Werner Erhard
Encyclopedia
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations. He is currently writing about integrity, performance and leadership and has lectured at (among others) Harvard, Yale, USC
, the University of Rochester
and Rotterdam School of Management
Erhard was first known for the "est Training
" (1971–1983) and the “Forum” (1984–1991), which were offered to the public through an organizational structure that included Erhard Seminars Training Inc. (1971–1975), est, an educational corporation (1975–1981), and Werner Erhard & Associates (WEA, 1981–1991). Erhard, along with John Denver
, Robert W. Fuller
, and others, founded The Hunger Project
in 1977.
In 1991, Erhard retired from business, sold his then-existing intellectual property to a group of his former employees (who formed Landmark Education
) and moved abroad.
He graduated from Norristown High School, Norristown, Pennsylvania
, in June 1953, along with his future wife Patricia Fry. Rosenberg married Fry on September 26, 1953 and they had four children together. In 1960, he left Fry and their children in Philadelphia, traveled to Indianapolis
with June Bryde and changed his name to Werner Hans Erhard. Rosenberg chose his new name from Esquire
magazine articles he read about then West German
economics minister Ludwig Erhard
and the philosopher and physicist Werner Heisenberg
. June Bryde changed her name to Ellen Virginia Erhard. The renamed Erhards moved to St. Louis
, where Erhard took a job as a car salesman. His wife and children were forced to rely on welfare and help from family and friends, and after five years without contact, Patricia Rosenberg divorced Erhard for desertion and remarried.
In 1961, Erhard sold correspondence courses in the Midwest, then California, and eventually moved to Spokane, Washington
. After a few months, he took a job with Encyclopædia Britannica
's "Great Books"
program and was soon promoted to area training manager. In January 1962, Erhard switched to the Parents Magazine Cultural Institute, a child development materials division of Parents Magazine. In the summer of 1962, he was promoted to the position of territorial manager for California, Nevada
, and Arizona
, and moved to San Francisco; and in the spring of 1963 to Los Angeles. In January 1964, Parents promoted Erhard and transferred him to Arlington, Virginia as a southeast manager. In August 1964, Erhard resigned his position in Arlington over a dispute with the company president and returned to his previous position in San Francisco.
The Erhards moved into an apartment in Sausalito
and had a second daughter, Adair, on December 27, 1964. In the next few years, Erhard brought on as staff at Parents many people who would become important in est
, including Elaine Cronin, Gonneke Spits and Laurel Scheaf. In 1967, Erhard was promoted to vice president.
by Napoleon Hill
(1937) and Psycho-Cybernetics
by Maxwell Maltz
(1960). When a member of his staff at Parents Magazine introduced him to the ideas of Abraham Maslow
and Carl Rogers
, both key figures in the human potential movement
, his interests became more focused on personal fulfillment rather than sales success. After his move to Sausalito, he attended talks by Alan Watts
, a notable Western interpreter of Zen Buddhism, who introduced him to the distinction between mind and self; Erhard subsequently became close friends with Watts. In William Bartley's biography, Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est (1978), Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging Zen as the essential contribution that "created the space for" est. Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with Alan Watts
in the mid 1960s and quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
Erhard attended the Dale Carnegie
course in 1967. He was sufficiently impressed with it to make his staff attend the course as well, and began to think about developing a course of his own. Over the following years, Erhard continued to investigate a wide range of other new religious and therapeutic movements, including Encounter
, Transactional Analysis
, Enlightenment Intensive
, Subud
and Scientology
. Erhard read L. Ron Hubbard
extensively, and Scientology ideas have influenced both est and The Forum. Erhard later said, "I have a lot of respect for L. Ron Hubbard and I consider him to be a genius and perhaps less acknowledged than he ought to be." William Bartley, in his biography of Werner Erhard, recounts that he asked Erhard to describe the differences between est and Scientology; Erhard replied:
In 1970, Erhard became involved in Mind Dynamics
. Founded by Alexander Everett
, Mind Dynamics seminars included teachings based on Rosicrucianism and Theosophy
, as well as the methods of Edgar Cayce
and José Silva
, founder of Silva Mind Control. Erhard subsequently trained as a Mind Dynamics instructor with Everett, and took over the San Francisco Mind Dynamics franchise, teaching classes in San Francisco and soon also Los Angeles. The two directors of Mind Dynamics (William Penn Patrick
and Alexander Everett
) eventually invited him into their partnership, but Erhard rejected the offer, saying he would rather develop his own seminar program – "est", which he announced on September 13, 1971, at his last Mind Dynamics course in San Francisco.
