I longingly remembered the tranquility I felt that Saturday morning twelve years ago at San Diego Airport while waiting for my flight home.

Just one week before, I had boarded a comfortable airport bus for a one-hour ride through the unspoiled Sierra Madre countryside southeast of San Diego. We crossed the international border at Tecate on Mexico’s Baja peninsula. Three miles beyond was the entrance to Rancho La Puerta.

“Many things remain unchanged at ‘The Ranch’,” said the spa’s owener Deborah Szekely. “Recently I (unearthed) a paper my husband and I wrote soon after we opened Rancho La Puerta in 1940: ‘In place of metropolitan existence, with its increasingly fast pace and artificiality, (our purpose is) to have delightful outdoor living which renews vitality and strength, enthusiasm and hope, tranquility and happiness. In a few weeks, our guests look, feel and act like new people’.”

Rancho La Puerta, North America’s first residential spa dedicated to the health of mind, body and spirit. “has always been one of the most popular spas with our clients,” said Susie Ellis, vice president of industry and development for Spa Finder Co., a specialized travel agency in New York City. “They say it is one of the most affordable, even after you add on the massages, body and beauty treatments. IT is also one of the few that still require a seven-day stay because the owners know it takes at last seven days to fully de-stress.”

HIGH DESERT BEAUTY

I was way overdue for a return visit to the ranch when a friend and I arrived at the flower-filled courtyard entrance last fall. After a brief orientation, porters took our luggage to a luxurious outlying “Villa Luna” studio, one of 86 ranch casitas set within 150 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens that form the core of 3,000 acres of high desert ranchland.

The tile-roofed Mexican-Colonial style villa was furnished with authentic native art and weavings . A hand-carved wooden door opened into a comfortable living room and kitchenette with a fireplace in full view of the elevated bedroom next to two bathrooms and dressing areas.

Windows opened all around to capture the Santa Ana breezes of the year-round mild climate. Our two large brick verandas overlooked the rolling hills and Mount Kuchumaa beyond, long revered by the native people for its magical healing powers.

We were just in time for a late lunch on the dining hall’s shaded terrace. Several of us compared our accommodations. The rancheras and haciendas were smaller and more rustic than ours, but many had fireplaces . Some guests preferred their smaller one-of-a-kind casitas because they were closer to the center of activities.

Villas have the added bonus of being near a satellite swimming pool and Jacuzzi, where breakfast is served poolside in summer months. You may have a massage (for $10 extra) in your villa instead of going to the Women’s or Men’s Health Centers. (About 15 percent of the guests are men).

After lunch, we began to fill in our first day’s schedule of classes, selecting from 75 activities for every fitness level. Each hour there is a choice of about 10 activities, including weight training, water workouts, volleyball, tennis clinics, dance, yoga, aerobics, abs and back and legs and glutes classes.

The yoga facility with its expansive views, also houses the tai chi, Feldenkrais, and popular pilates classes.

In circuit training, you move from one station to another in the weight room, in cadence with the fast-paced music, changing machines when the instructor blows the whistle at 35-second intervals.

All the classes are 45 minutes.

SACRED MOUNTAIN

The first morning, I joined a group of advanced hikers who (unknown to me) planned to scale Mt. Kuchumaa up its steep back side. It was a struggle just to bring up the rear, but the strenuous climb was well worth the magnificent sunrise view along the summit’s ridge.

Having conquered what some consider to be one of the “13 sacred mountains in the world,” I was content to join the rolling hills hikers the remainder of the week.
Breakfast and lunch are served buffet-style, and the calorie count of each item is prominently posted. The super-fresh vegetables and berries grown in the Ranch’s six-acre organic garden are so good that second helpings are hard to resist. Favorites for breakfast include the famous Tecate 12-grain bread, hot cereals, juice and delicious fruits from the orchard.

Guests can also sign up to walk a couple of miles to have breakfast at the organic farm, followed by a tour of the gardens. After lunch each day, I returned to cozy up with a good book on our villa’s veranda or have a siesta in the nearby shaded hammock. Later in the afternoon, there was a gentle restorative yoga or meditation session.

