoctem
I felt sure that Fran Cannon of Cannon Training was my first contact with an LGAT (I didn't even know what that was). You both have helped me breathe a sigh of relief! Thanks for your support!

Cognatus Noctem :lol: :D

You are welcome. YOU ARE NOT ALONE here. This is an important message that counteracts the isolationist tendencies of the LGATs.

The discernment you showed in recognizing the scam, and the strength it took to leave, say a lot about you also. Really it does.

Sharing what you learned with this board is an important contribution to getting over the scam. Lies never like being taken out into the light. Just make sure you don't share any copyrighted information without complying with the copyright laws.

8)

-lightwolf

Francis C. Cannon, according to SDSU in San Diego, received a BS degree in Business Administration, management. They could not confirm his MBA.

West Coast University was sold off, the records transferred, but they will not leave an email or call back. Considering their history, I don't think I even need to know if his MBA is "real."

Now, the burden of proof lies with him

CN

Many of the issues that I brought to light were mentioned at their last seminar date. I had been communicating with a few of the group members and they complained about Cannon's lack of real business training.

Result? He "got agreements" from them to take one of the next seminars "free" and to give them "year long support." Looks like he negotiated free support for his seminars and gave them access to further mind control.

Intelligence is no protection against these LGATs.

CN