Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Yoga

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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freedom

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post19 Jun 2008

hi ... been away from the forum a little bit but getting the posts ... well, after watching BBacon on Youtube ... can you see how they work on people's mind ??? he, himself, after 123 years (!!!!) of studying did not know what to say to the guy, only that YOU MUST FEAR THE SHARK WITHIN YOU ...

PLEEAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ... why search for FEAR, SHARKS, DARKNESS within ourselves to find light??? sorry, I am just so far from this truth, or 'their truth' ... and, of course, the only way would be through Easy Raja Yoga ...

Time for coffee ... bread and cheese ... my sharks ... my favorite fears !!!! ;).
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paulkershaw

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post19 Jun 2008

I've just discovered that his 'Swimming with Sharks" teachings may compare with a book on the market place thats now available, written by someone else and under a slightly different title.

I'll try find the time to obtain the full details of that book and especially the original published date.

john morgan

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post19 Jun 2008

freedom wrote:PLEEAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ... why search for FEAR, SHARKS, DARKNESS within ourselves to find light??? sorry, I am just so far from this truth,

Agreed Freedom. Brian is busy bringing home the bacon here. His ability to sell books seems to override rasher considerations such as benefit to the reader. Plain and simple, love is good and fear is not. B.Bacon may be the shark that people should fear. I recognise that I may not be seeing the whole picture but from what I've seen so far this shark is in need of a damn good grilling.

The world is full of people who would create fear in others, often they also provide an antidote ... for a few scratchies. Whilst I am fairly sure that the BK, had I been attending their classes, would have at some point sat me down to listen to B.Bacon I do not hold this against him. If he sends me a copy I will read his book and give a crackling review with no porkies.

Must trot ...
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post20 Jun 2008

john morgan wrote:Whilst I am fairly sure that the BK, had I been attending their classes, would have at some point sat me down to listen to B.Bacon I do not hold this against him. If he sends me a copy I will read his book and give a crackling review with no porkies.

John,

are you 'sow'-ing disrespect here or was that just a grunt of disapproval because I am finding all this 'Brian Bacon taking over the BKWSU' stuff boaring. I am sure that it is not kosher to speak like that and it is absolutely hogwash to suggest that it is not according to Shrimat. We all know that the Kripalani Klan has to bring in the Bacon somehow and greasing a few palms is the way to do it. If BKs feel that they are guinea-pigs in some social experiment, then that is their karma. The SS would roast us if they knew we were talking like this but I am still sure they wont make a silk purse of this all.

As Ronald Reagan once said to me over a gammon steak with a hugely rich and famous businessman from a Fortune 500 company; "'P' stands for Persistence, 'I' stands for Integrity, and 'G' stands for Guts ®".
paulkershaw wrote:I've just discovered that his 'Swimming with Sharks" teachings may compare with a book on the market place thats now available, written by someone else and under a slightly different title. I'll try find the time to obtain the full details of that book and especially the original published date.

Please do. There is a copy of the lecture notes, or something, in the download section, here; Sharks might fly ...

Perhaps; "Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World" a 1989 business book written by Dudley Lynch and Paul L. Kordis?

In a way it is easy to appear impressive in the BK world as none of the rest of them are encouraged or allowed to read books. Ha!

john morgan

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post20 Jun 2008

From perusal of the links that ex-l has informatively given, it seems that the thinking of Dudley Lynch and Paul L Kordis may have provided an intellectual snack or two for the infallibles of Madhuban. I like the concept of infallibles. I feel very insecure, just to know that there are infallibles makes me feel a little safer but, of course, they are all numberwise. There is only one Supreme Infallible and that is Shiva Baba. But the true twice borns I have met must have been infallible too, else they could not have dispensed Supreme Advice.

I have heard it said (out of BK circles) that when helping someone, it is important to consider that God is working through oneself. This avoids the danger of taking on someone else's karma. I think this is true. At least once (that I can recall at the moment), a huge energy swap has taken place with the person I was trying to help being greatly empowered whilst little old me felt weaker than ever before and had to start again. So the attitude of considering that one is an agent for God is partly one of self protection. The BK, of course, take this much further and in certain situations will say things such as "Baba wants to give you an experience, but you are resisting it."

