Don Pearson is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Inductive Automation, a supplier of web-based industrial automation software based in Folsom, California.
He was formerly a
management consultant
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
and executive for the
Folsom, California
Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 72,203 residents at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census.
History
The Nisenan tribe of Ind ...
publishing company,
e.Republic. Pearson is perhaps best known for his role in training
Allstate Insurance Company managers and salesmen in the tenets of
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscie ...
's 'management by statistics' during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pearson also set up a political action committee called the
Association of Citizens for Social Reform, the aim of which was to eliminate public support for mental health programs not approved of by
Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...
.
e.Republic
Together with fellow
Scientologists
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially developed a set of pseudoscientif ...
Dennis McKenna, Pearson operates
e.Republic, a
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
and event management enterprise primarily serving the government
information technology
Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
market, including ''
Government Technology
''Government Technology'' magazine is the flagship periodical of Folsom, California-based publishing company e.Republic Incorporated. The magazine contains editorial content about information technology in the public-sector
The public se ...
'', ''
Governing'', and ''Converge'' magazines, which McKenna founded in 1983. Another e.Republic offshoot, the
Center for Digital Government, provides research and consulting to state and local governments. e.Republic relies heavily on
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored the pseudoscie ...
's writing as part of its employee training process.
Management by Statistics
Before joining e.Republic, Pearson worked as a management consultant in the
Sacramento
Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
area. His primary client was
Allstate Insurance
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois (with a Northbrook, Illinois address) since 2022. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still part ...
, for whom Pearson taught Hubbard's 'management by statistics'. The training fostered the idea that workers who had low statistics should be penalized for low productivity, or for crossing a favored employee with 'up-statistics'. Some Allstate managers took such ideas too far, resulting in charges of "management by intimidation."
Pearson also pushed other Hubbard books and tapes while a consultant to Allstate. After a lengthy February, 1995 front-page story ran in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', describing training that included use of Scientology's '
Tone scale', Allstate banned and repudiated the courses. According to the article, more than 3,500 Allstate supervisors and agents participated in nearly 200 seminars conducted by Pearson's firm. Some agents who worked under managers who took the training courses eventually filed religious-discrimination and harassment charges with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...
.
See also
*
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...
References
External links
OurSites.org- 'About Myself', Don Pearson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Don
American management consultants
American Scientologists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Folsom, California