", short for Erhard Seminars Training, offered intensive communications and self-empowerment workshops. Their purpose was "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself." Participants at est workshops had to adhere to strict rules and were given designated breaks for bathroom visits and one meal break. They were not permitted to smoke, eat or drink during the workshop. Sessions lasted from 9:00 am to midnight or the early hours of the morning, with one meal break. Participants were frequently referred to as "estholes"; they had to hand over wristwatches and were not allowed to take notes, or to speak unless called upon, in which case they had to wait for a microphone to be brought to them. The second day of the workshop featured the "danger process". Groups of participants were brought onto the stage and confronted by est staff, trying to provoke a reaction; afterwards, participants were asked to "imagine that they were afraid of everyone else and then that everyone else was afraid of them." This was followed by lectures on the third and fourth days, covering topics such as reality and the nature of the mind, ending with the conclusion that "what is, is and what ain't, ain't," and that "true enlightenment is knowing you are a machine." Participants were told they were perfect the way they were and were asked to indicate by a show of hands if they "had gotten it".
While Erhard led all the early est courses himself, by the mid-1970s there were ten trainers trained by him. Once est proved to be successful, Erhard contacted his first wife and the children he had left behind; both his ex-wife Pat and his own younger siblings subsequently took jobs in the est organization. Further est centers opened in Los Angeles, Aspen
, Honolulu and New York, and est was enthusiastically endorsed by celebrities such as John Denver
and Valerie Harper
.
, Leonard Susskind
and Richard Feynman
.
— philosopher, senator
of Chile and businessman, and created a new program called "the Forum", which began in January 1985.
On February 1, 1991, some of the employees of Werner Erhard and Associates purchased its assets, licensed the right to use its intellectual property and assumed some of its liabilities, paying $3 million and committing to remitting up to $15 million over the following 18 years in licensing fees.
Shortly afterwards the new owners established Landmark Education
.
Presentations that evolved from the "Forum" continue to take place in major cities in the US and worldwide as the "Landmark Forum" under the auspices of Landmark Education
.
in an episode titled "Whatever Happened to Werner Erhard?" via satellite from Moscow, Russia on December 8, 1993. Erhard maintained a residence with Gonneke Spits in Georgetown, Cayman Islands.
He has worked in the area of peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland
with author Peter Block. He attended an event on May 11, 2004 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard University entitled "From Thought to Action: Growing Leaders in a Changing World". The event was in honor of a friend, Warren Bennis
, who had taken Erhard Seminars Training
and then consulted for Werner Erhard and Associates
.
In recent years Erhard has devoted his time to academic investigation, and presentations in writing and lectures of his ideas. In 2007, Werner Erhard presented a talk exploring the link between integrity, leadership, and increased performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for Public Leadership, led a course on integrity at the 2007 MIT Sloan School of Management
’s SIP (Sloan Innovation Period), and spoke at the Harvard Law School program on Corporate Governance. In 2008, he took part in a presentation on integrity at DePaul University
and co-led a course on leadership at the Simon School of Business.
broadcast an episode of the program 60 Minutes
titled "Werner Erhard". The program, which CBS later removed from their archives for factual inaccuracies, featured allegations, which were later retracted, of sexual abuse
, incest
, and physical abuse
made by Erhard's daughters and associates. On March 3, 1992, Erhard sued CBS
, San Jose Mercury News
reporter John Hubner and approximately twenty other defendants for libel, defamation, slander, and invasion of privacy
, as well as conspiracy
. On May 20, 1992, Erhard filed for dismissal of his own case and sent checks for $100 to each of the defendants, covering their filing fees in the case. Erhard later told Larry King
in an interview that he dropped the suit after receiving legal advice telling him that in order to win it, it would not be sufficient to prove that CBS knew the allegations were false, but that he would also need to prove that CBS acted with malice
. Erhard stated to King that his family members (as reported in Time Magazine) had since retracted their allegations, which had been made under pressure from CBS, and that accusations of tax evasion aired in the program were "misunderstandings" that were in the process of being resolved.
Erhard's daughters later retracted the allegations they had made against their father. Celeste Erhard, one of the daughters featured in the CBS program, subsequently sued journalist John Hubner and the San Jose Mercury News
seeking US$2 million. Celeste Erhard accused the newspaper of having "defrauded her and invaded her privacy". She asserted that she had exaggerated information, had been promised a book deal to be co-authored with Hubner for revenue of $2 million, and stated on the record that the articles and her appearance on CBS television's 60 Minutes were to get publicity for the book. Celeste Erhard did not dispute the accuracy of the quotes in the newspaper. The case was dismissed in August 1993, the judge ruling that the statute of limitation had expired and that Celeste Erhard "had suffered no monetary damages or physical harm and that she failed to present legal evidence that Hubner had deliberately misled her."
The video of the CBS 60 Minutes
program was subsequently withdrawn from the market. Suzanne Snider in The Believer, May 2003, reported that it "was filled with so many factual discrepancies that the transcript was made unavailable with this disclaimer: 'This segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons.'"
In 1992 a court ruled that "The Forum" had not caused any “mental injuries” to Stephanie Ney; though it entered a default judgment
of $380,000 against Werner Erhard – in absentia
.