“How do we get in touch with our own spiritual, or better, self?” asked instructor Phyllis Pilgrim in an ‘Inner Journey’ deep relaxation and guided visualization class. “Be quiet and listen to the still small voice within. Usually we attach so much importance to the things we do instead of just being.”

Guests varied greatly in their opinions about the best time to schedule a massage, facial or other body treatment. My preference was a soothing massage just after Inner Journey and before dinner. I recognized several masseuses from my earlier visit, later learning that many of the caring and gifted staff are second and third-generation family members, along with founder Deborah Szekely.

FINE DINING

My friend and I saw very little of each other during the day until it was time to dress for dinner,– “dress” simply meaning clean bodies and clothes.

The grand Mexican-colonial diningroom is graced with a curving staircase that wraps around a fireplace from the floor to vaulted ceiling. It is designed to comfortably seat 160 guests. Waiters seated us with four to eight other guests, and the pleasant table conversation was spirited.

The organic food served at dinner was primarily vegetarian with Mexican accents, rich in greens, legumes and whole grains, with little fat or salt. Three evenings, fresh seafood was served , and it was always possible to arrange for a baked potato or pasta alternative to the offered meal. For dessert: carrot cake, cinnamon flan or a baked apple.

On the last night we were treated to a glass of wine. One night, some guests slipped into the nearby town of Tecate for margaritas and Mexican food.

Evening events included movies, a healthful cooking demonstration, bingo, dancing, or jewelry-making and other crafts at the art studio. I most enjoyed the serene evening stroll from the diningroom back to our villa to find the fireplace prepared for a crackling fire.

It was hard to leave the ranch Saturday morning, but once again I took home a special inner peace that I hope will last a long time– at least until a return visit next year.

IF YOU GO

1. Book reservations well in advance. Otherwise, hope for last-minute cancellations. Call 800-443-7565 or check availability and book online at www.rancholapuerta.com.

2. No television or telephones in the rooms. Cell phones may be used in the rooms.

3. Be sure to bring proof of citizenship in the form of a valid passport, birth certificate, or notarized affidavit of citizenship.

Judy Zimmerman is a 20-year-experienced professional travel writer with specialties in cruising, western U.S. destinations, soft adventure travel, spas and service articles.

As with any type of surgery, there are a number of different factors that determine whether or not you are a good candidate for the procedure. Using the five criteria listed and described in the guide below, you will be able to develop a good idea about whether or not you are a good candidate for face lift surgery. Please remember, however, that this guide is not meant to replace the advice of a qualified doctor.

No. 1: Your General and Overall Health

It is never a good idea to undergo a surgical procedure if you are not in good health unless it is absolutely necessary or meant to actually improve your health. Going under anesthesia, the surgical procedure and the subsequent healing process can be very complicated if you are already in poor health. As face list surgery is considered to be an elective procedure in almost all cases, it is unlikely that your physician and surgeon will clear you for the procedure if you are not well.
Even if you are healthy, you must discuss any type of medication you are taking with your surgeon. Some medications can interfere with anesthesia and complicate the healing process. If you happen to be taking any such type of medication, you will have to either stop taking it or wean yourself off the drug before going through with the surgery. Only do so under medical supervision. If you must continue to take the medication for the sake of your health, you may not be a candidate for face lift surgery.

No. 2: Your Emotional Health

Face lift surgeries are defined as “successful” if a patient who went into the surgery with realistic expectations feels satisfied with the results, after the healing process has come to a close. Surgeons have found, however, that people who are not emotionally well rarely have successful face lift surgeries. If a patient is having the surgery to please someone else, or feels that the surgery will cure a larger problem in his or her life, disappointment is a likely outcome.