In this type of situation, we have an angel speaking on behalf of God and telling someone how it is. That God is with me, or at least in close proximity, may be good news but on the other hand its very bad news because I must be corrupt impure and at the bottom of the pile because only God can save me and my karma is that I am resisting him. Such may be the double edged swords that students of the BK have to work out in their own lives.

In a sense every Brahmin is a plagiarist. Every Brahmin digests the Murli and lives their life and speaks their words accordingly. Brian Bacon in passing on The Knowledge that sharks do not attack dolphins has merely picked up quite a nice idea and developed it for the Brahmin World. I am assuming this, it could be for example that Mr B. was friends with the authors of "Strategy of the Dolphin" and relayed this idea to them. I'll stop this here.

A schoolboy joke that I recall is that when pigs fly the price of bacon will go up. Of necessity, the BKs need money. Part of the work of this forum is to examine BK methods of fund raising and to apply ethical criteria to them. There have been many religious charlatans on this planet who have been very fond of money. Now I am not saying the BK come into this category, I merely wish to mention an idea that may be of interest to some. Often charlatans arrive at a sticky end because of their fund raising enthusiasm, this as far as I know has not happened to the BK. As considering that one is an agent for God gives one protection in helping type situations could it be that a true attitude of fundraising for God's work also provides protection?

We all know that the BK consider that God incarnates into Dadi Gulzar's body at various times. We also know that the basis of Yoga is faith. Whether or not this mind blowing one off event in world history is true I cannot say but those who find this event very significant seem to benefit. The attitude of trusteeship can be seen throughout the BK world and applies not just to money but is a living reality in every aspect of many BK's entire lives. It therefore follows that to the BK fundraising is part of God's work but for those who disbelieve in or oppose that work it is easy to see how questions arise.

The twinning of absolute infallibility with a dolphin like flexibility may seem like an ideal to some. For now, flexibility and hopefully a little intelligence seem to me reasonable twins. The study of karma takes one not through many books but through every aspect of oneself. Despite this I suspect that "Strategy of the Dolphin" could be a good read, to learn about 'Carps, Sharks and Dolphins' may not be at all fishy ... let's see.
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post01 May 2009

I hope this is the end of this chapter but it is probably worth documenting, as it mentions the BKWSU and one of its most successful evangelistic recruiting tools, the Self Management Leadership course which, we discovered, they had only "licensed" from then adherent Brian Bacon on the basis of passing over any paying, corporate enquiries to him. In the Murli noticeboard (the very voice of God speaking the to Brahma Kumari worldwide), the BKWSU stated that "a separate company had been set up to handle such enquiries" not mentioning, of course, that this company was actually nothing to do with the BKWSU but Brian's. Brian then worked his way through the BKWSU adherents ... no doubt doing good ... but also cherry picking the best and most capable of them to work with him and make some money.

A matter of a couple of years ago, Brian was being touted to "be the one to reveal Baba to the world" and giving dristhi from BKWSU guddis internationally. Then he left the BKWSU, revoked the license to the SML it seems (whilst still using the BKWSU applications of it in his advertising) and got married to a talented and attractive Brahma Kumari.

This company, the Oxford Leadership Academy, had a Wikipedia page. It got deleted ... AGAIN ... due to, "Unambiguous advertising or promotion" after recently being re-developed by a user Strategy2009 whose only other edits were to remove the X-Ray's name from the List of Brahma Kumaris topic.

We never discovered WHY the BKWSU had its license for the SML pulled. I also do not know entirely how much input or cross-fertillisation there was. I certain do see elements of Brahma-kumarism in his public work. We were told that when he went to Jayanti and/or Janki to tell them he was getting married etc, all he was told was, "Its your Karma" and their backs turned on him. But I do not know the whole truth. They are still incorporate meditation and still using the Global Retreat as a backdrop.

Over and out for just now perhaps?



Oxford Leadership Academy from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oxford Leadership Academy (OLA) is an international leadership consultancy based in Oxford, United Kingdom. The firm specialises in values-driven leadership development, strategy execution and culture change in complex global organizations. The company has an openly expressed agenda to improve the social responsibility and ethical commitments of government and enterprise leaders.

