March Newsletter
CC 2018
CC 2108
Couples Course©
January 25-27,
2019
Catch up day Jan. 24
Spectacular results again this year at the Couple Course©!

Here are the Photos from the 2018 Course.

Don't be left out of the picture next year!

Join us in Paradise on the Big Island where we have found renewal and enrichment for 35 years.



Cost per couple $3,000

3 of 6 Slots
for 2019
already
filled!

"Thanks for ALL you did and continue to do for us and so many people. We are so grateful to have been here with you both and the other couples. Some who will be lifelong friends."
2018 Public Workshop Schedule    

2018
Advanced Women Moving Forward®
March 20-21, 2018
Princeton, New Jersey $2,750

Leading Projects through Relationship, Commitment and Purpose©
April 16-20, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $5,000

Managing Corporate Change©
May 22-24, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $3,750

Women's Leadership Retreat®
May 1-3, 2018  Catch up day April 30
Ojai, CA        $4,950 FULL

Men, Relationships and Work©
June 5-7, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $3,750

Advanced Women Moving Forward®
June 13-14, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $2,750

Enabling Purpose through Relationships©
July 30-August 1, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $3,750

Women Moving Forward®
August 10-12, 2018
Westlake, Village, CA $3,750

Leading Projects through Relationship, Commitment and Purpose©
September 24-28, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $5,000

Women Moving Forward®
October 10-12, 2018
Westlake Village CA $3,750

Advanced Men's Course©
October 23-25, 2018 Catch Up Day Oct, 22
Ojai CA $4,950 2017 Returnees $4,175

Advanced Women Moving Forward®
November 8-9, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $2,750

Managing Corporate Change©
November 13-15, 2018
Westlake Village, CA $3,750

Enabling Purpose through Relationships©
December 11-13, 2018
Westlake Village CA $3,750

2019

Couples Course© 2019
January 25-27, 2019 Catch up day January 24
Price per couple $2,750
Big Island of Hawaii

Women's Leadership Retreat®
April 30-May 2, 2019 Catch up day April 29
$4,950
Location TBD
Born on Third, Thought I Hit a Triple...
 I have used this phrase to describe people born to wealth, on occasion. Of late I have realized that it applies to me as well but rather than wealth for me is white privilege that landed me on third. Who better to talk about White Privilege than someone who has benefited from it his entire life? It has taken me a long time to get the tiny glimpse I now have, on the great good fortune of being born white and male in the USA in 1948. I was born to middle class parents who expected I would go to college from day one. So that is what they expected to me every moment. My sister on the other hand, just a few years older, had no such support.
 
It’s not that I haven’t worked hard because I have. Its not as though I don’t have some unique talents, because I do. But I only had to get from third base to home plate. I didn’t have to fight to get into the game. I didn’t have to protect my physical being every moment of every day and use valuable energy on that. I didn’t have to fight through being dismissed because of the body I was born in or the color of my skin.
 
I didn’t have to overcome sexual abuse like 60% of the women in this country and discrimination and harassment like all women endure everywhere. I grew up on a place where I was physically safe. My life was never threatened. I never had to want for food or shelter EVER. I have never endured my ideas being ritually dismissed in meetings only to watch a person with the opposite plumbing say the same thing and be treated like a genius.
 
Sheryl Sanberg (of Lean In fame) recently said men are now fearful because they are worried their words or actions may now offend and they will be called out for it. So she recommended backing off. She’s worried there will be a backlash? Seriously Sheryl? We need to talk about how change really happens. Men are scared? I say “good” they are awake. Since when did the privileged class change when they weren’t afraid? Sheryl notice, how few of the revolutions were started by the kings! Most company’s efforts to “include women and minorities” were driven by lawsuits not altruism. Fear, Sheryl, is a good thing; use it.
 
OK men now lets look at the future and which way the wind is blowing.
 
I am not talking about this moment in time but the trend lines for where we are headed. A few pertinent facts out of “ The End of Men the Rise of Women” by Hanna Rosin:
 
            -Women receive almost 60% of the Bachelors degrees in the US.
           -Women now receive 45.9% of all science and engineering degrees
compared to 23% 40 years ago.
           -Women receive 60% of all Masters Degrees.
           -Half of all Law and Medical degrees.
           -In 2009 women received more PhD’s than men for the first time in
history.
           -Worldwide the trend is the same in 27 of the 34 industrial
          democracies women earn more degrees than men.
           -This is now the general trend every where except Africa
(even true in Saudi Arabia)
 
College is the gateway to the middle and upper classes and more importantly the escape from dead end low paying jobs. Men are also dropping out of college and giving up on advanced learning, more every year.
 
Beyond college, women are more suited to the rapid change, team oriented world of today. People skills, cooperation vs. competitiveness are more and more the keys to success. The days of the mad scientist loner figuring it our on his own are rapidly evaporating. Just like the brute force has been replaced by robotics in the world of manufacturing. The traditional male advantages are disappearing and, men are not adapting to the shifting trends well. 
 
Women are giving up on marriage because; men are not worth the trouble. I have watched two huge companies choose the man of lesser talents to be CEO over the more talented women and the companies have paid dearly for it. Men we need to, at a minimum have some humility for the privilege we have been born to and quit bragging about how fast we got from third to home plate. Corporations need to win the war for talent by winning the war for women and or minorities. Not just in hiring, but in the way we think. It’s only your future viability at stake.
 
I dedicate this article to my wife who has endured way too much for a genius who only wants to share her gifts with the world.  Happy International Day of the Women, Susan.
 
As always we invite your comments.
Men Relationships and Work©
The expectation on today’s professionals has changed drastically in recent years.  Although the numbers of men and women in R&D, Engineering, Sales, Supply Chain and IT are becoming more evenly split, management is still predominately male. Men and women have distinctive ways of thinking and working. The ability for men to be attuned to these differences especially in organizations that still think and manage, in very traditional male ways, is difficult. Unacceptable employee satisfaction scores and unacceptable retention rates of women vs. those of men is an indicator of a systemic problem that must be addressed. 
Men,
Relationships and work©
Returns!
June
5-7, 2018
Westlake Village, CA
Advanced Men's Course©
The theme for this year's AMC© will be "Our Relationships and Responsibilities to Women" Time to re-thinking our responsibilities to support women today at home and at work in the
post-Weinstein world.

Dates: October 23-25, 2018
Catch up day October 22.
Location: Ojai, California
Course Fee 2017 Returnees
$4,750 Newbies $4,950


Susan Van Vleet Consultants, Inc.®
An International Consulting Company
31416 Agoura Rd. Suite 255, 
Westlake Village, CA 91360, USA
PHONE (303) 660-5206