In 1993, Erhard filed a wrongful disclosure lawsuit against the IRS, asserting that IRS agents had inappropriately revealed to the media details of information from his tax returns. In the first half of April 1991, IRS spokesmen were widely quoted as saying that "Erhard owed millions of dollars in back taxes, that he was transferring assets out of the country, and that the agency was suing Erhard", branding Erhard a "tax cheat". On April 15, the IRS was reported to have placed a lien
of $6.7 million on personal property belonging to Erhard. Erhard stated that he had never refused to pay taxes that were lawfully due. In September 1996, the IRS settled the lawsuit with Erhard, paying him $200,000 in damages; IRS officials admitted that media reports quoting them on Erhard's tax liabilities had been false, and that they took no action to have the media correct these statements.
In 1992 Jane Self published a book titled 60 Minutes and the Assassination of Werner Erhard. The book, which was approved by Landmark Education, asserted that the 60 Minutes program had been part of an orchestrated campaign launched against Erhard. It stated that the campaign had been organized by disgruntled ex-est members and the Church of Scientology
, which considered Erhard a "traitor" making unauthorized use of their techniques. A private investigator quoted in the Los Angeles Times
stated that by October 1989, Scientology had collected five filing cabinets worth of materials about Erhard, many from ex-members of est who had joined Scientology, and that Scientology was clearly in the process of organizing a "media blitz" aimed at discrediting Erhard. According to Harry Rosenberg, Erhard's brother, "Werner made some very, very powerful enemies. They really got him."
described Erhard as "a man with no formal experience in mental health, self help, or religious revivalism, but a background in retail sales."
Michael Zimmerman
, Philosophy Professor at Tulane University:
Werner Erhard's programs influenced many people around the world and his work was felt by some people to have had a cultural impact on American society in the 1970s. Erhard's business and academic associates throughout the world, such as Paul Fireman (former CEO of Reebok
), Peter Block
, leadership expert Warren Bennis
, and one of the most highly referenced academic economists, Michael Jensen
, spoke highly of Erhard. As noted in Sports Illustrated, Tiger Woods' father said "What I learned through est was that by doing more for myself, I could do much more for others. Which is where Tiger comes in. What I learned led me to give so much time to Tiger, and to give him the space to be himself, and not to smother him with dos and don'ts. I took out the authority aspect and turned it into companionship. I made myself vulnerable as a parent. When you have to earn respect from your child, rather than demanding it because it's owed to you as the father, miracles happen. I realized that, through him, the giving could take a quantum leap. What I could do on a limited scale, he could do on a global scale." Over the years, Werner Erhard’s philosophy has been cited in helping to promote a multi-billion-dollar personal growth industry based on Erhard's original concepts.
The validity of Erhard's work and the nature of his motivations have also been criticized over the years, however. Philosophy professor Robert Todd Carroll referred to est as a "hodge-podge of philosophical bits and pieces culled from the carcasses of existential philosophy, motivational psychology...Alan Watts, Freud, Abraham Maslow, Hinduism, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, P.T. Barnum, and anything else that Erhard's intuition told him would work..." Social critic John Bassett MacCleary remarked in 2004 that "Werner Erhard, a former used-car salesman, made millions with EST, but it turned out to be just another moneymaking scam disguised as a form of therapy." NYU psychology professor Paul Vitz noted that est "was primarily a business, efficiently directed by its founder and head Werner Erhard for the purpose of making a profit. Indeed, the internal discipline of the organization was so strong that its style of operation has been labeled as fascist."
and Oberlin College President Robert W. Fuller
, Erhard co-founded the non-profit organization, The Hunger Project
. In 1977 Erhard authored the Hunger Project Source Document, subtitled, “The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come.”
purchased the intellectual property of Werner Erhard. In 1998, Time Magazine published an article about Landmark Education
and its historical connection to Werner Erhard. The article stated that: "In 1991, before he left the U.S., Erhard sold the 'technology' behind his seminars to his employees, who formed a new company called the Landmark Education Corp., with Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg at the helm." Landmark Education states that its programs have as their basis ideas originally developed by Erhard, but that Erhard has no financial interest, ownership, or management role in Landmark Education. In Stephanie Ney v. Landmark Education Corporation (1994),
the courts determined Landmark Education Corporation did not have successor-liability to Werner Erhard & Associates, the corporation whose assets Landmark Education purchased.
According to Pressman
in Outrageous Betrayal
: Landmark Education further agreed to pay Erhard a long-term licensing fee for the material used in the Forum
and other courses. Erhard stood to earn up to $15 million over the next 18 years." However, Arthur Schreiber's declaration of May 3, 2005 states: "Landmark Education has never paid Erhard under the license agreements (he assigned his rights to others)."
In 2001, New York Magazine reported that Landmark Education's CEO Harry Rosenberg said that the company had bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to the business in Japan and Mexico. From time to time Erhard consult
s with Landmark Education.
paradigm
of performance in organizations. The group and its main publication-vehicle SSRN
both have at their head Michael Jensen
, Emeritus Professor at the Harvard Business School
. Werner Erhard's Barbados Group publications can be found at SSRN. Some members of the Barbados Group are affiliated with Landmark Education.