No. 3 and 4: Age and Skin Condition

The best candidates for face lift surgery are men and women between the ages of 40 and 60 who still have some elasticity in their skin. This is the age during which the signs of aging start to become very clear. Between 40 and 60, skin begins to droop, sag and crease. A face lift is meant to reverse these effects of aging. Although this is the ideal age for a face lift candidate, successful face lifts have been performed on patients who are in their 80s.
No. 5: Understanding the Risks and Limitations of Face Lift Surgery

A cosmetic face lift surgery can do a great deal to improve appearance. However, it cannot change the condition of a patient’s skin. Although the skin will appear to be more taught after a face lift surgery, the color (or discoloration), tone and texture of the skin will not be altered. A man in his 60s, for example, will not look like he stepped out of his high school photo after a face lift. Also, it is important for patients to understand the risks associated with face lift surgery and to be prepared for all possible outcomes.

What happens when you plug too many plugs into an outlet? People tend to do that when the pressure is on, like at Christmas. We all know what happens … there’s a meltdown in the circuits and best case the lights dim and worst case your place burns down. We all know that but why do so many so-called leaders do that to their people?

If I had a dollar for every time I saw organizational leaders during times of change, through task after task on top of people with full time jobs and brazenly announce “they can do more”. Well, if I had that dollar for every time I’d be a wealthy man. Of course we all know the leaders at the top have the dollars and the folks down on the project are dieing a slow death trying to keep up with the overload.

Real change leaders; and real leaders as well, don’t do the task overload routine. They are leaders and aren’t afraid to make the tough calls and decide where to utilize their resources without blindly adding task after task to already overloaded people. I hear the naysayer’s out there saying, “come on Ed, you have to challenge your people, you’re soft”. Well, I’m a former Marine sniper and it’s now about being soft, it’s about real leadership.

What’s happening today doesn’t need to happen if leaders just got it – and understood what they’re doing. What they’re doing is ignoring what pilots know, and that is task saturation. Military pilots especially will tell you about task saturation. When the pilot gets overloaded with ‘tasks’ they will in fact go done. I think the figures are 80% of all aircraft accidents, at least in the military, happen because of from what they call task saturation.

Most of you probably know, but pilots, amateur and professional, use checklists before and during flights and even have practiced them for various emergencies. The purpose of a checklist is to make the work they do into a routine task. It is organized and they are trained to use the checklist to make sure they do not suffer from task saturation. That means that the pilot doesn’t get ‘saturated’ or overcome with too many tasks and take the plane down.

Well the same thing happens on change projects. Presidents, Vice Presidents, all the senior leaders want to be macho and issue their edicts from on high, mandating the troops just need to give 110%. That of course implies that you don’t have a full time job now, so just suck it up and do all the new things this year long project implementation is going to require, plus your full time job. Leaders like this are leading from a position of power and not as a leader with personal power.

When they lead in this way they also imply, or sometimes say, that those who don’t agree are a problem, they are soft and don’t want to take a stand. In the past eight years I have worked seven or eight large change projects for organizations, and in all but one, maybe two cases did the leaders not confuse a power trip with leadership. They demand people take on more and more because they don’t want to make the hard calls on the budget. They want their cake and eat it too. It doesn’t work.

People in organizations all over this country and across the world suffer from task saturation. The plane the CEO is riding is going down, it’s happening everywhere, and all the while the Emperor sits on high demanding more from the change leaders and wondering why they are failing. It doesn’t have to be that way, that is, if you are a real leader. Make sure you don’t overload your organizational circuits. Make sure you are well aware of task saturation. You can challenge people and not kill them at the same time.

Ed Kugler has been living change since the jungles of Vietnam where he was a Marine Sniper for two-years in the Vietnam War. He came home to a country he hadn’t left and began work as a mechanic and truck driver. Since then he has worked his way into the executive suite of Frito Lay, Pepsi Cola and Compaq Computer where he was Vice President of Worldwide Logistics, a position he achieved with no college degree. Ed left in 1997 to consult and write. He is the author of Dead Center - A Marine Sniper’s Two Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War and five other books and counting. He regularly consults with some o the nations leading companies on organizational change and coaches individuals to make the most of their lives. Ed is the father of three, grandfather to three and has been married to the same woman for 38 years and counting.

http://www.nomorebs.com
http://www.edkugler.com

Affiliate Marketing can be defined as a model for making money when you will earn a pre-determined commission fee for promoting a merchant’s products or services without having to create your products. There are a lot of advantages in doing an affiliate marketing business.

