August Newsletter

MRW© Caracas 2006!

MRW© Caracas 2006

Reunion 19 years later!

MRW© Caracas Reunion

The first ever Men Relationships and Work© outside the US was done these amazing men in Venezuela 19 years ago. Last week we got together for an reconnect conversation. Their ability to recall what we did and share how they have applied those learnings throughout the years was amazing.. Thanks to Jill Boughton, Arturo Blanco and Susan for making it happen 19 years ago. Props to Ernesto Guillermo for getting the group back together for a great Reunion! Calls came in from 7 countries. One of the greatest experiences of my career has been working with these men! John V V

In this Issue:

-Very special new Course with Susan Van Vleet!


-Article: "The 5 scariest pages I have ever read!"


-Self Esteem Zoom session Sept 4, 2025


-Productive Realtionships© Aug 19-21 in CA.


-New remote Managing Corporate Change© Nov.

A very special new course with Susan in a small group setting on the East Coast:

What Will I Do When I Grow Up?

Time to take a serious look at what you want out of your career?


Is it time to assess if you are in the right job/career path?


Have you been feeling a disconnect between you and your current organization or field?


Getting harder to stay on Purpose in your current role?


Take advantage of this rare opportunity to be with Susan in a small group setting and on the East Coast!


October 16, 2025


Course fee $2,975.


EARLY Registration price till August 18th $1,975


 

One of the biggest concerns coming out of Productive Relationships© and EPTR© is "How do I keep it going?"


Here it is PR©/EPTR© Grad School taking a deep dive into the most crucial issues in today's world:


Next up:


SELF ESTEEM! Integrating your successes into your self esteem. Most of us live in a world of judgement calls. One of the keys to success today is feeling confident. So much of our upbringing keeps us from accepting all of what we have accomplished! This session will give you a direct way to keep current with all you have achieved.


September 4, 2025 9:00 AM-Noon Pacific Time

Cost $195/person

Only 12 slots total


Other possible topics:

-Resolving Betrayals

-Giftedness all that comes with being smart good and bad.


Let us know if you have a suggestion for others.



Productive Relationships©

Aug 19-21 2025

Westlake Village, CA

$4,250 USD




Managing Corporate Change© Via Zoom.

Dates Nov 3, 5, 7, 10, 2025.


Course fee $4,250


Only 6 slots available

 

Advanced Men's Course©

October 21-23, 2025


Catch up day Via Zoom


$5,500


Ojai, California


Photos of AMC© 24 by Triffen Constantine

Randy AMC 24

Women's Leadership Retreat®

Section 1


WLR© Section 1

Nov 4-6, 2025

Ojai Ca

$4,950 USD

2025 Courses All Public

Workshop Schedule




Productive Realtionships©

August 19-21, 2025

Westlake Village, CA

$4,250


Self Esteem Session via Zoom

September 4, 2025 9:00 AM-Noon Pacific

$195



What will I do when I grow up?

October 16, 2025

Hyatt Hotel Princeton NJ

$2,975

Early Registration till August 18, 2025 $1,975


Advanced Men's Course©

October 21-23, 2025

Ojai, CA

$5,500


Women's Leadership Retreat® Section 1

Nov 4-6, 2025

Ojai CA 1 Space open


Managing Corporate Change© Remote via Zoom

Nov 3, 5, 7, 10 2025

$4,250


Women's Leadership Retreat®

April 14-16, 2026

$4,950 4 Spaces open


Women's Leadership Retreat®

Nov 10-12, 2026

Oxnard CA

$4,950

 
The 5 Scariest Pages I’ve Ever Read.
Remember when your phone eavesdropping on your conversations and instantly sending you ads for one of the words you spoke when even when your phone was off, was a freakout?  That now rates a “humorous coincidence” compared to the 5 pages I just read in The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt!
The information is extremely disturbing on several levels.
1.        Facebook, Instagram and the like have been hijacking adolescent female brains, since 2012. Combining Neuroscience and Psychology with relatively unrelated cultural phenomenon they have caused a skyrocketing raise in depression and anxiety like the world as never seen before.  This is happening throughout the Anglo speaking world and most anywhere iPhones and social media are available. 
2.        They knew what they were doing it as secret documents hustled out of Facebook revealed.  In fact, a course taught at Stanford that the founder of Instagram attended taught people how to do it.  Now on the day Mike Kieger ( founder of the “Gram”) learned how to manipulate the human brain you might give him a pass not knowing the devastating long-term effects these techniques are now known to have.  But not now.  The data is in books that have been written and hard science has proven the case. And yet they continue the carnage  And they clearly don’t care.
3.        The dopamine drip from likes, cruel attacks and comments on social media has  created a “phone based childhood” rather than the play based childhood that most of us grew up in.  “Strager Danger” paranoia of the 90’svand early 2000’s had children no longer playing outside with little to no adult supervision. This where you had learned the skills of risk taking and what it takes to be a friend and part of a friend group.
4.        Superficial on-line “relationships” do not teach these skills and have left teens starved for satisfying connection that cannot be fulfilled by social media. Parents worried about the perverts at the park but totally unaware that the predators have long moved to the wild west of social media where is it almost effortless to connect groom and destroy lives.
5.        Most of us can relate the potato chip phenomenon characterized by the ad campaign for Lays “betcha can’t eat just one”.  The dopamine drip you get from one potato chip actually creates a craving for more NOT satisfaction.  It makes you want more, more, more.  Imagine harnessing the that mind trick with 13 year old girls who are starved to find a tribe with brains where executive function is only 80% developed.  They are driven by emotion not logic and reason as most of us are aware but when combined with very savvy talented programmers who are ruthless to keep them on-line to sell them whatever the witches brew is complete. Collateral damage of ruined lives not their problem.
6.        Gen Z is so screwed for a couple of reasons that the vast majority of parents are totally oblivious to.  Boys are affected by all this too, and through all the things that Richard Reeves wrote about in Of Boys and Men (last year’s read for AMC© 24) plus video games and phone based childhood that has led to fragile, fearful and failing cohort of young men.
7.        I cannot scare you enough in an email but if you trust me at all get The Anxious Generation book.  If you have an inkling of the power of this addiction and what it is doing to an entire generation, please do consider coming to the Advanced Men’s Course© for 2025 in Ojai CA October 21-23.  We will be looking at Addiction through the lens of social media first but we will be addressing it from the point of view of drugs, alcohol, porn and on-line gambling.
The young people of this cohort are at the oldest 25.  I f you hope to lead the next generation you must understand the world that they grew up in that is so foreign to our histories. 
For those of you already committed to attending get started on this required reading for AMC© 25.
As always, we invite your comments.


 



Susan Van Vleet Consultants, Inc.®
An International Consulting Company
692 Camino Verde 
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, USA
PHONE (303) 660-5206
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