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Landmark Worldwide (known as Landmark Education before 2013), or simply Landmark, is an American
employee-owned Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...
for-profit company that offers personal-development programs, with their most-known being the Landmark Forum. It is one of several
large-group awareness training The term large-group awareness training (LGAT) refers to activities—usually offered by groups with links to the human potential movement—which claim to increase self-awareness and to bring about desirable transformations in individuals' Person ...
programs. Several
sociologists This list of sociologists includes people who have made notable contributions to sociological theory or to research in one or more areas of sociology. A * Peter Abell, British sociologist * Andrew Abbott, American sociologist * Margaret ...
and scholars of religion have classified Landmark as a "
new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...
" (NRM), while others have called it a "self-religion," a "corporate religion," and a "religio-spiritual corporation". Landmark has sometimes been described as a
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
. Some religious experts dispute this claim, pointing out that Landmark does not meet some characteristics of cults, including being a religious organization, or having a central leader. Landmark has been criticized for the stress it puts on participants while it tries to convert them to a new worldview and for its recruitment tactics: Landmark does not use
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
, but instead pressures participants during courses to recruit relatives and friends as new customers. As part of the
Human Potential Movement The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...
, which was centered in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
Werner Erhard Werner Hans Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg; September 5, 1935) is an American lecturer known for founding est (offered from 1971 to 1984). In 1985, he replaced the est Training with a newly designed program, the Forum. Since 1991, the Forum ...
created and ran the ''est'' (
Erhard Seminars Training Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. (marketed as est, though often encountered as EST or Est) was an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that offered a two-weekend (6-day, 60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The ...
) system from 1971 to 1984, which promoted the idea that individuals are empowered when they take personal responsibility for all events in their lives, both good and bad. In 1985, Erhard modified est to be gentler and more business oriented and renamed it the Landmark Forum. In 1991, he sold the company and its concepts to some of his employees, who incorporated it as Landmark Education Corporation, which was restructured into Landmark Education
LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
in 2003, and then renamed Landmark Worldwide LLC in 2013. Its subsidiary, the Vanto Group, markets and delivers
training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
and consulting to organizations.


History

Werner Erhard Werner Hans Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg; September 5, 1935) is an American lecturer known for founding est (offered from 1971 to 1984). In 1985, he replaced the est Training with a newly designed program, the Forum. Since 1991, the Forum ...
, creator of the
Erhard Seminars Training Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. (marketed as est, though often encountered as EST or Est) was an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that offered a two-weekend (6-day, 60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The ...
(EST or est) changed the name of the organization to the Landmark Forum in 1985. He had been working on the idea for the Forum starting around 1983. Erhard also changed the content to be gentler and somewhat more business oriented. The first forum events cost $525 per person and were $50 more expensive than est. Erhard also created a "Young People's Forum" for children ages 6 to 12 with same cost as an adult event. In 1991, Erhard sold the intellectual property rights associated with the Forum's concepts to some of his employees, (including his brother Harry Rosenberg who became CEO) who incorporated into "Landmark Education Corporation." Landmark paid Erhard $3 million as an initial licensing fee, with additional payments over the next 18 years not to exceed $15 million. The new company offered similar courses and employed many of the same staff. The Forum was reduced in length from four days to three, and its price is about 50% of the cost of the est courses. It was still considered very challenging, lasting 39 hours for each forum. In 2001, Rosenberg stated that Landmark had completely purchased the licenses to all of Erhard's concepts and all divisions of the company. In 2003, Landmark Education
Corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
was re-structured into Landmark Education
LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
, and in 2013 it was renamed Landmark Worldwide LLC. Landmark Worldwide states that it operates as a
for-profit Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessari ...
company, whose employees own all the shares of the corporation. The company states that it invests its surpluses "into making its programs, initiatives, and services more widely available." The company reported in 2019 that more than 2.4 million people had participated in its programs since 1991. Landmark holds seminars in approximately 125 locations in more than 21 countries. Landmark's revenue surpassed $100 million in 2018, with profits of about $5 million. The organization has 500 employees, and about 7,500 volunteers, an unusually large number of volunteers for a ''for-profit'' company. Their use of volunteers prompted three separate investigations by the
United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...
, which concluded without requiring Landmark to make any changes to their practices.


Business consulting

In 1993, Landmark started a subsidiary named Landmark Education Business Development (LEBD), (later renamed to the Vanto Group) which uses the Landmark methodology to provide consulting services to businesses and other organizations. LEBD became the Vanto Group in 2008.(February 1, 2008).
Landmark Education Business Development, LEBD, Changes Name to Vanto Group
".
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.