One of the methods to do affiliate marketing is doing a physical products affiliate programs. Instead of selling the physical products on the offline world, what you will do is to market the physical products through the internet. The major benefits of marketing it on the internet is that you will be not affected by the location as the whole world will be your market. There are lots of different kinds of physical products that you will be able to market on the internet.

You do not have to own any of the products yourself. What you will do is that you will be the affiliate for that merchant and you will get paid commission if the customer that is brought through you buys the products. The merchant will handle all the shipping and the customer enquiries. So where are the places where I can find the physical products affiliate programs?

The first website that you can go to is www.commissionjunction.com. The 2nd website that you can go to is www.linkshare.com and lastly you can go to www.shareasale.com. All the above listed websites are reputable websites and they have affiliates from all around the world. You will be able to find thousands of different kinds of physical products which you can be a affiliate to help promote it and earn some cash.

Affiliate marketing will require you to have the correct method and systems so that you will be able to have a profitable business. Although the products that you will be promoting will be physical products, the rules for being successful on the internet will still apply as you are using the internet as the medium to promote your products. Go to the links above and you will be able to find physical products to promote as a affiliate.

Zack Lim is an up and coming affiliate marketer who owns http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com He recommends all potential affiliates to find a way to make money while they learn. After all, there’s no better way to measure results by cold hard cash! If you’re ready to finance your affiliate education and get FREE “7 Days To Affiliate Marketing” Course, Zack recommends visiting:
http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com

In the overwhelming majority of cases, healing from a LASIK procedure is relatively fast and, happily, uneventful. However, as with most surgeries, even so-called minor ones for vision correction, your doctor may recommend that you take a few days off from work to recuperate.

Every surgical procedure has its unique effects, both intended and unintended, and will require you to be on the alert for any post-operative complications. With what is now known about the procedure, following years of experience and study, your doctor can help you learn the five best ways to prepare for your recovery after LASIK eye surgery.

1. Do your homework beforehand. You most likely did some research when you were contemplating the procedure, and the many available sources of information about LASIK—your physician, the surgery center or hospital, the Internet or the library—cover all the bases from the choice of doctor to your recovery. Every good doctor wants patients who are interested and involved, and who go into an operation with a clear and confident attitude.

2. Think ahead. Whether you live alone, are married with children or are a college student living in a dorm, there are many practical considerations. Although LASIK eye surgery will not, in all but rare cases, inhibit your mobility or affect your body’s other systems, you are supposed to rest. Therefore, arrange for the help you need around the house, and take care of details like bill paying before the post-operative period where your eyes may be sensitive. Remember, you won’t be driving for a day or two, either.

3. Learn about stress reduction techniques. The last thing you need to do for your few recovery days is worry about the operation, your job, the house—anything. If you know some breathing and calming exercises, get in some practice time. If you don’t, then learn some. We’re not talking transcendental meditation or crystal gazing here (although if they work to relax you, that’s great). It is well established scientifically that our mind and body work together to affect our healing process, often in ways still quite mysterious.

4. Know what to expect, physically. You may have some mild irritation or pain for a short time after the surgery, and your vision may even be blurry the following day. Learn what is normal and expected so that you do not overreact to the common, non-threatening reactions to the LASIK surgery.

