My point is that the Landmark Forum is NOT for me.

*Soldier* in Singapore
Blog Entry from http://chaoticthots.blogspot.com/2005/06/landmark-forum.html

The Landmark Forum

Disclaimer : What follows is my own personal opinion and perception of
the Landmark Forum. I do not profess that my interpretations constitute
the absolute truth. This post is also extremely long.

A couple of years ago, one of my colleagues kept speaking about
something called the Landmark Forum and how this Forum had introduced
exciting new possibilies in his life. The forum had also allowed him to
achieve every dream he had, and he spoke how he was able to create
breakthroughs at all points in his life after attending the forum.

It sounded intriguing.

Usually, whenever I am intrigued by anything that sounds too good to be
true, I usually do my own research using the Internet to dig into finer
details about such things. (and believe me, this Forum was being
projected as the Magic Pill that would solve all your problems in the
world, and that would take to the area where you would be able to
achieve everything that you didnt know existed in your domain of
possibilities)

I came across a bunch of articles on the Internet that seemed to be
very critical of the forum.

Drive Through Deliverance

Weekend Miracle or Unknown Risk

Rick Ross Page about Landmark and The Forum

The first criticism that seems to have been leveled against the Forum
is that it practices cult like behaviour. However, my colleague (a
person who has attended the Landmark Forum, the Advanced Forum, the
Self Expression and Leadership Forum - all programmes of Landmark
Education) told me that many people fail to understand that the forum
is able to build a strong bond amongst its participants - because
everyone is able to achieve some sort of transformation in their lives
through their attendance. And apparently this common bond is mistaken
by outsiders for cult like behavior.

I said "Hmmm, Alright. If you say so".
Though I didnt buy that argument.

It seemed that there could be no grey area with respect to what someone
felt about the forum. Some people believed that it was the best thing
to happen to them, whereas others believed that it was the worst thing
to happen. My colleague believed it was the best thing to happen to
him. He also mentioned that usually the human design is such that it
can only create breakthroughs when faced with adversity. However, the
Landmark Forum supposedly provides the 'Technology' to create
breakthroughs at all points of time in one's life. He followed up after
his discussion with me by extending an invitation to attend an
"Introduction to the Forum" session on a Tuesday night.

The Forum involves about 200 people sitting in a huge ballroom on
metallic white chairs. The walls of the room are supposedly plain, and
there is a very charismatic forum leader who talks about how our lives
are being significantly influenced by our past, and how by putting the
past in its place - we can live our lives to achieve the future that we
dream of. The forum starts on a Friday at 9 AM. And what was
interesting was the duration of the programme:

Friday : 9 AM to 12 Midnight (with a break at 12 Noon, a break at 5 PM
and a break at 8 PM)
Sat : 9 AM to 12 Midnight (with a break at 12 Noon, a break at 5 PM and
a break at 8 PM)
Sun: 9 AM to 12 Midnight (with a break at 12 Noon, a break at 5 PM and
a break at 8 PM)
Following Tue : 7 PM to 11 PM

I was stunned. How could anyone sit in a room and listen to something
for such a long time?
The answer from my colleague was - "Well, consider the topics are such
that they will engage your mind and get you to reflect and think. And
when your mind is engaged, you will not know how the time flies"

One of the articles critical of the forum talks about how even toilet
breaks outside of the scheduled breaks are discouraged, and how the
forum volunteers proactively prevent you from leaving for any
unscheduled breaks.

Response from my colleague : "Well, if you take a break when the Forum
is in session - you are relinquishing your right to achieve that
breakthrough that could have been created during the 2 minutes that you
were out taking a break".

A slick Marketing 101 type of response.

My colleague is a great person to work with. Very professional in his
approach, and very smart. So while he spoke to me about the Landmark
Forum, I gave him an ear because I respected him for what he was.

So he asked me again - "Will you attend the Forum?"
This was in 2003.
The first thing I told him was "I don't see a need for attending the
forum. I am completely aware that the only limitation to my potential
is my my own imagination. Besides, I have so often created
opportunities for myself that others thought did not exist. "

Colleague : "The Landmark Forum is not just for people who have a need
for it. It is also for very successful people as yourself. And your
reluctance to attend the forum is an aspect of your personality that
might be holding you back in many other areas of your life"

Me : "Alright. But I dont see a need. And unless I see a need - I will
not attend"

This colleague was very zealous about the whole thing - and used to
often have conversations about Landmark with us. I didn't want to be
rude - so I listened a few times. Then he managed to convince other
colleagues to attend the forum. I asked them for their feedback on the
forum - some said it was okay, others hated it, and one guy even told
me that he had a splitting headache at the end of the forum trying to
rationalize the thoughts that were stoked in his mind.
Now my colleague knew that I was a big fan of Harvard Business Review.
So he used the curiosity card by telling me about a case study that
Harvard Business School had written on the Landmark Education LLC. I
went a step further and searched the Internet, and came across a bunch
of articles that spoke about a tiff between HBS and Landmark - because
Landmark had used the HBS case study for publicity - when it was not
supposed to have done so. Now that raised another red flag about
Landmark and its supposed intent.

