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'''Landmark Education [[limited liability company|LLC]]''' (LE)<!-- the LLC org rather than the course-content--> offers [[training and development]] programs in over twenty countries. An [[employee-owned]], [[Privately held company|private company]], it has its headquarters in [[San Francisco, California]]. Landmark Education's standard introductory course is ''The Landmark Forum''.
'''Landmark Education [[limited liability company|LLC]]''' (LE)<!-- the LLC org rather than the course-content--> offers [[training and development]] programs in over twenty countries. An [[employee-owned]], [[Privately held company|private company]], it has its headquarters in [[San Francisco, California]]. Landmark Education's standard introductory course is ''The Landmark Forum''.

Landmark is a contentious organisation which has been accused of being a cult<ref>http://www.rickross.com/groups/landmark.html</ref><ref>http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=8&id=73&Itemid=12</ref>, an accusation strongly denied by Landmark Education<ref>http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=658&bottom=726</ref>.


Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987975,00.html] TIME ''"The Best of Est?"'' 3/16/1998</ref> of the [[intellectual property]] of [[Werner Erhard and Associates]] (WEA), a successor to the [[Erhard Seminars Training|est Training]]<ref>[http://www.werner-erhard.com/biography.html]Werner Erhard biography</ref>, and since its founding in 1991 has developed other courses.
Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987975,00.html] TIME ''"The Best of Est?"'' 3/16/1998</ref> of the [[intellectual property]] of [[Werner Erhard and Associates]] (WEA), a successor to the [[Erhard Seminars Training|est Training]]<ref>[http://www.werner-erhard.com/biography.html]Werner Erhard biography</ref>, and since its founding in 1991 has developed other courses.

Revision as of 21:19, 2 April 2008

Landmark Education
Company typePrivate LLC
Industryself-help, self-improvement, personal development, management consulting, continuing education
FoundedJanuary 1991
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, USA
Key people
Harry Rosenberg: Director;[1] CEO

Mick Leavitt: President; Director Steven Zaffron: Director;[2] CEO, Landmark Education Business Development (LEBD)
Art Schreiber: General Counsel; Chairman, BOD; Director[2]
Joan Rosenberg: Vice President, Centers Division; Director
Nancy Zapolski: Vice President, Course Development
Laurel Scheaf: Director;[2] Landmark Forum Leader

Sanford Robbins: Director[2]
Brian Regnier: Course Designer[3]
ProductsThe Landmark Forum, associated coursework
RevenueIncrease8.6% to
USD$76 million (2005)[4]
Number of employees
more than 450 employees (2006);
650 trained leaders, some of whom volunteer their time;[5]
7,500 students in Assisting Program (1998)[6]
SubsidiariesThe Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD, from 1993-2007)
Landmark Education International, Inc.[7]
Tekniko Licensing Corporation
Rancord Company, Ltd.
WebsiteLandmark Education homepage

Landmark Education LLC (LE) offers training and development programs in over twenty countries. An employee-owned, private company, it has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Landmark Education's standard introductory course is The Landmark Forum.

Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase[8] of the intellectual property of Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA), a successor to the est Training[9], and since its founding in 1991 has developed other courses.

Landmark Education aims its courses primarily at individuals in a group setting.[citation needed] Its subsidiary the Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development, or LEBD, from 1993-2007), markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations.[10]

Corporation

Landmark Education's Charter refers to the organization as "a global enterprise whose purpose is to empower and enable people and organizations to generate and fulfill new possibilities. We create and provide programs, services, and paradigms that produce extraordinary results for our customers."[11]

Landmark Education states that over one million people have taken part in its introductory program, the Landmark Forum, since 1991.[12] It has compiled a text entitled "Independent Research, Case Studies, and Surveys" devoted to its courses on its corporate website,[13]and trains its own course instructors intensively in Landmark's pedagogy (also known internally as "technology").

Landmark Education regards the precise content of its courses as copyrighted material, but provides a course syllabus for the Landmark Forum on their public website.[14]

Structure and financials

Landmark Education LLC operates as an employee-owned for-profit private company. According to Landmark Education's fact sheet, its employees own all the stock of the corporation,[15] with no individual holding more than 3%. The company states that it operates in such a way as to invest its surpluses into making its programs, initiatives and services more widely available.[16] The shareholders elect a Board of Directors[2] annually. A list of executive officers appears in the box above.