5. Be ready for anything. Keep your doctor’s phone number handy—and a phone to go along with it. If you do experience uncommon, aggravating side effects, call your doctor immediately. These side effects include pain, dryness of the eyes, glare, itchiness, a “halo” effect around nighttime lights, persistent sensitivity and reddish/pinkish spots in the whites of the eyes. Any combination of these effects is possible, certainly, but they usually disappear quickly and are rarely permanent. Another post-operative consideration is the possibility of complications, or “negative outcomes,” of various kinds and durations. One of the non-monetary costs of any vision correction procedure is the diligence you must show in preparing for the operation, while at the same time preparing to monitor your own recovery.

These complications will normally present themselves soon after the LASIK vision correction. The operation may have resulted in over- or under-correction of the condition, problems often improved with glasses or contact lenses. There may be scarring of the cornea, or a “warping” of it, and there is also the chance of corneal infection. Additionally, you should watch for a decrease in your contrast sensitivity following LASIK eye surgery, as well as in the sharpness of your vision.

A wise old professor once taught his students a simple lesson for success, which he called the “Four ‘P’ Method.” That quartet of Ps stand for “planning prevents poor performance.” Follow the old teacher’s advice and your LASIK eye surgery, as well as your recovery from it, will be safe, effective and life-enhancing.

Scooters have been around for a long time. In the past they have been practical machines that drive their passenger from point a to point b, without a lot of comfort or style. Scooters were received as cheap and practical means of transportation for those with little money to spend. Today, comfort, safety and style are highly appreciated and may also be found in the small two wheel vehicles. Now you need not ride in a minimal fashion. Accessorize your scooter for maximizing the driving experience.

Some of the accessories are primarily luxury, yet others are also safety providers. One of my favorite accessories is the cup holder. Many times I watched with envy my fellow four wheeled brothers sipping their morning java with joy. Since the cup holder was placed on my scooter, I zoom through the cars stuck in traffic jams, sipping my coffee and feeling the freedom. The basket on the front and the saddle on the back provide me with ample space. I can carry work related items and there is still a lot of room for my tennis racket and sport wear.

I take my scooter very seriously, since I spend a lot of time on or around it. The cigarette lighter was converted to a mobile phone and laptop charger. There is not as much need to stop in the office. During my day I sit more and more at the park enjoying the sun while accomplishing more work than ever. Working in a pleasant environment frees the mind and increases productivity.

To those of you that enjoy music I highly recommend installing a decent stereo on your scooter, connected to good quality speakers. You may even buy a helmet that has speakers build inside! The seat that supports the back has become essential in my old age. If one suffers from a bad back, there is nothing like a long drive on a two wheel vehicle to arouse pain. If you are such a person I recommend spending a handsome amount of money for the right seat. At the end of the day the best investment is your health.

There are those who feel that this whole comfort revolution is dangerous on the road. Many times I’ve heard people saying they are afraid of the risk involved with riding a small vehicle with two wheels, on roads full of maniacs. Maniacs that ride bigger and stronger machines. It is risky I answer, but there are things you can do to protect your self.

To increase your safety, install safety belts and add flags. Make sure your lights are in order and follow the timely mechanical check ups. Make sure your scooter has a rear view mirror and side mirrors. Check the condition of your wheels. But most important- use your brain.

It does not matter if you are the best, you must be the smartest. When you drive a two wheel vehicle, always think ahead:

*Notice pedestrians or unpredictable children or animals that may sway into your path. *Doors of parked cars that face the driving lane may open- be aware. *While driving behind a car try to define the conditions that affect it’s driving. *Drive extremely carefully when it is wet. *Beware of strong winds.

Although dangerous sometimes, scooters are still safe under the command of a great driver. If you are such a driver treat your self to some luxuries. Be proud of your ability and drive in comfort. Maybe add a sticker on the side of the scooter to make it more of a customized machine. After all it is yours!

To get more information about gadgets and gizmos go to: http://www.gadgets-info.com/ and http://www.gadgets-info.com/Gadgets-That_Everyone_Would_Love.html

Mitchel Mason writes about Motercycles, Gizmos, Travel, Real Estate and many other topics.
His articles, links and tips can be found at http://www.mitchelmason.com/
Copyright 2007 Mitchel Masaon

You’ve worked hard building your web site. You’re proud of your work, having poured your heart into making your site relevant to your market with great, useful content. You’ve got decent traffic, solid PageRank, and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done your best.