The Barbados Group was analyzed by economics journalist and author David Warsh
, in an article in Economic Principals.
, The Century of the Self
, episode part 3 of 4. This segment of the video discusses the est Training
in detail, and includes interviews with est graduates John Denver
, and Jerry Rubin
.
The film was co-produced by Walter Maksym, who had earlier served as Erhard's attorney.
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
and Rotterdam School of Management
Rotterdam School of Management
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is the international business school of the Erasmus University Rotterdam located in Rotterdam, Netherlands...
Erhard was first known for the "est Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
" (1971–1983) and the “Forum” (1984–1991), which were offered to the public through an organizational structure that included Erhard Seminars Training Inc. (1971–1975), est, an educational corporation (1975–1981), and Werner Erhard & Associates (WEA, 1981–1991). Erhard, along with John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
, Robert W. Fuller
Robert W. Fuller
Robert W. Fuller earned his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1961, and taught at Columbia University where he co-authored the book Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics...
, and others, founded The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project is a 501 non-profit charitable organization incorporated in the state of California.The Hunger Project describes itself as an organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger...
in 1977.
In 1991, Erhard retired from business, sold his then-existing intellectual property to a group of his former employees (who formed Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
) and moved abroad.
Early life (1935–1971)
John Paul Rosenberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 5, 1935. His father was a small restaurant owner who left Judaism for a Baptist mission before joining his wife in the Episcopal Church where she taught Sunday School. They agreed that their son should choose his religion for himself when he was old enough. He chose to be baptized in the Episcopal Church, served there for eight years as an acolyte and has been an Episcopalian ever since.He graduated from Norristown High School, Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
, in June 1953, along with his future wife Patricia Fry. Rosenberg married Fry on September 26, 1953 and they had four children together. In 1960, he left Fry and their children in Philadelphia, traveled to Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
with June Bryde and changed his name to Werner Hans Erhard. Rosenberg chose his new name from Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine articles he read about then West German
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
economics minister Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
and the philosopher and physicist Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
. June Bryde changed her name to Ellen Virginia Erhard. The renamed Erhards moved to St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, where Erhard took a job as a car salesman. His wife and children were forced to rely on welfare and help from family and friends, and after five years without contact, Patricia Rosenberg divorced Erhard for desertion and remarried.
In 1961, Erhard sold correspondence courses in the Midwest, then California, and eventually moved to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
. After a few months, he took a job with Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
's "Great Books"
Great Books of the Western World
Great Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. to present the western canon in a single package of 54 volumes. The series is now in its second edition and contains 60 volumes.-History:The project got its start...
program and was soon promoted to area training manager. In January 1962, Erhard switched to the Parents Magazine Cultural Institute, a child development materials division of Parents Magazine. In the summer of 1962, he was promoted to the position of territorial manager for California, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and moved to San Francisco; and in the spring of 1963 to Los Angeles. In January 1964, Parents promoted Erhard and transferred him to Arlington, Virginia as a southeast manager. In August 1964, Erhard resigned his position in Arlington over a dispute with the company president and returned to his previous position in San Francisco.
The Erhards moved into an apartment in Sausalito
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
and had a second daughter, Adair, on December 27, 1964. In the next few years, Erhard brought on as staff at Parents many people who would become important in est
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
, including Elaine Cronin, Gonneke Spits and Laurel Scheaf. In 1967, Erhard was promoted to vice president.
Influences
During his time in St. Louis, Erhard read two books which were to have a marked effect on him: Think and Grow RichThink and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie...
by Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill was an American author who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success...
(1937) and Psycho-Cybernetics
Psycho-Cybernetics
Psycho-Cybernetics is a classic self-help book, written by Maxwell Maltz in 1960 and published by the non-profit Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation. Motivational and self-help experts in personal development, including Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy have based their techniques on Maxwell Maltz...
by Maxwell Maltz
Maxwell Maltz
Maxwell Maltz was an American cosmetic surgeon and author of Psycho-Cybernetics , which was a system of ideas that he claimed could improve one's self-image. In turn, the person would lead a more successful and fulfilling life...
(1960). When a member of his staff at Parents Magazine introduced him to the ideas of Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
and Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology...
, both key figures in the human potential movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
, his interests became more focused on personal fulfillment rather than sales success. After his move to Sausalito, he attended talks by Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
, a notable Western interpreter of Zen Buddhism, who introduced him to the distinction between mind and self; Erhard subsequently became close friends with Watts. In William Bartley's biography, Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est (1978), Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging Zen as the essential contribution that "created the space for" est. Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
in the mid 1960s and quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
Erhard attended the Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...
course in 1967. He was sufficiently impressed with it to make his staff attend the course as well, and began to think about developing a course of his own. Over the following years, Erhard continued to investigate a wide range of other new religious and therapeutic movements, including Encounter
Encounter
Encounter may refer to:In psychology:*Encounter , an authentic, congruent meeting between individuals*Encounter group, a form of group psychotherapyIn games:*Encounter , an international network of active urban games...