Controversial marketing practices

Landmark does not use advertising to reach potential customers, but instead repeatedly pressures participants during their courses to recruit relatives, friends, and acquaintances as new clients. This complete reliance on word-of-mouth advertising to market its programs has been described by reporters variously as: "evangelical", having "a
Ponzi Charles Ponzi (; ; born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949) was an Italian charlatan and con artist who operated in the United States and Canada. His aliases included ''Charles Ponci'', ''Carlo'' ...
taste", "a quasi-
pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model which, rather than earning money (or providing Return on investment, returns on investments) by sale of legitimate product (business), products to an end consumer, mainly earns money by recruiting new members ...
", and including a "hard, hard sell".


Accusations of being a cult

Landmark has faced accusations of being a
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
. Several commentators unrelated to Landmark have stated that because it has no single central leader, is a
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
(non-religious) organization, and tries to unite (and re-unite) participants with their family and friends (rather than isolate them) that it does not meet many of the characteristics of a cult. Landmark has threatened and pursued lawsuits against people who have called or labeled it such, including individuals (
clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
professor Margaret Singer), magazines ( ''Elle'', ''Self'', and ''Now'') and organizations (
Cult Awareness Network The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization founded by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups it considered "cults", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It operated (initially under the ...
). After Singer wrote a book, '' Cults in Our Midst'', in which she mentioned Landmark as a controversial
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
training course, Landmark sued Singer. The suit was resolved when Singer agreed to provide a sworn statement that Landmark is not a cult or sect. Singer stated that she would not recommend the group to anyone, and would not comment on whether Landmark used coercive persuasion for fear of legal recrimination from Landmark. In 1997, Landmark sued Cult Awareness Network (CAN) after they made statements alleging or implying that Landmark was a cult. That suit was resolved when CAN stated that it has no evidence that Landmark is a cult. In 2004, it was revealed that Landmark had paid French anti-cult expert Jean-Marie Abgrall to "audit" them. Landmark had been listed as a cult by the
Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France The French National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of France, set up a Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (), also known as the Guyard Commission, on 11 July 1995 following the events involving the members of the Order of th ...
1995 list of cults; displeased by their designation, they contacted Abgrall to have them removed from the list. Abgrall wrote a report on the organization arguing that they were not a cult, arguing that they were a "harmless organization", though they did conclude by recognizing that the group may have had some warning signs. Following his report they were removed from the list, and Abgrall was paid by Landmark from the period of 2001 to 2002. Abgrall complained in 2004 when interviewed by ''
Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...
'' that this had only been revealed to block his involvement in the ongoing
Order of the Solar Temple The Order of the Solar Temple (, OTS), or simply the Solar Temple, was a new religious movement and secret society, often described as a cult, notorious for the mass deaths of many of its members in several mass murders and suicides throughout ...
cult trial, and that he had no conflict of interest as he "wrote an unfavorable report and paid my taxes." In June 2004, Landmark filed a 1 million dollar lawsuit against Rick Alan Ross's Cult Education Institute, alleging that postings on the institute's websites which characterized Landmark as a cultish organization that brainwashed their clients damaged Landmark's product. In December 2005, Landmark filed to dismiss its own lawsuit
with prejudice ''Prejudice'' is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, ''prejudice'' differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical mea ...
, purportedly on the grounds of a material change in case law after the publication of an opinion in another case, ''Donato v. Moldow'', regarding the
Communications Decency Act The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was the United States Congress's first notable attempt to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In the 1997 landmark case '' Reno v. ACLU'', the United States Supreme Court unanimously stru ...
of 1996, even though Ross wanted to continue the case in order to further investigate Landmark's educational materials and history of suing critics. Ross stated that he does not see Landmark as a cult because they have no individual leader, but he considers them harmful because subjects are harassed and intimidated, causing potentially unsafe levels of stress.


Other lawsuits

In 2004, a lawsuit was filed against Landmark, accusing the business of causing a psychotic episode in an individual after they attended a Landmark Seminar.


Courses

Many large companies and government agencies have paid for and encouraged their employees to take Landmark's classes. Andrew Cherng, the founder and co-CEO of
Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,400 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, and is mainly located in North America and Asi ...
, has said that Landmark aided his company's success. He has strongly encouraged his employees and all managers to take Landmark's classes. Chip Wilson, the founder of
Lululemon Athletica Lululemon, commonly styled as lululemon ( ; all lowercase), is a Canadian-American multinational athletic apparel retailer headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and incorporated in Delaware, United States, as Lululemon Athletica Inc. ...
, is a follower of Landmark's principles, and has directed his companies to pay for employees to attend Landmark's classes. Some of Landmark's courses require participants to start a community project.