But you’re missing the boat if you’re not making money from your site.

Some estimate that nearly $20 billion will be spent in the U.S. this year for online advertising, and you deserve a slice of that pie.

Now there are a number of ways to turn you site into a cash cow and the method demanding the least amount of work is to become an affiliate for online ads. It’s easy. Just put a banner on your site and you’ll be paid every time someone buys an ad using your affiliate code.

When deciding on an online ad affiliate program, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Does the affiliate program offer a flat fee or a percentage?

The problem with programs offering a flat fee (usually about $25) for every sale from your site is that their cost to the advertiser is usually a lot higher, so your chance of making a sale is lower. Programs offering a percentage of each sale depend more on volume, so their prices are less expensive. This means your chances of making sales are greater, and more sales translates into more income.

Look for an affiliate program that offers an easy, timely method for you to check on your sales.

Most affiliate programs make you log on to their stats program and this takes time, and time is money, as the saying goes. Look for an affiliate program offering a desktop application that will alert you whenever a sale has been made through your site. This way with just a simple click of your mouse, you instantly know how much money you have coming.

How often does the online advertising affiliate program pay?

The great majority of affiliate programs pay once a month. Usually they will calculate how much you are owed at the end of a month, and then pay you either by the 15th, or in some cases, the first of the next month. This means you may have to wait up to two months for the money your site has earned. There are a few affiliate programs that pay on a weekly basis. Look for one of these programs and you will be paid in a much more timely fashion.

How does the affiliate program pay?

Nearly all affiliate programs will pay through PayPal, which has pretty much become the industry standard. Some offer to mail a check to their affiliates based in the U.S. Nearly all of these require a small minimum (usually $25) before mailing a check due to the increased costs involved. Some will send a check regardless of the amount, but will deduct the bank fees and postage. Let your own financial situation determine the best method of payment for you.

By taking advantage of an online advertising affiliate program, soon your web site will not only pay for itself, but it could turn into a real moneymaker.

Jake Lowrey has more than 30 years experience in the communications field as a writer, editor and public relations professional. He has been writing content and articles and optimizing web pages online since 2003, most recently for Team Link Network.

Affiliate marketing is a very lucrative business and it is very easy to start. But in order to be really successful, you must have the correct strategy and methods. This is important as it will ensure that you will not waste any time and you will be able to achieve your goal faster. The first important things that you must know is where are you going to find affiliate programs. There are 3 ways which you will be able to find affiliate programs.

The 1st way is Affiliate Programs Directories. It is basically a website which will list all the different kinds of affiliate programs which are available. You will be able to find the kind of products that you want to promote in the directories. You can go to associateprograms and affiliatefirst to find affiliate programs.

The 2nd way which you can use is through the natural search engine results. What you will do here is to go to any search engines; you will look for affiliate programs which are in your niche. For example, you are in the lose fat niche. You will key in “Lose Fat Affiliate Programs” in the search engine and you will be able to find a list of results which shows affiliate programs which are related to your niche.

You can go to google, yahoo and msn to search for affiliate programs that is related to your niche.

The 3rd way is through Pay Per Click Advertisements. When you go to the google search engine and you find that there are people putting ads on that particular niche, it shows that there are markets for it and you can try to search and see whether is there any affiliate programs that you can join. Lets use the lose fats example again. You will key in lose fat on the search engine and it will come out a list of results and the sponsored ads on your right. You will click on one of the ads and search on the website to see whether any affiliate programs is available for you to join or not. You can go to google to find.

So these are the 3 different ways which you can use to find affiliate programs. It is important that you know different ways to find affiliate programs so that you can make better decisions on which affiliate programs suits you best. I hope that you will find it useful and wish you all the best to your affiliate marketing business.

