What all these occupations have in common, however, is that they're influence professions. Many cult leaders learned the tricks of the trade in a previous career. Some have run afoul of the law. Unlike most established religions which employ a broad power structure with checks and balances, cults often have a pyramid structure, with one leader at the top demanding complete subservience from subordinates. Destructive commercial cults are often characterized by a similar pyramid structure with those at the top profiting from the work of those below.
Many cults use respectable sounding organizations as fronts.
They are all fronts for cults. The Freedom Leadership Foundation and the International Cultural Foundation are owned by the Unification Church, while Narcanon is run by the Church of Scientology. Even more ominous is the Church of Scientology's recent acquisition of the Cult Awareness Network, previously a clearinghouse for crucial information about destructive cults. This will work frequently, but not always. Some cults instruct their members to immediately deny a recruitment attempt.