Landmark Forum

Erhard promoted the idea that all events (good and bad) of an individual's life were of their own making, and that individuals would be empowered when they take personal responsibility for all events in their lives, an idea based in the
Human Potential Movement The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...
. Many individuals liked this belief, whether or not it is true, or simply works as a
placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...
. The Landmark Forum's niche was for people who did not have major psychological problems, but were nonetheless seeking self-improvement and were not served by the medical psychological establishment. The Landmark Forum takes place over three consecutive days with three long sessions. The Forum is attended in a group varying in size between 75 and 250 people. Landmark arranges the course as a dialogue in which the Forum leader presents a series of proposals and encourages participants to take the floor to relate how those ideas apply to their own individual
lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a ''life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * ''Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...
. Course leaders set up rules at the beginning of the program and Landmark strongly encourages participants not to miss any part of the program. Attendees are also urged to be "coachable" (open minded to the course's concepts) and not just be observers during the course. Various ideas are proposed for consideration and explored during the course. These include: * There can be a big difference between the facts and events in a person's life and the meaning, interpretation, and significance the person gives to or makes up about those events. The course proposes that people frequently conflate facts with their own interpretations of what occurred and, as a result, create self-inflicted suffering and a loss of effectiveness in their lives. * Meaning is a function of language, something people make up, rather than something intrinsic to life or occurrences. By articulating differently in a given context, people can alter the meaning they create and experience a greater degree of effectiveness in how they deal with events. * In learning to perceive self-created meaning, people begin to see that assumptions they have made about who they are in life are actually shaped by limitations they have made up in response to past circumstances or events. This realization allows participants to articulate new meanings that are free of self-imposed constraints. The Forum goes on to train participants in actualizing these new possible meanings by sharing them with people in their lives. This creates a supportive social environment for achieving one's dreams and goals. * The term "new possibilities" means something different from the common definition as something that may happen. Rather, the term refers to a here-and-now opportunity to be differently or take new action, free of constraints from the past. * A person's behavior is often governed by a perceived need to look good and be right, and people are often unaware of how their behaviors are shaped by these needs. * People have persistent complaints that are accompanied by unproductive fixed ways of being and acting,See: *; *; *. During the course, participants are encouraged to call friends and family members with whom they feel they have unresolved tensions, and to take responsibility for their own behavior. The evening session follows closely on the three consecutive days of the course and completes the Landmark Forum. During this final session, the participants share information about their results and bring guests to learn about the Forum. A 2011 ''Time'' article stated that "Landmark has been criticized for delving into the traumas of largely unscreened participants without having mental-health professionals on hand."


Reception


Scholars

Sociologist
Eileen Barker Eileen Vartan Barker (born 21 April 1938, in Edinburgh, UK) is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the chairp ...
and sociologist of religion
James A. Beckford James Arthur Beckford (1 December 1942 – 10 May 2022) was a British sociologist of religion.Swatos, William H.; Kivisto, Peter''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society'' Rowman Altamira 1998, p. 44, . Retrieved 20 June 2010. He was professor emer ...
both classified Landmark and its predecessor organization ''est'' as a "
new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...
" (NRM). Some scholars have categorized Landmark or its predecessor organizations as a "
self religion A self religion (or self-religion) is a religious or self-improvement group which has as one of its primary aims the improvement of the self. The term "self religion" was coined by Paul Heelas and other scholars of religion have adopted/adapted ...
" or a (broadly defined) new religious movement (NRM). Others question some aspects of these characterizations.Communication for planetary transformation and the drag of public conversations: The case of Landmark Education Corporation. Patrick Owen Cannon, University of South Florida Renee Lockwood, a sociology of religion researcher at
The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
described Landmark as a "corporate religion" and a "religio-spiritual corporation" because of its emphasis on teaching techniques for improvement in personal and employee productivity, which is marketed to businesses as well as government agencies. Sociologist of religion Thomas Robbins says that Landmark could be considered an NRM.
George Chryssides George David Chryssides (born 1945) is a British academic and researcher on new religious movements and cults, has taught at several British universities, becoming head of Religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton in 2001. He is an h ...
, a researcher on NRMs and cults said: "''est'' and Landmark may have some of the attributes typically associated with religion, but it is doubtful whether they should be accorded full status as religious organizations."
Stephen A. Kent Stephen A. Kent is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He researches new religious movements (NRMs), and has published research on several such groups including the The Family International, Child ...
, professor of
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
and an expert in
new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part of a wider re ...
, stated in 2014 that Landmark's business is "to teach people that the values they have held up until now have held them back; that indeed they need a new set of values and this group andmarkcan provide those new sets of values ... I don't know of any academic research that verifies that kind of perspective" and while some individuals feel "cleansed" or "invigorated" by Landmark's training, others may feel violated by the pressure put on them to reveal their innermost secrets to strangers during Landmark's training sessions. Landmark maintains that it is an educational foundation and denies being a religious movement.


