But despite its success, financial and otherwise, the Forum has been dogged by claims that it comes close to being a cult. And the primary root of such allegations is the large number of people who work for Landmark unpaid. Landmark has only 400 paid employees. Social scientists familiar with the Forum agree that the program itself is not a cult. But whether the training gets people so hooked on the experience as to make them dependent on the Landmark company and thus engage in cultlike behavior is an open question for some.
Volunteers say they are free to leave whenever they choose.
They say they like to staff Forum workshops to help others and because of the good that they continue to get out of the program. Jim Goodman, a lawyer who works as general counsel for a large company in Philadelphia, was one of perhaps 20 volunteers at a recent Forum workshop.