Zack Lim is an up and coming affiliate marketer who owns http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com He recommends all potential affiliates to find a way to make money while they learn. After all, there’s no better way to measure results by cold hard cash! If you’re ready to finance your affiliate education and get FREE “7 Days To Affiliate Marketing” Course, Zack recommends visiting:
http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com

The pictures that shocked the world will still be in many people’s minds when the name Abu Ghraib is forgotten. The scenes of Iraqi prisoners and their American custodians made front pages and prime time everywhere. The sense of disgust was universal, but apart from this there was a varied spectrum of reactions. There were the politico-military questions. How on earth could this happen? Were the perpetrators just a few bad apples? How far up the chain of command did it go? There was the socio-political question: to what extent can this type of thing be justified? And there was the plain, ‘normal citizen’ question: how on earth can human beings do this to one another?

Now the blame has gone in several directions, the buck has stopped somewhere, so we are told, and the whole thing will soon more or less evaporate into history. American writer Gore Vidal reacted to the events of 9/11 with a sharp, cynical and otherwise politically incorrect comment: “It will be all over by the Christmas sales.” It didn’t quite happen like that, but he wanted to make the point of just how fragile our collective memory is. The Abu Ghraib saga, I suspect, will be contained one way or another, and soon consigned to the black book of black history. Period.

Among the thousands of articles and references relating to Abu Ghraib there was an unpretentious, not terribly prominent and matter-of-fact column published in ‘The New York Times’, which revealed that - at least for a tiny sector of the population - these events were no surprise whatsoever. Anybody with a degree in Social Psychology would have said: “Aha! This is Milgram and Zimbardo revisited.” These were the authors of some old psychological experiments that have since been repeated several times. The article mentioned the studies and sought the opinion of people who had taken part.

I referred to Stanley Milgram in a previous article (‘It’s the system, not me’, May 2004). In
a nutshell, it involved the citizens of the US town of New Haven who had volunteered to take part in an experiment on the effects of punishment on learning. They played the role of teacher, reciting words that the learners had to repeat correctly or receive an electric shock. The intensity of the shock rose with each mistake, and the learners screamed with each increase, eventually pleading with the teachers to stop. But the psychologist directing the experiment encouraged the teachers to continue regardless. Some refused and some carried on to the maximum voltage, which was labeled ‘dangerous’. The proportion of people who continued administering the voltage was between 50% and 65%. Interestingly, laughter was sometimes the teacher’s first reaction when hearing the learner’s initial discomfort. The catch, as students know and readers of this column will remember, was that the learners were actors.

In a second study, the Zimbardo experiments, a prison was recreated in the basement of Stanford University with cells, offices, corridors, lights and other paraphernalia. A group of students was invited to participate in a study of role playing. The group was split into guards and detainees. Full use was made of the appropriate gear for the guards and the detainees and both halves took their role seriously. The guards gave more and more orders, and shouted more and more, as their behavior reached abuse levels. The detainees were submitted to this and ‘typical jail punishments’, such as workouts. The atmosphere became progressively more tense, until some of the detainees protested. “Hey, guys, come on, this is just a game, an experiment, time out!” But the guards reacted more strongly still. More workouts, more punishment. Fiction became reality, and reality was hard. It was so hard that the experiment had to be stopped after a couple of days – one week before it was due to finish because somebody was going to be killed and others seriously wounded.

Social Psychology studies such topics – often labeled issues of obedience, conformity, authority, attribution and so on. Just for the record, we are not talking here about how these issues relate to psychopaths or deviants, but to normal people. This is the scary part. In theory, any of us could behave in the same way. Lecturers in Social Psychology would invariably ask their classes to guess the percentage of people who would ‘obey’. Invariably, the class would be optimistic and predict a low proportion. The students were also asked whether they would do the same in similar circumstances and, guess what, they consistently said ‘not me’. I’m a bit ashamed of my old profession in this respect. Psychiatrists as a group usually put the figure on the low side. With regard to this, a friend of mine consoled me with the explanation that “because you can cope with so much misery, you must be more optimistic than others”. Maybe.