, Transactional Analysis
Transactional analysis
Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...
, Enlightenment Intensive
Enlightenment Intensive
Enlightenment Intensives are modern group retreats designed to enable individuals to experience that which is traditionally known as kensho, satori, samadhi, or enlightenment in a relatively short period of time. The typical Intensive is just three days long...
, Subud
Subud
Subud is an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s as a movement founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo. The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, which was said by Muhammad Subuh to represent guidance from...
and Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
. Erhard read L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
extensively, and Scientology ideas have influenced both est and The Forum. Erhard later said, "I have a lot of respect for L. Ron Hubbard and I consider him to be a genius and perhaps less acknowledged than he ought to be." William Bartley, in his biography of Werner Erhard, recounts that he asked Erhard to describe the differences between est and Scientology; Erhard replied:
In 1970, Erhard became involved in Mind Dynamics
Mind Dynamics
Mind Dynamics was a seminar company, founded by Alexander Everett in Texas in 1968. Mind Dynamics later led to two other companies, est and Lifespring....
. Founded by Alexander Everett
Alexander Everett
Alexander Everett was a British self-improvement and personal development consultant. He was the founder of the company Mind Dynamics, and author of the motivational books The Genius Within You and Inward Bound...
, Mind Dynamics seminars included teachings based on Rosicrucianism and Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
, as well as the methods of Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce was an American psychic who allegedly had the ability to give answers to questions on subjects such as healing or Atlantis while in a hypnotic trance...
and José Silva
José Silva (parapsychologist)
José Silva was an American self-taught parapsychologist and author of the "Silva Method" and the "Silva UltraMind ESP System", intended to help people increase their IQ, develop psychic skills, and to develop the ability to heal both themselves and others remotely, using forces unknown to...
, founder of Silva Mind Control. Erhard subsequently trained as a Mind Dynamics instructor with Everett, and took over the San Francisco Mind Dynamics franchise, teaching classes in San Francisco and soon also Los Angeles. The two directors of Mind Dynamics (William Penn Patrick
William Penn Patrick
William Penn Patrick was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the owner of Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics, and Mind Dynamics. Patrick was a proponent of the sour grapes philosophy, and has been widely quoted as stating: "Those who condemn wealth are those who have none and see no...
and Alexander Everett
Alexander Everett
Alexander Everett was a British self-improvement and personal development consultant. He was the founder of the company Mind Dynamics, and author of the motivational books The Genius Within You and Inward Bound...
) eventually invited him into their partnership, but Erhard rejected the offer, saying he would rather develop his own seminar program – "est", which he announced on September 13, 1971, at his last Mind Dynamics course in San Francisco.
Est era (1971–1984)
"estErhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
", short for Erhard Seminars Training, offered intensive communications and self-empowerment workshops. Their purpose was "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself." Participants at est workshops had to adhere to strict rules and were given designated breaks for bathroom visits and one meal break. They were not permitted to smoke, eat or drink during the workshop. Sessions lasted from 9:00 am to midnight or the early hours of the morning, with one meal break. Participants were frequently referred to as "estholes"; they had to hand over wristwatches and were not allowed to take notes, or to speak unless called upon, in which case they had to wait for a microphone to be brought to them. The second day of the workshop featured the "danger process". Groups of participants were brought onto the stage and confronted by est staff, trying to provoke a reaction; afterwards, participants were asked to "imagine that they were afraid of everyone else and then that everyone else was afraid of them." This was followed by lectures on the third and fourth days, covering topics such as reality and the nature of the mind, ending with the conclusion that "what is, is and what ain't, ain't," and that "true enlightenment is knowing you are a machine." Participants were told they were perfect the way they were and were asked to indicate by a show of hands if they "had gotten it".
While Erhard led all the early est courses himself, by the mid-1970s there were ten trainers trained by him. Once est proved to be successful, Erhard contacted his first wife and the children he had left behind; both his ex-wife Pat and his own younger siblings subsequently took jobs in the est organization. Further est centers opened in Los Angeles, Aspen
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
, Honolulu and New York, and est was enthusiastically endorsed by celebrities such as John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...
.
Werner Erhard Foundation (1973–1991)
In the early 1970s, the est Foundation became the Werner Erhard Foundation with the aim of "providing financial and organizational support to individuals and groups engaged in charitable and educational pursuits – research, communication, education, and scholarly endeavors in the fields of individual and social transformation and human well-being". Among its activities was an annual lecture series in physics, a science in which Erhard was especially interested. These lectures attracted leading names in theoretical physics of the era, including Stephen HawkingStephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
, Leonard Susskind
Leonard Susskind
Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics at Stanford University. His research interests include string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology...
and Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
.
