americana
20-05-2008, 07:13 PM
After watching Brian Gerrish's video on You Tube (thanks, Hagbard_Celine for having posted it), I wrote to him to ask about Common Purpose in the USA.
Here's our exchange of emails. My name has been redacted!
Dear Mr. Gerrish: I watched your informative two hour video on the Internet with much concern last night. I live in the United States, and I am wondering if you know of any Common Ground connection here. I would be very interested in knowing if they have infiltrated our school system, prisons, police, elected leadership, etc. I am sure you are quite busy, but thanks so much for your time and any ideas you can offer. Sincerely,
Dear Ms
Thank you for your email. Common Purpose or CP type systems are operating in the US although I have not done much research on them. Several people from the US have contacted me asking the same question and it seems I should have a look in more detail. If will come back to you shortly. Meanwhile visit www.ukcolumn.org and read our newspaper , see also www.tpuc.org. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the message.
Kind regards Brian G
Dear Mr. Gerrish: Thanks very much for your reply! School systems in particular are always looking for something "innovative" (I use that word advisedly!), and so I wouldn't be surprised if U.S. schools had been infiltrated by Common Purpose. I look forward to reading your newspaper. Sincerely,
NOW, THIS IS Mr.Gerrish's LAST EMAIL TO ME, WHICH I RECEIVED THIS MORNING. I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
By coincidence a friend has just passed me these links. He has done a huge amount of research on CP and feels that the style and content of these courses is very much a la CP. We have reason to believe that the CP concept was started at Tavistock in UK, developed at Oxford University and then ‘exported’ to the US. It was then re-imported to UK via Julia Middleton Chief Executive of CP, who was miraculously given £500,000 to start CP programmes throughout UK.
Harvards Advanced and General management progs
AMP brings together members of the executive committee, heads of business units and functional areas, as well as leaders of governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. Graduates become part of an elite network that provides ongoing support and insight.
http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/amp/
GMP is designed primarily for executives with recently acquired or significantly expanded general management responsibilities, and for senior functional managers who need a broader perspective on company operations or who will soon become business-unit, division, or regional leaders.
http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/gmp/
CP links public and private sector in a ‘soft’ form of fascism. I look for more info for you.
Rgds bg
HERE'S MY RESPONSE
Wow! Thank you very much. I am stunned. Harvard Business School is the most prestigious in this country, I'd say, along with Wharton School of Business at the University of PA. Their case study method has been adopted by schools all over the country. In essence, what businessperson would NOT like their company to send them, gratis, to such exclusive programs as the Advanced and General Mgmt programs.
Intriguing, if there's a link to Common Purpose. And it sure sounds like it! (I mean, in these Harvard programs, they may not go to prisons to learn methodologies of surveillance and control, but they've got all the other bits and pieces!)
I was just looking at the description of the General Management Program. To me, it is quite reminiscent of techniques used by cults! " The Learning Compact – Residency on campus is required, and classes are held six days a week. The faculty expects active involvement in all classroom sessions, case discussions, and other program activities. Participants devote considerable time and energy to the learning experience, putting in long days and nights. Therefore, they must be free of outside responsibilities during their stay at HBS. Except during specified breaks and at the end of the program, spouses and other family members should not plan to visit participants in Boston." That reminds me of the type of hermetic situation which induces the brainwashing inherent in Erhard Seminars Training or its present incarnation, The Landmark Forum. (The latter has been compared with Common Purpose as its most likely "cousin" in the USA.)
I am simply blown away. Thanks so much for the info. I will be sharing this, you can bet on it!
Sincerely,
********************************************End of emails, now my comments
Intriguing stuff! I've been thinking about it since this morning, and I know that Ms. Middleton basically regurgitates the latest business jargon and whatever the trend-setting ideologues are saying (ie, quoting Sun-Tzu is nothing new . . . ). She admits as much in that bizarre author interview where she's holding her hands in that cupping gesture that ironically shows just how empty her ideas are. So, Middleton/ Common Purpose may be USING Harvard Business School methodology. If her methods segue with Harvard Business School pedagogy, it's because she's pilched them. Or, Harvard is a key proponent of Common Purpose ideology. And that's friggin' scary.