My colleagues who attended the programme told me that most of the
attendees had major parental relationship problems, and most of these
problems were discussed on the open floor during the forum. While I
believe in disclosure (as put forth by the Johari Model) to build trust
between two parties - I do not think I will be in any way comfortable
sharing a whole bunch of stuff with 150 people I hardly know. In the
same breath, I also need to emphasize that my relationships with people
close to me is stronger than ever - and it goes back to the point that
I really didn't see a need to attend the forum. My colleague gave up
trying to persuade me.

He tried to talk to me a couple of times last year - but I always made
some stupid excuses. I was so busy with my Business School applications
that I hardly had any time to spend an entire weekend attending
something for which I didnt see any compelling need. I remember one
intense conversation that I had:

Colleague : "What are your thoughts about attending the Landmark
Forum?"

Me: "Well, I am aware that the Forum has helped you lead a very
fulfilling life. However, I make my decisions based on intuition. Right
now - my gut feel and my intuition are not telling me anything about
the Forum. And until I hear from deep within that I need to go for the
Forum - I will not go"

Colleague : "What is your intuition based on? It is nothing but your
past experiences trying to influence your future. Live your future
through your present. Identify the past, but dont let it influence you"

Me: "Yeah, I know that the past should not completely influence my
future, but the past had shaped me to a certain extent - and I am not
being true to myself by totally neglecting it"

Me (thinking) : "I know all this. I know that I should focus on the
present, and the future emerges from the present. Tell me something
new. Besides, I am not going to waste my time with stuff like this when
I should be focussing on my BSchool applications"

Me: "I appreciate you telling me all this. I am also quite happy that I
can have a frank chat with you. I dont see a need now. I will approach
you if and when I see a need to attend"

Now where the whole Landmark Forum bit gets very interesting is in its
origins. Landmark is an offspring of EST - a seminar that was pioneered
by a person called Werner Erhard. EST had some radical offerings - and
like Landmark, EST was also a Large Group Awareness Training. EST was
conducted by a charismatic forum leader who made the people believe
that their lives had been meaningless and that EST was going to change
that. How very convenient.EST was remodelled and the Landmark Forum was
derived from some aspects of the EST.

Landmark Education is a privately owned company. Most employees are
volunteers who believe that by marketing the basic Forum, the advanced
Forum and other Landmark Forums - they are actually helping many people
achieve breakthroughs in all aspects of their life. (Landmark states
that 2 Million people have taken its courses, and quotes statistics on
how 9 out of 10 people have gotten something meaningful out of it).
These volunteers are not paid for their efforts. There are a few 100
Forum Leaders the world over who conduct the forums, and I am guessing
that these people are paid for their efforts. Landmark states that the
money it collects through its programmes is used for developing its
programmes, opening new offices...

The fees to attend the Forum in 2003 was S$450. I found out that this
year the fees have been raised to $750. There are 6 such forums each
year. 200 people attend each forum. 1200 people in Singapore paying an
average of $500 for the forum - $600, 000. The forum is NOT
residential. So renting a venue and providing food for 3 days during
each forum might cost $15,000 maximum. Thats $75,000 for 6 forums. That
still leaves the local Landmark office with S$525,000 in spare change.
What happens with that? We dont know. Since Landmark is a private
company, it is not obliged to share this information. If I am paying
close to $800 to attend a supposed self improvement programme, I would
like to know what happens with the money and what is the supposed value
that is being promised.

Interestingly, if you ask any of the Landmark volunteers about the
topics that are discussed - they say that the 'Technology' is
proprietary. You only find out what goes on by attending a Forum. And
Forum attendees are bound not to take notes or share this 'Technology'
with anyone else. 'Technology' is a connotation for concepts that are
discussed. After talking to any Landmark volunteer for a short while,
you soon realize that these volunteers have a lot of connotations.

Landmark graduates don't say they understood you. They say "They GOT
you"

Landmark graduates don't say they are trying to persuade you to attend.
They say "They are trying to ENROLL you into attending the programme"

Landmark graduates don't say that you are making excuses. They say "You
are creating an ESCAPE HATCH to bail out"

I do agree that language, semantics and our communication play a very
large part in our motivation to do something and on our general outlook
on life. However, you can also overdo the whole thing to a ridiculous
exent. As shown through the examples above.