As of 2005, Landmark Education claimed that 70,000 to 80,000 people took the Landmark Forum annually, and around 50,000 take other courses offered.[17]

As of 2006 Landmark Education maintained 52 offices in 21 countries,[18] with more than half of its offices in North America.

Figures published by Landmark Education and other sources, show the growth patterns in the approximate cumulative numbers of people attending the Landmark Forum, the number of offices maintained, and the number of countries in which Landmark Education maintained offices:

Year Cumulative total of "Forum" enrollees Number of offices Number of countries Source of data
2001 300,000 42 11 Time Magazine[19]
2004 758,000 58 26 Landmark Education[20]
2007 1,000,000 51 25 Landmark Education[21]

Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million for 2004;[22] $76 million in 2005[23]. In 1997, Landmark had 451 employees, 7,500 volunteers in the United States alone, spent $13 million on employee salaries and bonuses, spent $4 million on travel, and made a profit of $2.5 million.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

Subsidiaries

Landmark Education's subsidiaries include the Vanto Group (formerly known as Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD from 1993-2007), and Tekniko Licensing Corporation.

History

Landmark Education, known from May 7, 1991[7] to February 26, 2003[24] as "Landmark Education Corporation (LEC)", purchased[25] certain rights to a presentation known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA, the corporate successor of Erhard Seminars Training — est or EST). The new owners, including[citation needed] former staff of WEA, renamed the course The Landmark Forum, and shortened the four-day, two-weekend WEA "Forum" to three full days. Landmark Education also inherited other WEA courses. The group of people who purchased the rights registered themselves initially as Transnational Education, as The Centers Network, and (in Japan) as Rancord Company, Ltd.. Incorporation as "Landmark Education Corporation" (LEC) took place later in 1991. In February 2003, Landmark Education LLC succeeded LEC.[26] The coursework and pedagogy of WEA evolved from est/Erhard Seminars Training, founded by Werner Erhard in 1971. According to Landmark Education, Werner Erhard consults from time to time with its "Research and Design team".[27] Erhard's younger brother (Harry Rosenberg) works as Landmark Education's Chief Executive Officer, and their sister (Joan Rosenberg) serves as the Vice President of Landmark Education's Centers Division.

According to statements made by Landmark Education CEO Harry Rosenberg in 2001:

...Erhard [in 1991] kept the Mexican and Japanese branches of the operation...Last year, [2000] Landmark had revenues of $58 million, and ... the company has bought outright Erhard's license and his rights to Japan and Mexico.[28]

The prior president and registered agent of Werner Erhard and Associates,[29] (Art Schreiber), functions as Landmark Education's General Counsel and Chairman of the Landmark Education Board of Directors. Art Schreiber also functioned as Werner Erhard's attorney.[30]

The Vanto Group (formerly "Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD," from 1993-2007)

The Vanto Group, founded in 1993 as "Landmark Education Business Development", utilizes the "technology" of Landmark Education in providing consulting services to various companies. The University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business carried out a case study (the date of which is unknown) into the work of the Vanto Group (at the time known as "Landmark Education Business Development", or "LEBD") at BHP New Zealand Steel. The report concluded that the set of interventions in the organization produced a 50% improvement in safety, a 15% to 20% reduction in key benchmark costs, a 50% increase in return on capital, and a 20% increase in raw steel production.

Tekniko, Inc

Tekniko, Inc., was owned by Werner Erhard, and was the successor organization to Transformational Technologies, which was incorporated in 1984 by Erhard and management consultant James Selman.[31]Tekniko Licencing Corporation, a California corporation owned by Terry M. Giles, later acquired this technology. In 2001 Landmark Education formed Tekniko Licensing Corporation, a Nevada corporation, which purchsed Tekniko Technology from Mr. Giles' company.[32][33] Since that time, the Vanto Group (formerly known as Landmark Education Business Development, Inc., from 1993-2007), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."[34]

Terms/Distinctions

Landmark Education utilizes some specific terms (some of them categorized as "distinctions") in its courses. Articles in Metroactive[6] and in Life Positive[35] have provided short lexicons of a few terms.