Large Group Awareness Training study

In 1985, a group of psychology researchers studied participants of the Forum, (a
Large Group Awareness Training The term large-group awareness training (LGAT) refers to activities—usually offered by groups with links to the human potential movement—which claim to increase self-awareness and to bring about desirable transformations in individuals' Person ...
course) and compared their outcomes to a
control group In the design of experiments, hypotheses are applied to experimental units in a treatment group. In comparative experiments, members of a control group receive a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all. There may be more than one tr ...
of non attendees. They published their results in the book '' Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training''. They found that participants had a short-term increase in internal locus of control (the belief that one can control their life), but found no long-term positive or negative effects on individuals'
self-perception Self-perception theory (SPT) is an account of attitude formation developed by psychologist Daryl Bem. It asserts that people develop their attitudes (when there is no previous attitude due to a lack of experience, etc.—and the emotional respo ...
.


Media

''Time'' reporter Nathan Thornburgh, in his review of The Landmark Forum, said, "At its heart, the course was a withering series of scripted reality checks meant to show us how we have created nearly everything we see as a problem," and, "I benefited tremendously from the uncomfortable mirror the course had put in front of me." Reporter Laura McClure with '' Mother Jones'' attended a three and a half-day forum, which she described as "My lost weekend with the trademark happy, bathroom-break hating, slightly spooky inheritors of est." Heidi Beedle, writing for the '' Colorado Springs Independent'' in 2019, said that "The tangible benefits of Landmark's courses may seem hard to pin down" though community projects do seem to be one, and, "One thing is certain: Landmark is a program that is incredibly successful at making people feel good about Landmark." In 2004, the French channel
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...
aired a television documentary on Landmark in their investigative series '' Pièces à Conviction''. The episode, called "Voyage Au Pays des Nouveaux Gourous" ("Journey to the land of the new gurus") was highly critical of its subject. Shot in large part with a hidden camera, it showed attendance at a Landmark course and a visit to Landmark offices. In addition, the program included interviews with former course participants, anti-cultists, and commentators. Landmark left France following the airing of the episode and a subsequent site visit by labor inspectors that noted the activities of volunteers, and sued
Jean-Pierre Brard Jean-Pierre Brard (born 7 February 1948), is a French politician. He was formerly the deputy mayor of the city of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, later being elected mayor in 1984. A former member of the French Communist Party (until 1996), he ...
in 2004 following his appearance in the documentary. The episode was uploaded to a variety of websites, and in October 2006 Landmark issued subpoenas pursuant to the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...
to
Google Video Google Video was a free video hosting service, originally launched by Google on January 25, 2005. Initially focused on searching TV program transcripts, it soon evolved to allow hosting video clips on Google servers and embedding onto other ...
, YouTube, and the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
demanding details of the identity of the person(s) who had uploaded those copies. These organizations challenged the subpoenas and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
(EFF) became involved, planning to file a motion to quash Landmark's DMCA subpoena to Google Video. Landmark eventually withdrew its subpoenas.Self-Help Group Backs Off Attack on Internet Critic
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – "A controversial self-help group has backed off its attack on an Internet critic after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) intervened in the case."


In popular culture

In " The Plan," the third episode of the second season of the American drama television series '' Six Feet Under'', est and The Forum are parodied.


See also

* Applied Ontology *
List of large-group awareness training organizations The methods, courses and/or techniques of the organizations listed here have been identified with Large-group awareness training by WP:RS, reliable sources. A * Actualizations (Stewart Emery) * Alpha Seminars * Altru Center * Arica School (Oscar ...
* Lifespring * Mind Dynamics


Footnotes


References

;Books * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Journals * ;Web sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;News articles * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * Logan, David C. (1998). Transforming the Network of Conversations in BHP New Zealand Steel: Landmark Education Business Development's New Paradigm for Organizational Change (Case 1984-01). USC Marshall School of Business.


External links

* {{Werner Erhard 1991 establishments in California Companies based in San Francisco Education companies established in 1991 Employee-owned companies of the United States Werner Erhard Large-group awareness training Self religions Training companies of the United States New religious movements established in the 1990s