Michael Braun's Blog

As we continue our series, What Is A Cult?, we move on through the chapter on becoming a cult leader, from Anthony Pratkanis’ and Elliot Aronson’s book “Age of Propaganda”. After describing, in general terms, what is a cult, Pratkanis and Aronson go on to give step-by-step instruction for how to create a cult. In this post, I cover steps 4 to 7 (see the first three in part 2).

From the book:
[Step] 4. Establish the leader’s credibility and attractiveness. [...] Cults require members to engage in extreme behavior [...]. We are more likely to comply with extreme requests if common means for reducing our dissonance are not available (e.g., derogating the requester) and we can rationalize out extreme actions.

Examples from work: The head of the company is constantly revered. Despite her claims otherwise, the entire company is centralized around her. She is the head speaker at monthly staff meetings. She also presides over the yearly Users’ Group Meeting “General Session” despite the fact that she is not a good speaker. She explained this by saying that customers would be disappointed if she was not there. And while she has time for a lot of speaking, including leading the class on “corporate philosophy”, she explains her lack of appearances in public and with the media as because she is too busy to give an interview. This creates the impression that she, and all upper level people, are working hard constantly; the employee better do the same. Yet she also has time to respond to the tiniest administrative detail (including sending out emails on improving grammar). Busy or not, her image is carefully crafted as the all-powerful leader of the company.

From the book:
[Step] 5. Send members out to proselytize the unredeemed and to fund-raise for the cult. [...] Proselytizing can ensure that members are constantly engaged in self-sell, or self-generated persuasion. [...] In defending their beliefs, cult members learn to refute a wide range or attacks, thus inoculating themselves against attack and thereby maintaining belief in the cult [...].

Examples from work: Little actual recruitment takes place by newly admitted employees. But employees who find themselves less busy will be engaged performing “phone screens” – initial interviews with applicants. While these phone screens seldom end with the applicant not being brought in for a second interview, they do serve an important purpose for the employee. The main point of the screen is to get the applicant excited about the job. The employee thus must talk up the company, helping to convince him or herself that the job actually is good (despite what they may have been feeling before). These calls are scheduled without consultation with the employee, who is also told to not turn them down if at all possible.

Despite claims that the company receives thousands of applications a year, people in the company still troll job websites (like Monster.com) looking for people to recruit, as well as current employees who might be looking for work elsewhere. (These employees are immediately contacted and questioned about their search for a different job). This encourages positive feelings about the company and discourages current employees from looking for employment elsewhere.

Furthermore, in encouraging employees to see all the negative things people say about the company, and then think of positive responses, the company enhances employees’ defense mechanisms. “Of course he would call the company a cult,” thinks the indoctrinated employee. “He just couldn’t cut it.”

The last two steps provide the fewest examples (both in the book and from my own work experience).

From the book:
[Step] 6. Distract members from thinking “undesirable” thoughts. Most cult doctrines are hard to take seriously, much less accept. [...] Once the recruit has accepted the cult, the task becomes one of preventing further close scrutiny and thought about the merits of membership.

Examples from work: I don’t have a litany of examples for this step. But, for the class on “corporate philosophy”, it was recommended that employees take it after having been with the company for a year. I took it after just a month. In the class, I found all points laughable and struggled to maintain a straight face. Others whom I asked about the class found it enlightening and helpful. Is it possible they had bought into the company’s ideas more than I had, as they had been with the company longer?

From the book:
[Step] 7. Fixate members’ vision on a phantom. The successful cult leader is always dangling a notion of the promised land and a vision of a better world before the faithful.

Examples from work: The company is currently undergoing a large expansion, both in terms of the number of employees and in terms of building. Once this new “campus” is complete, all employees will be able to have their own offices and the company will be all together in one site, so company leaders claim. Meanwhile, the employees who get the existing offices are those who do administrative tasks, those who recruit new employees, and those who work on the company’s flagship applications. For employees who work on less glamorous software (including those who work on code that makes the whole suite of applications function) are kept in remote locations and told of the wonders that await them if they just stay with the company for a few more years.

Furthermore, the company continually recognizes those employees who have stayed with the company for a long time. This recognition could be a round of applause, or it could be a paid vacation (that must be approved by the CEO). No word on how many of these paid vacations get approved and how many are quietly denied. Instead, employees are made to visualize how great things will become soon, if they just keep believing (and working harder and harder). Better that than to have them focus on how discontent they are with their current positions.

For additional reading, take note of the comment on “What Is A Cult?, Part 2.” The commenter makes a valuable distinction between corporate culture and cults; I’ll comment more on this in Part 4.