I just completed a 5 day intensive for Executive Success Programs led by Lauren Salzman.

I was "recruited" by a very close friend, who is an intelligent business professional. This person named several other professionals who I was familiar with who were going to be taking the course as well. These included people I trusted and still trust. I was asked if I was interested in "investing in myself" and that while the course was expensive "I couldn't afford not to take it".

I am a long time researcher of Eastern religions and New Age philosophies, I've read many books and educated myself on various complimenting belief systems (Buddhism, Taoism, Zen), as well as a book or two on Quantum Mechanics, for the purpose of self discovery and my own personal growth. So the concept of a program designed to improve my self awareness and apply it directly to a business environment, sounded extremely enticing.

I read the company web page for ESP, as well as the company web page for NXIVM and nothing too glaring jumped out for me (as I'd never been approached by a cult-like group before I had no basis for comparison). As everything seemed to check out, I decided to pay my money, and began looking forward to this new learning experience.

The first day of the intensive, they managed to take every optimistic opinion I had about the process and shatter it. I immediately shut-down and my defenses went up after receiving a document entitled "rules and rituals" which informed us to never speak of any of our experiences in ESP, remove our shoes, bow, and pay "tribute" to founder, Keith Rainier. There was a lengthy explanation on how to perform a perfect handshake, as well as an instructional for ESP's secret handshake. There was an explanation of how the different colored "sash" hierarchy worked (which seems based entirely on recruitment rather than any measurable skill-set). And the request that Keith Rainier was to be referred to as "Vanguard" and Nancy Salzman as "Prefect". The robotic, monotone, video instruction of Nancy Salzman didn't raise my confidence either, even when it was repeated immediately afterwards - with only slightly more enthusiasm - by her daughter, Lauren.

I quickly grew tired of being reminded of Keith Rainier's IQ. At times it was 211, at others it jumped to 240 depending on who was praising his amazingness. We were also told that Keith was East Coast Judo champion at age 12, and that he had "total recall" which allowed him to never have any need for taking notes (despite the fact that he did for the benefit of others...how else could Nancy develop these marvelous lesson modules?). The amateurish video of Nancy Salzman also told us that there were so many problems with the world today that there were only 2 or 3 people in the world who could solve them, and "Vanguard" was one of them.

In the end it was a 2 hour block, which Lauren devoted to discussing the negative connotation behind the word "cult", and why "suppressives" considered ESP a "cult", and why ESP had been accused of being a "cult", that encouraged me to do a little more research on my original suspicions, at which point I stumbled on Rick Ross' website.

I requested a refund of my money after day 2, however I cancelled the request the next morning and decided to continue for the remaining 3 days (my curiosity got the best of me). I experienced a successful "EM" (Exploration of Meaning) and also witnessed many others go through their moments of clarity. Most were extremely vulnerable woman (about 25 women to 5 men in the class), who were quick to adopt the "Espian" way of thinking at the slightest realization that they might be responsible for their actions.

I did not witness anything overtly harmful during the 5 days, and aside from being fleeced of their hard earned money in what seems like merely another elaborate pyramid scheme, I think most of these people are adults who are fully capable of making their own decisions. My personal opinion...for all the value I gained from the program, anyone who has chosen to follow Keith Rainier and Nancy Salzman is an easily influenced person with almost no self esteem.

I have since read everything on Rick Ross' ESP page and would highly recommend that anyone who comes in contact with ESP do the same. The information Rick provides is 100% acurate, and for a desperate, vulnerable person, the promise of an ESP 'quick fix' could be extremely harmful.