OLA has operations in 20 countries and offices in Oxford, UK, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Sydney, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
It also has affiliate firms and Fellows (accredited consultants) in New York, Atlanta, Barcelona, Bangkok, Madrid, Montevideo, Frankfurt, Paris, Halifax, Toronto and San Francisco.

Philosophy and Values

The company is a leader and supporter of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement. Its proprietary consulting processes and approach to leadership development are strongly influenced by the work of Willis Harman, Ken Wilber, Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski and Margaret Wheatley. The company has an expressed commitment to developing leaders and enterprises that are driven by a purpose beyond products and profit.

Origins and history

The company had its origins in Australia in 1983 when Brian Bacon formed the management consulting arm of global advertising agency DDB Needham. The company supported the implementation of global marketing strategies for the Ford Motor Company, McDonald’s, P&G and Glaxo from 1983 to 1989. Following a management buy-out by Brian Bacon in 1990, the company separated from DDB Needham, and became International Pacific Consulting (IPC).

From 1990 - 2000 the company worked with the microeconomic reform agenda of the Australian Federal Government, mainly on organisational reform in federal government, the national power industry and telecom sector as well as for global clients such as Volvo, Ericsson, Scandia, Pharmacia and Levi’s; and international agencies including the ILO and the United Nations in Geneva and New York.

The CEO, Brian Bacon was strongly influenced by World Business Academy co-founder Willis Harman and served on the WBA Board as Regional Vice-Chair for Europe from 1988 - 1996. The thought leadership of Willis Harman is strongly present in the work of OLA.

In 1996, IPC Worldwide was engaged by Karen Jespersen, then the Danish Minister of Social Affairs to engage prominent business executives to contribute to the debate on the social responsibility of enterprises and to encourage businesses to take initiatives which will increase the social well-being both of their own staff and the local community in which they are located. This initiative, known as ‘New Partnerships for Social Cohesion’ involved representatives of international business in a "think-tank’ in conjunction with distinguished members of the European Commission, the International Institute for Labour Studies (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Japan Institute of Labour and representatives of Danish labour market organisations. This effort resulted in the formation of The Copenhagen Centre, which later became the Danish Centre for CSR in the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency.

Seeking to continue this work further, in 1999 IPC Worldwide joined with Oxford Research in Denmark (representative of Oxford Analytica in Europe) to form Oxford IPC Worldwide, a strategic management consultancy with offices in London, Copenhagen, Bangkok and Hong Kong. In 2000 the company entered into a new phase of growth with major strategy execution consulting assignments for McDonald’s (2002- present) and for the Mexican Government.

Brian Bacon was a special advisor to Mexico President Vicente Fox from 2000 - 2006. On behalf of the Mexican Government Office of Innovation and Quality he led the leadership development and strategic focusing of several Government Ministries and the Cabinet of the President. During this time, the company also supported the EU with the Balkans Stability Pact in conjunction with Swedish Government Agency, International IDEA working closely with Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

The company relocated its headquarters to Oxford in 2003 and became the Oxford Leadership Academy. The founding directors of OLA were Dr Kim Moller, Dr Ron Nahser, Alan Johnson and CEO, Brian Bacon.

OLA Clients today include Unilever, McDonald’s Corporation, Coca Cola, BP, Telefónica, O2, Sandvik, Akzo Nobel, Vedior, Girl Scouts USA, Nutrimental, Horwath International; also the Australian, Swedish and Mexican Governments and the United Nations Department of Political Affairs as well as several charities and non-governmental organisations.

The Founders

Dr Kim Moller is presently Managing Director of Oxford Leadership in Denmark and Chairman of the Oxford Group. He is a highly regarded strategist and researcher, formerly with Copenhagen Business School. He is best known for his ground-breaking research into corporate social responsibility in conjunction with Harvard Professor, Dr Michael Porter, related to Russia and the competitive advantage of nations.

Brian Bacon is Chairman and President of Oxford Leadership Academy. He was previously a Founding Trustee and President of World Business Academy and is best known for his corporate turnaround work with leading multinationals and as a special advisor to government leaders in organisational reform. He was a mentor and strategy advisor to McDonald’s CEO Charlie Bell from 2002 until his untimely death from colon cancer in 2005. Brian Bacon was special advisor to Mexican President Vicente Fox and the Office of Government Innovation from 2002-2006. He was a special advisor to the Swedish Government in the modernization of the Foreign Ministry from 2004-6.