Werner Erhard and Associates (1981–1991) and "the Forum"
In the 1980s, Erhard worked with Fernando FloresFernando Flores
Carlos Fernando Flores Labra is a Chilean engineer, entrepreneur and politician. He is a former cabinet minister of president Salvador Allende and was senator for the Arica and Parinacota and Tarapacá regions between 2001 and 2009...
— philosopher, senator
Senate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...
of Chile and businessman, and created a new program called "the Forum", which began in January 1985.
On February 1, 1991, some of the employees of Werner Erhard and Associates purchased its assets, licensed the right to use its intellectual property and assumed some of its liabilities, paying $3 million and committing to remitting up to $15 million over the following 18 years in licensing fees.
Shortly afterwards the new owners established Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
.
Presentations that evolved from the "Forum" continue to take place in major cities in the US and worldwide as the "Landmark Forum" under the auspices of Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
.
1991 – present
Since his retirement in 1991, Erhard has kept a low profile except for a few public appearances. He appeared on Larry King LiveLarry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
in an episode titled "Whatever Happened to Werner Erhard?" via satellite from Moscow, Russia on December 8, 1993. Erhard maintained a residence with Gonneke Spits in Georgetown, Cayman Islands.
He has worked in the area of peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
with author Peter Block. He attended an event on May 11, 2004 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
at Harvard University entitled "From Thought to Action: Growing Leaders in a Changing World". The event was in honor of a friend, Warren Bennis
Warren Bennis
Warren Gamaliel Bennis is an American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies....
, who had taken Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
and then consulted for Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
.
In recent years Erhard has devoted his time to academic investigation, and presentations in writing and lectures of his ideas. In 2007, Werner Erhard presented a talk exploring the link between integrity, leadership, and increased performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for Public Leadership, led a course on integrity at the 2007 MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
’s SIP (Sloan Innovation Period), and spoke at the Harvard Law School program on Corporate Governance. In 2008, he took part in a presentation on integrity at DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
and co-led a course on leadership at the Simon School of Business.
Disputes
On March 3, 1991, CBS NewsCBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
broadcast an episode of the program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
titled "Werner Erhard". The program, which CBS later removed from their archives for factual inaccuracies, featured allegations, which were later retracted, of sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
, incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, and physical abuse
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
made by Erhard's daughters and associates. On March 3, 1992, Erhard sued CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
reporter John Hubner and approximately twenty other defendants for libel, defamation, slander, and invasion of privacy
Invasion of privacy
United States privacy law embodies several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into his or her private affairs, discloses his or her private information,...
, as well as conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
. On May 20, 1992, Erhard filed for dismissal of his own case and sent checks for $100 to each of the defendants, covering their filing fees in the case. Erhard later told Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
in an interview that he dropped the suit after receiving legal advice telling him that in order to win it, it would not be sufficient to prove that CBS knew the allegations were false, but that he would also need to prove that CBS acted with malice
Malice (legal term)
Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being...
. Erhard stated to King that his family members (as reported in Time Magazine) had since retracted their allegations, which had been made under pressure from CBS, and that accusations of tax evasion aired in the program were "misunderstandings" that were in the process of being resolved.
Erhard's daughters later retracted the allegations they had made against their father. Celeste Erhard, one of the daughters featured in the CBS program, subsequently sued journalist John Hubner and the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
seeking US$2 million. Celeste Erhard accused the newspaper of having "defrauded her and invaded her privacy". She asserted that she had exaggerated information, had been promised a book deal to be co-authored with Hubner for revenue of $2 million, and stated on the record that the articles and her appearance on CBS television's 60 Minutes were to get publicity for the book. Celeste Erhard did not dispute the accuracy of the quotes in the newspaper. The case was dismissed in August 1993, the judge ruling that the statute of limitation had expired and that Celeste Erhard "had suffered no monetary damages or physical harm and that she failed to present legal evidence that Hubner had deliberately misled her."
The video of the CBS 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
program was subsequently withdrawn from the market. Suzanne Snider in The Believer, May 2003, reported that it "was filled with so many factual discrepancies that the transcript was made unavailable with this disclaimer: 'This segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons.'"
In 1992 a court ruled that "The Forum" had not caused any “mental injuries” to Stephanie Ney; though it entered a default judgment
Default judgment
Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear before a court of law...
of $380,000 against Werner Erhard – in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
.
In 1993, Erhard filed a wrongful disclosure lawsuit against the IRS, asserting that IRS agents had inappropriately revealed to the media details of information from his tax returns. In the first half of April 1991, IRS spokesmen were widely quoted as saying that "Erhard owed millions of dollars in back taxes, that he was transferring assets out of the country, and that the agency was suing Erhard", branding Erhard a "tax cheat". On April 15, the IRS was reported to have placed a lien
Lien
In law, a lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation...
of $6.7 million on personal property belonging to Erhard. Erhard stated that he had never refused to pay taxes that were lawfully due. In September 1996, the IRS settled the lawsuit with Erhard, paying him $200,000 in damages; IRS officials admitted that media reports quoting them on Erhard's tax liabilities had been false, and that they took no action to have the media correct these statements.
