Date : October, 01 , 2009 Publication : Finweek - English Edition Page Number: 44-45
ENGLISH EDITION 1 OCTOBER 2009
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Date : October, 01 , 2009 Publication : Finweek - English Edition Page Number: 44-45
9 PEOPLE ENTREPRENEUR: JOHN DEMARTINI
The Demartini method Human vulnerability may be a massive problem but it's also big business IMAGINE A WORLD of profound vulnerability. It's easy if you try. After al! the glut of humanity almost daily straddles the fine line between optimism and pessimism. Now try to imagine the scale of opportunity if lifting human spirits is your forte. It's potentially big business. That's essentially what John Demartini has tapped into. It's a massive market, to be sure, and Demartini has wasted no time scouring the scars of human frailty. So is it any wonder he's graced our shores more times than one? He's here again - this time to pep up our demoralised police force. To be precise, it's the third time and the police presence has almost doubled to around 1 000 for his latest talk, entitled "The hero within". He adds: "It's free of charge." That's noble of him. But is Demartini just another charlatan masquerading as a shrink? Or is he, as he puts it, a "teacher" of life skills? Demartini's visceral response is to rail what's popularly known as "motivational speaking". Instead, he assures his method isn't to motivate but to inspire. In the same breath, that sentiment turns on itself. "Everybody could use a rally at times, just to regroup and refocus and get the thing moving again," he says.
Age: 54 Marital status: Single. Currently has a girlfriend his colleagues say he rarely sees, given his demanding schedule. Children: Two girls and one boy, aged between 18 and 24. Qualifications: BSc from the University of Houston. In 1982 Demartini graduated top of his class (magna cum laude) for chiropractic at the Texas Chiropractic College. Near death experience in 1971: At the time, the 17-year-old almost died of strychnine poisoning. 2006: Opened the Demartini Institute in Johannesburg, a private research and education facility. Two years later Demartini started donating his time to inspiring the SA Police Service in a bid to boost the morale of law enforcement officers.
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Date : October, 01 , 2009 Publication : Finweek - English Edition Page Number: 44-45
PEOPLE However, Demartini is emphatic. By his own admission his contribution to humanity is to teach people how to take whatever happens in their lives and use that to their advantage. Curiously, that's a notion that holds little water for cynics but a bucket load for Demartini. Born in the United States, Demartini's formative years are a story of extremes, trials and tribulations. He dropped out of high school at age 14 and journeyed to Hawaii, where he hoped a Bohemian life would bring solace. But four years of odd jobs and homelessness was enough to convince him there was something more to life. He recalls a normal day on the beach when he had what he calls an epiphany: life was elsewhere - beyond the tropical climes of Hawaii and the routine passage of time between surfing and sleeping. So aged 17 he left Hawaii and its seductive culture - of surfing and whiling his days away under bridges and in public bathrooms - for the US, where he taught himself to read and write. Diagnosed with dyslexia, that was no mean feat. The then 18-year-old registered for a BSc degree at the University of Houston and graduated in 1978. Now Demartini plies his trade in more than 56 countries, including SA - debatably the world's hot bed for violent crime and trauma. Ever the optimist, he says signs of change in the political and social landscape of SA abound. "When I first came here doing 'The Breakthrough Experience', the apartheid, political and economic issues were huge. We hardly bring it up now. People aren't even talking about that: they're talking about what they want to do with their lives." Yet things aren't quite so rosy for ordinary folk, who almost daily do battle with violent crime and a legacy of racism. It may well be that Demartini's onerous schedule allows him only fleeting engagements with his audiences. Nonetheless, he can claim successes. For one thing, the SA Police Service seems happy with the noticeable uptick in cops' morale since the launch of "The hero within" initiative last year. It's certainly something to which Commissioner
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Oswald Reddy attests. "We want a police service that's inspired and who can't wait to get up in the morning. That's our goal." Make no mistake, it isn't all philanthropy. Demartini's "Breakthrough experience" normally fetches up to R7 000/ ticket. It's a proverbial cash cow - an experience that sees Demartini addressing live cases en masse. The sheer magnitude is a puncture point: thousands of people gathered in a single venue ostensibly find answers in a relatively short time from the counsel of one man. Sound sensible? Fact is, such reasoning brings to mind the old notion of brainwashing. Of course, Demartini quickly refutes any such assertion. "It's not making anything up," he retorts. He claims to routinely speak, consult and impart his "science" to individuals by the hundreds (and even thousands) quite effectively. It's a process he professes can transform people's lives within hours, even minutes. Yet the scale of such events must surely raise myriad questions: about the efficacy of mass psychology; about the distance between counsellor and patient; about diverse cultures and personalities; and about a generic toolkit that may not necessarily touch each person in the same way. So it comes as no surprise that Demartini has had psychiatrists and psychologists up in arms over his methods. To which he responds: "You're not doing your job if you can't get the issue dissolved in hours." Adding: "I'm not interested in motivating; I'm not doing motivational rallies." But critics who profess to see through the likes of Demartini argue that to assert that "gratitude" (as Demartini argues) can be found in any tragic experience is fallible. Last year Suzie Hammond posted the following comment on Business Week's website: "How does this man (Demartini) have the audacity to stand up and make a joke about a woman being gang-raped by 100 men and then tell us she found a way to be grateful for it? "(It was an) audience full of 'planted'
SNAPSHOT What motivates you? Researching, writing, teaching and travelling. Those are the four things I love doing and do best. What would you be doing if you weren't teaching people about the Demartini Method? This is what I do. When I was 17 I had a vision of travelling the world and researching human behaviour and anything to do with personal development, health and mind power. What, if anything, do you fear? I find fear in the logistics about aircraft flights and deadlines. I got stressed writing The Appearance (a book) the other day. What do you aspire to have? I want a team that tackles world events. What do you do in your spare time? I'd rather do this (inspire and teach) than anything else, but I did surf in May, briefly.
spectators; not my most enjoyable evening." Demartini says she (the rape victim) reached a level of "gratitude" after only four hours of consultation. He admits "it's hard to comprehend" he managed to "dissolve" her issue in a few hours. "I haven't seen anything we haven't been able to transform by knowing how to ask the right questions," claims Demartini. He's steadfast in his determination to disprove his antagonists, imploring them to attend and participate in one of his 'Breakthrough' sessions. "I don't care if you're a sceptic - sceptics are absolutely nothing to me," he says dismissively. So where to from here? Demartini aims to take his recipe to New York City's police departments, where he says he can make a major difference, especially in its posttraumatic stress unit. But that doesn't mean he's done with SA. He says his next task is to tackle our lacklustre education system. "I'm absolutely certain that what we can do with teachers is solid. This is no hokey bullshit," says Demartini. No doubt the commercial spinoffs either directly or from the publicity of such an event - will be gratifying. JAMES MONTEIRO
jamcsm@fin24.com