Brian Bacon is the creator of one of the world's most successful leadership development programs, the Self Managing Leadership™ programme which has over 100,000 alumni from 93 countries. He is a former visiting scholar at the International Institute of Labour Studies (ILO) in Geneva and has been an advisor in innovation and organizational reform to the Governments of Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Thailand and Sweden. Before forming the Needham Consulting Group in 1983, Brian Bacon worked as a strategist for McCann Ericsson. He specialised in the implementation of strategies for companies such as Coca Cola, Goodyear, Philips and News Corporation. He is resident in Oxford, UK and owns a farm in Hawaii with his wife Kazemaru Yukawa-Bacon.

Programmes and Services

The core services of the company are:

• Consulting in strategy execution: Strategic Focusing Process (SFP) is a proprietary process for aligning people and culture with the strategy of the company. Strategic Focusing is used as means for strategy execution and long term culture change based on socially responsible and ethical behaviours. SFP has been widely used in corporate settings such as McDonald’s, Telefónica, Akzo Nobel, Unilever, BP and Ericsson; as well as in Government (Mexico, Sweden and Australia), International Agencies (ILO, UN, International IDEA ) and in non-profit institutions (Girl Scouts USA, Folke Bernadotte Academy)

• Leadership Development and culture change: Oxford Leadership Development Program (OLDP) is an integral leadership development training for senior leaders involving in-depth diagnostics, the Self-Managing Leadership ™ (SML™) Program and follow up coaching support for participants. The OLDP is conducted as an Open Enrolment course and as in-company training for senior leaders of an organization. There are over 100,000 corporate and public sector alumni of the SML™ program across 93 countries.

• Support of Non-Profit organizations. The SML™ program is also licensed to selected non-profit organizations for pro-bono use. Presently the Girl Scouts Arizona-Cactus Pine Council in USA has a license for conducting the Oxford Leadership Youth Program (OLYP); and the Folke Bernadotte Academy has been granted an SML™ license for use as a mediation and dialogue tool in the prevention of violent conflict in international affairs.

The Brahma Kumaris (BKWSU) held a license for a personal development use of SML™ from 1997 to 2007.

Achievements

• In 1997, Brian Bacon was awarded the Willis Harman Award by the World Business Academy. This award was inspired by the work of Willis Harman, PhD (1919-1997) who was a visionary thinker, futurist and social scientist who continuously articulated the possibility for humankind to transcend the limits of out-moded thinking. Harman was Co-founder of the World Business Academy

• In 2006, Brian Bacon received the INNOVA Award from the Mexican President Vicente Fox. This was one of only 10 commendations given by President Fox to individuals and institutions who made a special contribution to the Republic of Mexico during the Presidential term of Vicente Fox. Other recipients of the INNOVA included the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the British Council, the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, Buzan Centres Worldwide, BID, USAID, the Swedish Embassy in Mexico and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation.

• In 2007, following a review of the leadership development programs offered by the world’s leading business schools, the Oxford Leadership Academy was selected by Telefónica to be their long term business partner for their Strategic Culture Change Programme at their newly created Telefónica Corporate University at Parc de Belloch in Barcelona, Spain.

Management

The management team of Oxford Leadership Academy is as follows:
Chairman – Brian Bacon, President & Founder
Deputy Chairman – Andre Bischoff, Commercial Director
Cyril LeGrand – Non Executive Director, China
Juan Carlos Murillo – President, Oxford Leadership Mexico
Lasse Wrennmark – President, Oxford Leadership, Scandinavia
Gia Campari – Senior Fellow, United Kingdom
Miguel Gowland – Relationship Manager, Spain and Latin America
Kate De Ban – Finance and Program Manager
Alice Chilver – Operations Manager
Matthew Harper – Business Development Manager

Affiliations

Oxford Leadership Academy works with several tertiary institutions including:

Tertiary and Educational Affiliates

• Telefónica Corporate University (Spain) • Unindus • Alia Institute • Sripatum University, Bangkok • Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship • Folke Bernadotte Academy • Tomorrow’s Company • CSR Europe