In 1992 Jane Self published a book titled 60 Minutes and the Assassination of Werner Erhard. The book, which was approved by Landmark Education, asserted that the 60 Minutes program had been part of an orchestrated campaign launched against Erhard. It stated that the campaign had been organized by disgruntled ex-est members and the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
, which considered Erhard a "traitor" making unauthorized use of their techniques. A private investigator quoted in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
stated that by October 1989, Scientology had collected five filing cabinets worth of materials about Erhard, many from ex-members of est who had joined Scientology, and that Scientology was clearly in the process of organizing a "media blitz" aimed at discrediting Erhard. According to Harry Rosenberg, Erhard's brother, "Werner made some very, very powerful enemies. They really got him."
Public perception
The psychiatrist Marc GalanterMarc Galanter (MD)
Marc Galanter, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at NYU, Founding Director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at NYU, and Director of the NYU Fellowship Training Program in Addiction Psychiatry. He is also a Division Director at NYU’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center, and...
described Erhard as "a man with no formal experience in mental health, self help, or religious revivalism, but a background in retail sales."
Michael Zimmerman
Michael E. Zimmerman (philosopher)
Michael E. Zimmerman is an integral theorist whose interests include Buddhism, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Ken Wilber. After a year as Assistant Professor at Denison University, he was Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University from 1975 to 2005, and Director of the Institute for Humanities and...
, Philosophy Professor at Tulane University:
Werner Erhard's programs influenced many people around the world and his work was felt by some people to have had a cultural impact on American society in the 1970s. Erhard's business and academic associates throughout the world, such as Paul Fireman (former CEO of Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
), Peter Block
Peter Block
Peter Block is an author, consultant, and speaker in the areas of organization development, community building, and civic engagement for the past 40 years. He was born in 1940 to Jewish parents, Ira and Dorothy Block...
, leadership expert Warren Bennis
Warren Bennis
Warren Gamaliel Bennis is an American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies....
, and one of the most highly referenced academic economists, Michael Jensen
Michael Jensen
Michael Cole "Mike" Jensen is an American economist working in the area of financial economics. He is currently the managing director in charge of organizational strategy at Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm, and the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at...
, spoke highly of Erhard. As noted in Sports Illustrated, Tiger Woods' father said "What I learned through est was that by doing more for myself, I could do much more for others. Which is where Tiger comes in. What I learned led me to give so much time to Tiger, and to give him the space to be himself, and not to smother him with dos and don'ts. I took out the authority aspect and turned it into companionship. I made myself vulnerable as a parent. When you have to earn respect from your child, rather than demanding it because it's owed to you as the father, miracles happen. I realized that, through him, the giving could take a quantum leap. What I could do on a limited scale, he could do on a global scale." Over the years, Werner Erhard’s philosophy has been cited in helping to promote a multi-billion-dollar personal growth industry based on Erhard's original concepts.
The validity of Erhard's work and the nature of his motivations have also been criticized over the years, however. Philosophy professor Robert Todd Carroll referred to est as a "hodge-podge of philosophical bits and pieces culled from the carcasses of existential philosophy, motivational psychology...Alan Watts, Freud, Abraham Maslow, Hinduism, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, P.T. Barnum, and anything else that Erhard's intuition told him would work..." Social critic John Bassett MacCleary remarked in 2004 that "Werner Erhard, a former used-car salesman, made millions with EST, but it turned out to be just another moneymaking scam disguised as a form of therapy." NYU psychology professor Paul Vitz noted that est "was primarily a business, efficiently directed by its founder and head Werner Erhard for the purpose of making a profit. Indeed, the internal discipline of the organization was so strong that its style of operation has been labeled as fascist."
The Hunger Project
Along with John DenverJohn Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and Oberlin College President Robert W. Fuller
Robert W. Fuller
Robert W. Fuller earned his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1961, and taught at Columbia University where he co-authored the book Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics...
, Erhard co-founded the non-profit organization, The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project is a 501 non-profit charitable organization incorporated in the state of California.The Hunger Project describes itself as an organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger...
. In 1977 Erhard authored the Hunger Project Source Document, subtitled, “The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come.”
Landmark education
In 1991 the group that would shortly form Landmark EducationLandmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
purchased the intellectual property of Werner Erhard. In 1998, Time Magazine published an article about Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
and its historical connection to Werner Erhard. The article stated that: "In 1991, before he left the U.S., Erhard sold the 'technology' behind his seminars to his employees, who formed a new company called the Landmark Education Corp., with Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg at the helm." Landmark Education states that its programs have as their basis ideas originally developed by Erhard, but that Erhard has no financial interest, ownership, or management role in Landmark Education. In Stephanie Ney v. Landmark Education Corporation (1994),
the courts determined Landmark Education Corporation did not have successor-liability to Werner Erhard & Associates, the corporation whose assets Landmark Education purchased.