My colleague continued with a conversation last month, and because I
didn't want to dismiss him abruptly - I finally agreed to attend a
"Introduction to the Landmark Forum" session. This session basically
tried to sell the same thing to us - that the Landmark Forum can create
new possibilities in your life. Alright. Point noted. At the end of
this Forum, I was asked what I thought about attending the next Forum.

I was thinking with an open mind - and I said "I see some positives in
the Forum, and I might attend it some time in the future. I have not
made up my mind yet"

The person running the introduction session tried to hard-sell the
Forum to me then and there, trying to convince me to sign up for the
Forum this weekend. I was told that the best time to do the Forum was
before I embarked on the next big thing in my life - the MBA, and how
the Forum would basically take me to heights of greatness that I never
knew existed. I was told that there was no doubt that I would be
successful and that the Forum would only remove any ceiling to my
success in life.

Very suave of those volunteers trying to lure my ego (by talking about
future greatness) to sign up for the Forum. My philosophy is simple : A
whole bunch of people in the world have achieved extraordinary success
in life through their own efforts. I believe I am no different. I dont
need a 3-day seminar, promising the world, to achieve my goals in life.
The next wave of persuasion followed through with another favorite
topic of mine - Leadership. I was then told how the Forum would allow
me to bring divergent groups of people under a common purpose to
achieve any goal or vision. I saw through that. I refused to sign for
the Forum and left.

My colleague spent an hour on Monday speaking to me and trying to paint
vivid pictures of how the Forum would help me solve all my existing and
future problems in life, and why I should sign up for it. I have to
give due credit to him for being so persistent, and for answering all
my questions (though I was not convinced by all his answers). I
promised that I would give another thought to attending the forum this
weekend, and let him know the next day.

I spent some time thinking about it, and basically my issues with the
forum boiled down to:

1. Deep within, I didnt see a need to attend the Forum. Also I was not
convinced that the Forum was something I would truly accept and enjoy.
And when I am not convinced about something, I will not do it.

2. The Forum is an intensive session (read 15 hours each day, sitting
on white metallic non ergonomic chairs all through, limited refreshment
and toilet breaks) - and that to me - practically involves manipulating
the thoughts of a large group of people to conform to concepts that
Landmark Education has created. So in many ways, it robs people of
their individuality by transforming them to talk in wierd connotative
language as above.

3. $750 is a lot of money. While I dont think about spending $750 on a
new digital camera, I will think twice before spending it on a Forum
where the volunteers are not ready to discuss (prior to the forum)
about what happens during the forum. Its a black box. And I dont want
to waste $750 on something like that.

4. One of the persuasion points put forth by one of the volunteers was
"There is no doubt that you will very successful in life. Landmark will
only take you further".
I know that through my hard work and focus - I can be very successful.
And by attending a seminar like the Landmark, I have read about cases
where people have come out of the seminar totally disoriented and lost.
Even though the risk of that happening with me is practically nil, I
believe that "Only the Paranoid Survive". And I think that taking such
a risk (of being disoriented) especially when the rewards are really
not so overwhelming - is plain stupid.

5. While the Landmark claims that it helps you create many
breakthroughs in many different aspects of your life - I believe that
Life is something that has to be truly experiential. I particularly
cherish learning about life at every step - and I think that there is
more enjoyment in doing that, than there is in trying to learn about
life over a weekend. Landmark might not claim that it aims to teach
everything about life during a weekend, but atleast that's the
impression their sales pitch gives. It might help to get breakthroughs
about life during adversity but when you are not faced by any
adversity(as in my case at this point) - life's lessons should be truly
experiential over a period of time.

6. Landmark graduates are extremely zealous in convincing people to
attend (Landmark Education proactively encourages the graduates of its
short seminars to bring/convince/persuade/enroll as many guests as
possible). Maybe for these graduates, their success in convincing more
people to attend serves as a reaffirmation that their decision to
attend this forum was the right thing.

7. I just got turned off by the incessant marketing efforts. It was
worse that it was coming from a colleague whom I respected. It was like
the Multi Level Marketing thing. And that peeves me off totally.

I also spent some time reading the following articles. These convinced
me that my intuition was right all along. That I will NOT attend the
Landmark Forum. NEVER EVER.

http://skepdic.com/landmark.ht ml

http://www.geocities.com/Area5 1/Shadowlands/8080/forum1.htm

http://www.rickross.com/refere nce/forum/Art106.html
(The last link is an excerpt from "The Children of est: A study of the
Experience and Perceived Effects of a Large Group Awareness Training
(The Forum)" Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Denver, 1994 By Charles
Wayne Denison)

My point is that the Landmark Forum is NOT for me. If you have read
this post until here, thank you muchy for bearing with this huge rant
of mine. Thank you. Thank you.