Research & Technology partners

• Covision • The Values Centre • Oxford Research

Affiliate Consulting or Training Firms

• Middle East - Middle East Management Centre • Spain – Augere • Netherlands – IMEC • Netherlands - Future Firm

Terry

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post02 May 2009

So, it seems the BKSWU was sucked into the cult of Brian Bacon!
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon / Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post07 Jul 2011

Although I respect Brian Bacon left the BKWSU, I see he still seems to takes credit for the SML courses done via the Brahma Kumaris in the OLA's latest Quarterly report. It is fair to point out that the OLA do far more than just the Self Management Leadership course piloted via the BK network and using elite Western BK adherents like Ken O'Donnell.

The other interesting thing to note is how financially successful it is. 15,000,000 Euros per year ... over $ 20,000,000 US Dollars.

I wonder how much the individual BKs make out of it? Pretty neat sidestep into serious business. For Brian, a good 'loss leader' investment that has allowed him to float this new venture. I understand that at one point he was pretty much broke and broken when he landed on the Brahma Kumaris lap ... and walked out of his old life, marriage etc to do so.

What a wonderful rebirth ... I wonder how much he involves Brahma Kumari teachings. I suspect he learnt a lot from bad organization management within the BKWSU!
Oxford Leadership Second Quarter Report
The second quarter has been an exciting period for the Oxford Leadership Academy around the world.

We are on course to becoming one of the world’s most influential leadership consultancies. We have more than 200,000 alumni and the Oxford Leadership journal has a regular readership in excess of 10,000 per edition. Combined revenues of the Oxford Leadership Worldwide Group (Oxford Leadership Academy and Oxford Research) have reached Euro 15 million per annum. We have offices in UK, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Hong Kong, Brazil and Mexico. We have 130 persons worldwide including licensed Fellows representing us in 40 countries.

Our purpose is to create a better world through business. We are consciously contributing to the emergence of a fairer, more humane and ecologically respectful society by developing leaders with the character and competence to grow complex organizations driven by a purpose beyond profits and products.
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership and charging for Raja Yoga

Post10 Jul 2011

The smoking gun ... if we really need another one ...

    "'SML is basically Raja Yoga 101', says Mr. Bacon, who donated the program he developed -- now known as SML -- to Brahma Kumaris. ... For example, the term 'soul conscious' became the more business-sounding 'detached observer'. It was so successful that he incorporated meditation into his consulting work."
I thought that Mr Bacon had taken back the rights from the BKWSU to use the Self Management Leadership course but the Brahma Kumaris still have it on their website and peddle it and other similar courses to business people such as "Self Development Leadership", "Time and Task Management" ... They even have "Brahma Kumaris Management Centres" instead of Raja Yoga centers now!!
From: Companies' Antidote to Workplace Stress: Yoga, Meditation, More Soothing Laughter

HONG KONG -- In a lavish home in the elite Woodland Heights area of Hong Kong island, 25 people have assembled for a weekend of soul searching. They sit with their eyes shut in a circle under the soft light cast by a chandelier and listen to Peter Keogh's soothing voice.

As tranquil music plays, the meditation teacher tells the members of the group to imagine they are looking through the window of a room overlooking paradise. "Imagine that room is inside your head, the windows are your eyes," he murmurs. "Now recall the best experience of your life, the time when you were most successful. Life flowed easy. How did that feel?"

Mr. Keogh is not talking to an audience of New Age fanatics. Instead, the group he is coaxing into a meditative state includes entrepreneurs, managing directors, human-resource professionals and marketing executives -- people more likely to be seen in suits than sarongs.

"The problems are many, but we help people deal with the causes -- low self-esteem, fear and drifting through life with no clear purpose," says Mr. Keogh, who has been teaching these Self-Managing Leadership, or SML, workshops for a year.

The workshops address issues such as balancing work and family and how to be a better leader -- things with which most managers will identify. The workshop's techniques, however, may have many shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Mr. Keogh, a 54-year-old business consultant and former information-technology executive, asks those in the group to "become your detached self" and takes them through a soul-bearing 16 hours of self-analysis, reflective inquiry and creative visualization.

"We get all sorts of reactions," Mr. Keogh says. "Some are searching for religion, some are 'yogi tourists' and come out of curiosity ... some are like, 'Spirituality and business? Don't make me laugh'," he says. "But people are all searching for peace of mind."