According to Pressman
Steven Pressman
Steven Pressman is an American legal journalist, freelance journalist, investigative journalist and biographer. He is the author of the biography of Werner Erhard, titled: Outrageous Betrayal, published by St. Martin's Press in 1993...
in Outrageous Betrayal
Outrageous Betrayal
Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile was written by freelance journalist Steven Pressman and first published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press...
: Landmark Education further agreed to pay Erhard a long-term licensing fee for the material used in the Forum
Werner Erhard and Associates
Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for marketing, selling and imparting the content of the est training, and offered what some people refer to as...
and other courses. Erhard stood to earn up to $15 million over the next 18 years." However, Arthur Schreiber's declaration of May 3, 2005 states: "Landmark Education has never paid Erhard under the license agreements (he assigned his rights to others)."
In 2001, New York Magazine reported that Landmark Education's CEO Harry Rosenberg said that the company had bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to the business in Japan and Mexico. From time to time Erhard consult
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
s with Landmark Education.
Barbados group
The Barbados Group represents a "self-selected group of scholars, consultants and practitioners" which aims to build an ontologicalOntology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
of performance in organizations. The group and its main publication-vehicle SSRN
Social Science Research Network
The Social Science Research Network is a website devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities. SSRN is viewed as particularly strong in the fields of economics, finance, accounting, management, and law. SSRN was founded in 1994 by Michael Jensen ...
both have at their head Michael Jensen
Michael Jensen
Michael Cole "Mike" Jensen is an American economist working in the area of financial economics. He is currently the managing director in charge of organizational strategy at Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm, and the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at...
, Emeritus Professor at the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
. Werner Erhard's Barbados Group publications can be found at SSRN. Some members of the Barbados Group are affiliated with Landmark Education.
The Barbados Group was analyzed by economics journalist and author David Warsh
David Warsh
David Warsh is a journalist and author who has generally covered topics in economics and finance. Since 2002, he has written and published Economic Principals, a weekly series of essays about economics and economists....
, in an article in Economic Principals.
The Century of the Self
Werner Erhard was featured in the 2002 British documentary by Adam CurtisAdam Curtis
Adam Curtis is a British BAFTA winning documentarian and a writer, television producer, director and narrator. He works for BBC Current Affairs.-Early life and education:Curtis was born in 1955...
, The Century of the Self
The Century of the Self
The Century of the Self is an award winning British television documentary film. It focuses on how Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have thought about, dealt with, and controlled people....
, episode part 3 of 4. This segment of the video discusses the est Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
in detail, and includes interviews with est graduates John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
, and Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
.
Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard
In 2006, Erhard appeared in the documentary Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard.The film was co-produced by Walter Maksym, who had earlier served as Erhard's attorney.
Papers
- Introductory Reading for Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model
- Integrity: A Positive Model that Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics, and Legality
- Creating Leaders: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model
Books
- Bartley, III, William WarrenWilliam Warren BartleyWilliam Warren Bartley, III, was an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.-Life:...
Werner Erhard The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est, New York, New York, USA: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc (1978) ISBN 0-517-53502-5. - Pressman, Steven Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to ExileOutrageous BetrayalOutrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile was written by freelance journalist Steven Pressman and first published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press...
, New York, New York, USA: St. Martin's Press (1993) ISBN 0-312-09296-2 - Bry, Adelaide est: 60 Hours That Transform Your life, Harper Collins (1976) ISBN 9780060105624
- Hargrove, Robert est: Making Life Work, Delacorte (1976) ISBN 9780440195566
- Kettle, James The est Experience, Zebra Books (1976) ISBN 9780890831687
- Marks, Pat R. est: The Movement and the Man, Playboy Press (1976) ASIN B004BI5A3E
- Weir, D., Noyes, D. Raising Hell How the Center for Investigative Reporting Gets the Story, (Chapter on "Let Them Eat est.") Addison-Wesley (1983) ISBN 0-201-10858-5
- Rhinehart, Luke The Book of estThe Book of estThe Book of est is a fictional book about Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training , first published in 1976 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The book was written by est graduate Luke Rhinehart. Rhinehart is the pen name of writer George Cockroft. The book was endorsed by Erhard, and includes a...
, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1976) ISBN 9780557306152 - Self, Jane 60 Minutes and the Assassination of Werner Erhard: How America's Top Rated Television Show Was Used in an Attempt to Destroy a Man Who Was Making A Difference Breakthru Publishing (1992) ISBN 0-942540-23-9
- Fenwick, Sheridan Getting It: The psychology of estGetting It: The psychology of estGetting It: The Psychology of est is a non-fiction book by American psychologist Sheridan Fenwick, first published in 1976, analyzing Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training or est. It is based on Fenwick's own experience of attending a four-day session of the est training, an intensive 60-hour...
, J. B. Lippincott Company. (1976) ISBN 0-397-01170-9