Any thoughts on the matter?
Here's our exchange of emails. My name has been redacted!
Dear Mr. Gerrish: I watched your informative two hour video on the Internet with much concern last night. I live in the United States, and I am wondering if you know of any Common Ground connection here. I would be very interested in knowing if they have infiltrated our school system, prisons, police, elected leadership, etc. I am sure you are quite busy, but thanks so much for your time and any ideas you can offer. Sincerely,
Dear Ms
Thank you for your email. Common Purpose or CP type systems are operating in the US although I have not done much research on them. Several people from the US have contacted me asking the same question and it seems I should have a look in more detail. If will come back to you shortly. Meanwhile visit www.ukcolumn.org and read our newspaper , see also www.tpuc.org. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the message.
Kind regards Brian G
Dear Mr. Gerrish: Thanks very much for your reply! School systems in particular are always looking for something "innovative" (I use that word advisedly!), and so I wouldn't be surprised if U.S. schools had been infiltrated by Common Purpose. I look forward to reading your newspaper. Sincerely,
NOW, THIS IS Mr.Gerrish's LAST EMAIL TO ME, WHICH I RECEIVED THIS MORNING. I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
By coincidence a friend has just passed me these links. He has done a huge amount of research on CP and feels that the style and content of these courses is very much a la CP. We have reason to believe that the CP concept was started at Tavistock in UK, developed at Oxford University and then ‘exported’ to the US. It was then re-imported to UK via Julia Middleton Chief Executive of CP, who was miraculously given £500,000 to start CP programmes throughout UK.
Harvards Advanced and General management progs
AMP brings together members of the executive committee, heads of business units and functional areas, as well as leaders of governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. Graduates become part of an elite network that provides ongoing support and insight.
http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/amp/
GMP is designed primarily for executives with recently acquired or significantly expanded general management responsibilities, and for senior functional managers who need a broader perspective on company operations or who will soon become business-unit, division, or regional leaders.
http://www.exed.hbs.edu/programs/gmp/
CP links public and private sector in a ‘soft’ form of fascism. I look for more info for you.
Rgds bg
HERE'S MY RESPONSE
Wow! Thank you very much. I am stunned. Harvard Business School is the most prestigious in this country, I'd say, along with Wharton School of Business at the University of PA. Their case study method has been adopted by schools all over the country. In essence, what businessperson would NOT like their company to send them, gratis, to such exclusive programs as the Advanced and General Mgmt programs.
Intriguing, if there's a link to Common Purpose. And it sure sounds like it! (I mean, in these Harvard programs, they may not go to prisons to learn methodologies of surveillance and control, but they've got all the other bits and pieces!)
I was just looking at the description of the General Management Program. To me, it is quite reminiscent of techniques used by cults! " The Learning Compact – Residency on campus is required, and classes are held six days a week. The faculty expects active involvement in all classroom sessions, case discussions, and other program activities. Participants devote considerable time and energy to the learning experience, putting in long days and nights. Therefore, they must be free of outside responsibilities during their stay at HBS. Except during specified breaks and at the end of the program, spouses and other family members should not plan to visit participants in Boston." That reminds me of the type of hermetic situation which induces the brainwashing inherent in Erhard Seminars Training or its present incarnation, The Landmark Forum. (The latter has been compared with Common Purpose as its most likely "cousin" in the USA.)
I am simply blown away. Thanks so much for the info. I will be sharing this, you can bet on it!
Sincerely,
********************************************End of emails, now my comments
Intriguing stuff! I've been thinking about it since this morning, and I know that Ms. Middleton basically regurgitates the latest business jargon and whatever the trend-setting ideologues are saying (ie, quoting Sun-Tzu is nothing new . . . ). She admits as much in that bizarre author interview where she's holding her hands in that cupping gesture that ironically shows just how empty her ideas are. So, Middleton/ Common Purpose may be USING Harvard Business School methodology. If her methods segue with Harvard Business School pedagogy, it's because she's pilched them. Or, Harvard is a key proponent of Common Purpose ideology. And that's friggin' scary.
Any thoughts on the matter?