More than 20,000 executives from companies such as Coca-Cola Co., Mitsubishi Corp. and Siemens AG have taken the SML course since it was launched by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization of Bombay in 1993.

And as executives turn to such practices after hours to help them cope with the stress they face during work hours, the same techniques are increasingly moving into the workplace as management and human-resources tools. "The boundaries between work and our private life are more blurred, so it's not surprising we're bringing more things into the workplace, like spirituality," says Roger Collins, management professor at the Australian Graduate School of Business in Sydney. Business consultants and spiritual gurus have been quick to capitalize on the trend, offering management messages with New Age appeal.

SML program developer Brian Bacon, who is based in Hong Kong, has watched these alternative human-resources practices come in from the cold. Just 10 years ago he kept the fact that he meditated to himself. "If you talked about meditation then, they thought you were either captured by a cult or there was something wrong with you," says Mr. Bacon, president of the strategic-planning firm Oxford IPC Worldwide.

Mr. Bacon started meditating in 1981 as an antidote to work stress and became a follower of Brahma Kumaris, which claims the path to spiritual salvation is through soul consciousness and ridding oneself of negative thought through Raja Yoga. I "was looking for a way to find inner peace," he says.

In 1991, he was hired to help an Australian state-owned power company go through the privatization process. "They were under massive stress and pressure."

Mr. Bacon designed a workshop for the power-industry executives based on Raja Yoga but without mystical references that might alienate the conservative executives. (For example, the term "soul conscious" became the more business-sounding "detached observer.") It was so successful that he incorporated meditation into his consulting work. "SML is basically Raja Yoga 101," says Mr. Bacon, who donated the program he developed -- now known as SML -- to Brahma Kumaris. "We try to handle subtle subjects in a practical way without getting lost in cosmic mumbo jumbo."

The pragmatic toning down of their overt mystical and spiritual messages has helped techniques such as Yoga and SML attract new followers. "I don't practice any religion, and I'd never thought of myself as a very spiritual person." says Tan Hock Heng, the managing director of Energizer Hong Kong Ltd. But it's leaders like Mr. Tan, 48, who are inadvertently driving the New Age workplace revolution. Standing before the group at the Hong Kong SML weekend workshop, the Father of two opens his soul: "I have spent many hours thinking about the vision statement of my company and my family, but I've never made a vision statement for myself."

Mr. Tan's stress levels peaked in 1999 when he was transferred to Hong Kong after running the battery maker's Taiwan operations for eight years. He eliminated hierarchy in the sales department and made other unpopular decisions to protect the company's market share. "I want to be a good manager and a good leader, and those two things are slightly different," Mr. Tan says. "How can I encourage and manage my subordinates, and at the same time meet the expectations of the company? It's a lot of stress."

A self-confessed micromanager, Mr. Tan started getting crippling migraine headaches soon after arriving in Hong Kong. "They would come as often as every day," he says, and the pain would "howl through my head like the wind." Mr. Tan's doctor told him work stress was to blame. Four months ago, Mr. Tan started attending twice-weekly meditation lectures at Hong Kong's Raja Yoga Centre. He says the Yoga, which is based on meditation techniques rather than physical poses, has helped him be more patient and to worry less about how his staff do their jobs. His migraines have subsided to one a week.

Mr. Tan likens the Yoga to boarding a train whose destination is "peace of mind." He throws negative thoughts overboard as he goes. He practices his Yoga sitting comfortably in his bedroom for 15 minutes every morning and night. He imagines a train moving deep into himself, thinking simple thoughts such as: "I am not a boss; I am not a husband; I am not Tan; I am a soul -- I am peaceful."

Reading like a cheap counterfeit copy of Brian's trademarked goods, 'SML' has gone 'SDL' complete with a "mind, intellect and sanskars, couch, impressions image. Apparently, Self Development Leadership is ...
BKWSU wrote:The underlying philosophy of the program is that authentic, inspirational leadership requires a firm foundation of self knowledge and inner power that can only be acquired through a disciplined process of self development by proper management of one’s thoughts, emotions and behavior. SDL is a fusion of the best modern management practices with the ancient self management principles of Raja Yoga.