So give people roles (and titles) and uniforms (cloth or mental ones) and be ready for the unpredictable. Roles and uniforms allow us to exercise power in a legitimized way, under a given authority, be it the boss, the chain of command or the system. Like Zimbardo’s students or the citizens in Milgram’s experiment, we may take it very seriously. Roles and uniforms are powerful creators of new persona. Once we get them we are ready for a daily Greek tragedy and a chameleon-like transformation into a caring manager, a despot, a Samaritan, a sadist, a teacher, a learner, a benign King, a foot soldier, a general, a preacher, a follower, a mentor, a smiling Buddhist monk or an arms dealer. If the Social Sciences teach us anything, it is about our incredible plasticity, which we are always more ready to attribute to others than to ourselves. And this fantastic capacity is precisely the good/bad news to consider. Bad news à la Iraq, good news à la all the possible good that roles and uniforms could provide in daily life. And since most of our daily life is spent at work, all the above applies to management and leadership. The problem is that management science has developed thick membranes, as if it needed to protect itself from intrusions by Psychology, Sociology and the other Sciences de l’Homme. Milgram and Zimbardo are not taught in business schools, but I can’t think of a better starting point to discuss leadership.

Back to the news. Another article I read was cynical about the ‘new’ Iraqi police. The occupying forces had finally realized there was no option but to bring back the old police force and the military that had been disbanded. The columnist joked about “seeing the old mustaches and the old faces back” and could not understand how we should expect new behavior from them. Most people would sympathize with this point of view but the tiny minority that belongs to the Social Psychology tribe would have no problem accepting it. If the context changes (and, indeed, it has) this police force may surprise people with its ability to comply with the new regime. A change of uniform and context may create some good, even with the old mustaches. Similarly, providing a positive context in organizations (this is the leader’s function) makes roles and uniforms constructive. The same roles – managers, directors, project leaders, heads of HR and vice-presidents – in a negative context create havoc.

The key is the existence or absence of agreement on non-negotiable behaviors, hopefully, but not necessarily, linked to a value system. These non-negotiable behaviors were probably absent in Abu Ghraib, or everything there was possible and negotiable in a contingent way – that is, depending on what needs to be achieved; for example, weakness in the detainees.

Contingent management
Contingent approaches in management and leadership are wonderfully convenient and deeply dangerous, not something that traditional business education is prepared to accept. My unofficial father of contingent leadership is Jack Welch, ex-CEO of General Electric, who could go from nasty to caring (admittedly mostly the former) “depending on what was needed”, as he himself confessed more than once.

My belief is that the most dangerous management statement of all is ‘it depends’ – but you may think that I am too radical. After all, what’s wrong with adapting to situations and moderating behavior according to the objectives? Milgram, Zimbardo, and my own clinical psychiatry work taught me a long time ago that it is precisely our plasticity that, when married to ‘it depends’, generates a recipe for disaster. That’s why I prefer the concept of solid non-negotiable rules in management, even if I disagree with them in particular, rather than the loose, relativist, contingent, it-depends management that scares me more than Milgram’s fake shock machines. The problem is not with the mustaches but with what they are allowed to do when they play guards or detainees, teachers or learners, leaders or followers.

Dr Leandro Herrero practiced as a psychiatrist for more than fifteen years before taking up senior management positions in several pharmaceutical companies, both in the UK and the US. He is co-founder and CEO of The Chalfont Project Ltd, an international firm of organizational consultants. Taking advantage of his behavioral sciences background - coupled with his hands-on business experience - he works with organizations of many kinds on structural and behavioral change, leadership and human collaboration. He has published several books, among which The Leader with Seven Faces and Viral Change, both published by meetingminds.

http://www.meetingminds.com - http://www.thechalfontproject.com

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Michael Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc. Find Massage Therapy Schools in Oklahoma and other states, such as Pennsylvania Massage Therapy Schools, at SchoolsGalore.com, your educational resource to locate schools.