• March 27, 2012

    An anonymous contributor writes:

    [Esalen HR Director] Scott Stillinger is indeed a vacant smiling presence and yes, terrifying to many of us who graced the power of the land and spirit of Esalen, and his entire bloated department moves through the property like an amoeba. Now the Director of Guest Services has taken charge of individual departments’ personnel choices. Causing managers to be unable to staff their own departments is one of the largest mistakes she has made. I pray for intervention to come swiftly.

    In addition, I send up prayers for the service of one generous, dedicated, hard working [Office Manager] Kathleen. Without Kathleen many seminarians would not be recognized for their loyalty and in her quiet way she does so much for so many, guests and staff alike. The main office would be lost without her, and now unfortunately the Office is short on staff, and I fear that guests will be agitated having to wait on the phone and at the front desk.

    Please send your energy into Directors seeing the light. When a system is not broken, as Esalen was not broken, it does not need to be completely changed! The tried and true method of sending up work scholars, into extended students, into staff, really does assure that the power and spirit of Esalen continues.

    Whether Esalen has been “broken” or not from a business standpoint, the growing consensus seems to be that naive outsiders in powerful management roles are derailing the Institute. With the Esalen community so overwhelmingly unhappy with Scott Stillinger, why does he not resign?