Funny because according to the BKWSU, THEY invented SML. I not confused ... it just all looks tacky.
BKWSU wrote:SML is a fusion of the best modern management practices with the ancient self management principles of Raja Yoga.

The programme was developed by the Brahma Kumaris in collaboration with Western management development professionals and the senior management of one of India’s leading industrial groups.

Here is Brian crediting the god spirit of the BKWSU from the throne in Madhuban. Or is he just using their language to communicate to them? Actually he makes some perfectly good and fair points.
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Mr Green

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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Yoga

Post12 Jul 2011

love and peace
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Y

Post12 Nov 2016

It seems Self Management Leadership, after a brief flirtation with Values-Based Leadership, is now "Character-based Leadership".
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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Y

Post13 Nov 2016

ex-l wrote:It seems Self Management Leadership, after a brief flirtation with Values-Based Leadership, is now "Character-based Leadership".

Product differentiation. Maybe Bacon did not want his baby confused with or considered connected to ”Living Values” - which I understand is less mercantile.
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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Y

Post17 Nov 2016

Hi! New product on the shelf, or perhaps different packaging, similar content. These folks are smart though, when you set ethics and the Law of Karma aside! They decided to become financially "carefree" without working too hard.

Plenty of $, at the end of Kaliyug, it makes somethings easier. You need to be ambitious, though, and have that particular drive, necessary to achieve material success and play that role without hesitations or scruples.
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ex-l

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Re: Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership & BKs charging for Raja Y

Post18 Nov 2016

It's an interesting one ... I came to conclude that the BKs adopted the "Values" stuff in the way of marketing, as in "extra added value" rather than anything remotely like objective "ethics".

Now we have character-based values. What on earth does that mean? Do they mean 'character' as in "character actor" (an actor or actress who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters). It's yet another 'sounds good but means nothing' marketing tool.

OK, so say there's a hint of ethics included ... whose ethics or from who's point of view?

Brian used to promote himself as one of the most influential Brahma Kumaris outside of the Kirpalani Klan inner circle and, to be honest, he was probably quite correct in doing so ... even if we might disagree over whether his influence was improvement in "spiritual" standards or a deterioration of "spiritual" standards, e.g. commericalising spirituality and turning into a tool for some of the darkest corporations on the planet.

Do we judge his character from a "lokik" (worldly) point of view ... where it may well be a good average ... or a BK point of view ... where he is somewhere between an abject failure and a "demonic" influence, turning "seva" into a personal business, capturing a Kumari and shacking up with her, chasing material success and comforts, and showing a terrible example to other BKs?

What's stranger for me is how the Kirpalani Klan accommadates him and his influenced BK acolytes.

What he did or has done as a BK would have been unthinkable in my time and I am still trying to understand it.

But, in a way, it is much akin to what Lekhraj Kirpalani and the BK leaders did to other religions, e.g. superficially entered them, quickly grasped what was going on from a business point of view, asset stripped the most useful and value parts, and then set up their own religion-business.

If asset stripping is what "corporate raiders" do in the business world - a concept which Brian would have been conscious off - in the Great Mahabharat War of the BKs, surely he'd be some spiritual renegade, pillaging the Pandavs camp for his own benefit, including stealing off with one of their prime Princesses.

Does he have the qualifications to claim authority on something like "Character" from a BK point of view? In my time, making money out of the BK Knowledge or community, even taking business with other BKs, was specifically forbidden.

I was recently reading an book review on the psychology of hypocrisy ... [url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2016/nov/17/its-only-wrong-when-you-do-it-the-psychology-of-hypocrisy]It’s only wrong when YOU do it![url]. Not read the book yet, so I cannot comment on it.

The place of ethics within BKism, especially from the business point of view, is an interesting discussion to explore. From my point of view, they just have none. No awareness of the concept even.

For me, BKism is all just about 'expediency', as in what is most useful to them in their social climbing and money reaping. Is Brian's venture not just a further evolution of that? Or are the BK leaders fooling themselves that as some point he is going to return to the fold bring back with him all he has taken?

Would that really be "pure" from a BK point of view? The same kind of purity they demand of all those adherents less confident and able than him?
expediency

the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral; convenience.
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