Hi all,

I quit the Landmark Education back in the 90s. I had then willingly served as an introduction leader for 2 years and was on the verge of signing up for the seminar leader program. I didn't have the result to be accepted directly into the seminar leader program. Had I decided to stay I would of course "have made a powerful stand in the future declaring myself as a future Forum leader". That would have been a classic Landmark way of creating a future for me - beyond the seminar leader. If I would have made it to seminar leader that would have been a "breakthrough". Next step would be Forum Leader.

Oh how I looked up to the forum leaders - I even willingly became the "butler" of XX (one ForumLeader) just to be near such a fantastic person! I loved it - I made his food and ran around town trying to find 70% grade chocolate. This was nowhere to be found but he thanked me for trying. In a way he was acting in a humane way towards me and in another he acted like I was - his "butler". Of course he did what he could to make me happy so I thought I had him down as a powerful friend in Landmark Education. I was to see other sides of him when I had advanced to introduction Leader. (The "butlering" I did in the beginning of my landmark career).

I was attending a closing evening of the Forum and we didn't reach our goal of 25%. The guy was p-d off to say the least. All his smiles were gone. I walked over where he was sitting and asked him what he thought of the evening. His reply was "go out and talk to the people and enroll them". This was an eyeopener for me - this guy that I looked up to seemed like an animal being under fire!

I see now that he was stressed about "not being his word" "out of integrity" - he would "not-look-good" on the internal Landmark statistics report.

I feel pity for him and all the other forumleaders - they have really been manipulated thouroughly. I thank God that I didn't become one of them.

Nettie,
How long were you involved in LE before you became an Intro Leader? Did they make you big promises about becoming a paid leader? Did you give up your outside life and friends? Are you recovered and if so what helped you recover?

I find it so hard to work them out as people. It's so strange. They all dress the same, talk the same, sit the same, and radiate the same aura of mystery and power and success. But out of the two forum leaders I met (both women), they were both radically different. The one who took my forum I thought was fantastic. She had no problem recruiting me. Man she was flawless. I still find it hard to dislike her.

Then the lady who took my advanced course completely turned me off Landmark. She was like a completely different animal. Like I said, they all act so alike that it seems strange that that can be so. And to think I came this close to signing up for the earlier advanced and having lady no.1 for my leader. I think if I had had her instead of this other lady, I wouldn't have walked out of that seminar half way.

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I see now that he was stressed about "not being his word" "out of integrity" - he would "not-look-good" on the internal Landmark statistics report.

This is normal its all about how they look to the other forum leaders. I have seen many landmark forum leaders lose it and blame the introduction leaders and seminar leaders and staff when things go wrong.

Of course the other side of it is when things go right (stats are met etc) they take all the ownership.

In my time as a staff member and introduction leader I lost a lot of respect for many of the Introduction leaders and infact was postively in fear of some who would actually yell and belittle people (such as one leader from texas)

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sonnie_dee
In my time as a staff member and introduction leader I lost a lot of respect for many of the Introduction leaders and infact was postively in fear of some who would actually yell and belittle people (such as one leader from texas)

... and I am asking myself now: why should forum leaders get all this respect, they are not more or better than other people. For me, I would like to
get of completely rid of the thinking the more you know about the
LE technology the more successful are you in life keeping me back on
LE track.

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looking for help
Nettie,
How long were you involved in LE before you became an Intro Leader? Did they make you big promises about becoming a paid leader? Did you give up your outside life and friends? Are you recovered and if so what helped you recover?

It took me about 1,5 years to become an introduction leader. The more I was involved in Landmark the less time I had for my outside life. I have friends from school that still are my friends but they were really tired of me when I tried to recruit them. Some told me to stop talking about the Forum and trying to get them to do it. Of course this created a feeling in me that they were not on my side - so why spend time with them? That's how it works - you become more and more drawn into Landmark and the people that have been "transformed". It's really ugly how these things just happen. When you try to blame Landmark it is not their fault of course.

As to having recovered or not; I would have to say no. I have a good job and a lot of friends. My life has gotten back to normal. But I still have feelings/thoughts of "not living up to my potential" "playing small" and so on. All these thoughts are Landmark thoughts and I have a hard time
sorting out what thoughts are mine and what has been implanted in my brain by Landmark thinking.

The reason I started to post on this message board is because I am in need of handling this dilemma. It is very hard to set the criteria for when you are recovered. You have to set them yourself I guess. Use your critical thinking.

No - they didn't promise me any big bucks - Just HARD work.
As you probably know all my time that I spent in Landmark was on a volountary basis. I felt that - "no, I would feel ashamed asking for money - the forum leaders are working their ass off - they should have the dough - I'm OK as I am...."
I did ask the forum leader I was butlering how much he was making.
He replied frankly "I made 44.000 Pounds last year" (I guess the equivalent of ~77000 USD). That made me think that he wasn't extremely well paid and I really shouldn't fuss about it. He might have been honest but it might as well have been a preprepared answer to my question.

Nettie, I'm a journalist working on a piece about Landmark - I'd love to hear about some of your experiences inside the company. (You may have seen a couple of my previous posts along these lines.)

The article I'm working on will take a look at Landmark's practices in the professional world. I've read a lot of posts on this message board from folks who were told to go to the Forum by their bosses. Others discovered that the consultancy working with their company is promoting Landmark-style language and practices.

I'd be happy to explain more about the project. Please drop me a note at the email address below - or post a reply (I should get a notice).

Thanks,
Lucas
comm-131926396@craigslist.org