Outlandish Motivational Techniques
First off, I'd like to thank you for creating southwesterncompanytruth.com and you should keep it up! People need to know the other side of the story. If it would be okay, I'd like to submit a testimonial from an outsider's perspective. While I don't have an experience of my own to relate to, I have a friend that recently returned from a summer of selling books. Reading your testimonial and the other ones on the site, I was struck by how familiar it all sounded just from listening to my friend and his other friends from the University of Texas who also tried out the program. To put it bluntly, I feel that my friend has been brainwashed by this company, probably to a degree more than most since even some of his book friends admit to the cult-like nature of the program yet he flatly denies it. I think that my reluctance to completely agree with every positive thing he says about the company as well as my status as an "outsider" has caused our friendship to go down the tubes. I'm still writing down my testimonial but before I send it to you, I'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind. I've been reading a lot about bad experiences on the internet and some of their "motivational techniques" sound pretty outlandish. I'm willing to believe them though after hearing from his book friends that there was a staged public "bitching out" if you will, of all of the first years in order to toughen them up. But I'd like to ask you if some of these things happened in your experience. First of all I've read about the execs that you're encouraged to do. Is it true that there is a southwestern chant that goes
"It's a great day to be a bookman.
It's a great day I know.
It's a great day to be a bookman everywhere I go.
Goodbye no-nevers, goodbye doubts and fears
It's a great day to be a bookman -- be of good cheer.
I feel happy. I feel terrific. I feel GREAT! " ?
What other types of execs do they have kids do? Is there a lot of pressure to get up every day and stick to the schedule no matter what? What's the deal with the cold showers? and finally, do they really send you out there and tell you to find a place to stay by knocking on doors?
I realize that for the sake of my friendship with this person, it might be a mistake to get too deep into this, but I'm incredibly curious and incredibly concerned. I'm never planning on letting him know that I've done a lot of reading about the company as it would only alienate him. At this point we're not speaking to each other but I have a class with him on Monday so we'll see what happens. All I can do right now I suppose is just give him some space and time, perhaps the fog will clear and he'll see what's going on. I must say, I thought he'd come back with a story about how it was kind of lousy but not too bad. I didn't expect this at all. Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you would like a testimonial from me I would be happy to send it to you.
Thanks,
Katie Shomes