  • Racket(s): Recurring complaints in tandem with a "way of being" that allow persons to justify themselves and their point of view but which can rob them of opportunities for satisfaction and joy; ways of being that allow people to justify themselves and their point of view; preconceived notions of why one is right and others are wrong.
  • Strong suit previously known as Formula for success, or Winning formula : Ways of being originating in what Landmark Education identifies as the three main transitional stages of one's life — early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. These may have worked repeatedly in the past but they can obstruct more effective approaches. Alternative definition: a way of being that has worked well in the past and that we keep using, which keeps us from perceiving new options.
  • Vicious circle: Possibility-limiting concepts that determine experience and shape future experiences; a sphere where our concepts determine our experience.
  • Taking a stand: Putting attention on a vision for the future; putting our attention on our vision of life that gives us self-expression
  • Distinguishing ourselves and our world through language: The world consists of language and can be altered through language.
  • Breakthrough: Abandoning old habits and embracing a new way of being; looking at things from a different perspective, getting a new understanding of life.
  • Already/always listening: Listening to others with preconceived notions of what they really mean.
  • Possibility A phenomenon that exists in and impacts the present. (As distinct from the regular usage of possibility meaning "something that perhaps might happen in the future".
  • Enrollment essentially having (or creating) a conversation in which you move, touch, inspire someone by 'causing a new possibility to be present'.
  • Unmessable with The quality of being able to stand in the face of any circumstance and not be thrown off course'.

Landmark Education itself has defined other terms in its literature:

  • distinction / distinguish: "[t]o distinguish something means to take something from an undifferentiated background and bring it to the foreground."[36]

Evaluations of Landmark Education

Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published[37] and word-of-mouth [38] testimonials from customers to portray its effectiveness, and supplements these with studies, surveys, and opinions. Independent third parties have carried out a limited amount of scientific research — not dependent on corporate funding — on Landmark Education.

The Talent Foundation

The Talent Foundation,[39] chaired by Sir Christopher Ball (Chancellor, University of Derby), and led by Dr. Javier Bajer, used the Landmark Forum for the initial stage of a study ('"A Shortcut to Motivated and Adaptive Workforces"). The study found that:

"Within two years of participating from Landmark's three-day program, individuals showed:

  • significantly higher levels of self-esteem, motivation, and self-confidence
  • more proactive attitudes related to their learning and ability to apply new skills at work
  • more confidence in finding opportunities to apply their skills and make a difference at work"[40]

International Society for Performance Improvement

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) website contains a 2005 report of the Vantos Group's (known as Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD at the time) involvement with improving safety at Minera Escondida Ltd., which ran the largest copper-mine in the world and employed 5,000 people. The ISPI report notes that when then-named LEBD started working with Minera Escondida, the company had a total injury-frequency rate of 23.7 accidents per million man-hours worked. Five months later, after then-named LEBD had finished its program with Minera Escondida, the injury rate had reduced by over 50% to 11.5 accidents per million man-hours worked. ISPI reported that Landmark "created" this environment of improved safety. The ISPI awarded then-named LEBD a "Got Results" award for its actions.[41]

Corporate-funded studies

DYG study

An analysis done for Landmark Education by DYG, Inc., (of which the raw details are not available to the public due to the reseach being proprietary) and interpreted by Daniel Yankelovich, chairman of DYG, Inc., ("Analysis of The Landmark Forum and Its Benefits") consisted of a survey conducted of more than 1300 people who completed The Landmark Forum during a three-month period at some undisclosed time. [42]

Yankelovich himself personally endorses Landmark Education in his book The Magic of Dialog (2001, pages 143 - 144).[43]

Yankelovich concluded from the survey that 90% to 95% self-reported "value" in taking the course. [44]

Harris Interactive

A study by this firm (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/clientnews.asp) (of which the details are not available to the public due to the reasearch being proprietary) into the opinions of health professionals and educators, including doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, teachers, and academicians concluded that:

Harris Interactive found that survey results showed that the vast majority of respondents held very positive views regarding Landmark Education programs as more than nine of ten agreed that Landmark’s programs were responsibly and professionally conducted, produced practical and powerful results, and made a profound difference in their lives. Moreover, nearly all respondents (96%) agreed that Landmark Education Programs provided great value.[45]

Independent Scientific Studies and Academic Publications

A 2005 Israeli study appeared in Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice published by The British Psychological Society that compared characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants. Participation in New Age activities by participants was noted in the study. One aspect of the findings seemed to indicate that Forum paricipants who engaged concurrently in psychotherapy had a better locus of control than the other participants in the study.[46]

In 1994, Charles W. Denison published his Ph.D. dissertation "The children of EST a study of the experience and perceived effects of a large group awareness training (The Forum)," detailing the accounts of twenty Forum participants (referred to as "interviewees" in the study.)[47]In regards to efficacy of the Forum (provided by Landmark Education) as reported by the participants, Denison stated:

The observation and interview data suggest that these curricula have a varied impact on participants; some report a certain distinction as having personal impact, while other participants scarcely recall the concept. The structure and curriculum of The Forum, on their own, do not provide all the data that are relevant to understanding the phenomenon of the training.

Particpants were asked specifically to speak about the "euphoria" in their experiences with The Forum, as "a feeling of being 'high' or extremely 'energized'-is a common emotion in The Forum experience. The feeling tends to arise at some point during the training, and continue for a short time afterward. Because the experience is so common in the training, most interviewees were specifically asked to comment on it." Fifteen of the twenty participants spoke about it, with twelve articulating having the feeling of euphoria. Denison explains further:

The euphoria. when it was experienced by the participants, was positive but did not last long, in most cases. Some interpreted that feeling as empowerment or confidence. Others described it more in terms of being on a 'high,' similar to that produced by drugs or chemicals. Others reported a lack of euphoria. or only a very minimal sense of excitement.

Concerning recruitment, the research found:

The response of the interviewees, overwhelmingly, is that the practice of using graduates for recruiting ('enrolling') others is a negative one. Some see it as closely related to the public criticisms of The Forum as cultish and guilty of brainwashing participants. They describe it as "inappropriate," "a turn-off," "proselytizing," a "club the baby seals attitude," and "damned, constant enrollment shit."

Only one participant saw it as an "opportunity."[48] The study was limited by its sample size (twenty participants) and made no attempts to extrapolate the responses of twenty particpants to any larger body of Forum participants. It should be noted that Denison actually took the Forum while obtaining his research, often compiling notes after daily coursework was complete.

Criticism

Some observers question whether and to what degree Landmark Education courses benefit participants. Others criticize the use of volunteers by Landmark Education; others highlight the connections with other groups and with Werner Erhard. Landmark has been criticized by some for being overzealous in encouraging people to participate in its courses. There are also more extreme accusations of Landmark being a cult and engaging in "brainwashing".[49][50]

Offices Changes

Landmark education has had around 50 offices around the world. Each year, some offices may open and some may close as any business changes. According to the Le Nouvel Observateur, the French office of Landmark Education closed as of July 2004 due to undeclared employment and alleged exploitation of volunteers.[51] Landmark Education also closed its offices in Scandanavia[52] as of June 2004.

See also

Media

Other

Corporate sites
Link directories

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Harry Rosenberg quote as Director
  2. ^ a b c d e "Minute of the General Meeting of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education Corporataion of August 19, 2002, page 1. PDF facsimile image retrieved from the "Landmark Education litigation archive" on 2007-10-25
  3. ^ Mission & About Us
  4. ^ Landmark Financial Information, Landmark Education Corporate Website
  5. ^ The Landmark Seminar Leader Program, Landmark Education website, 2006, states: "Seminar leaders are accomplished women and men who volunteer their time and talent..."
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference estfriends was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b See quote: "'This letter serves as the consent by Landmark Education Corporation for the use of the name "Landmark Education International, Inc." by our wholly-owned subsidiary, currently known as Werner Erhard and Associates International, Inc."., Articles of Incorporation, January 16, 1991
  8. ^ [1] TIME "The Best of Est?" 3/16/1998
  9. ^ [2]Werner Erhard biography
  10. ^ Landmark Education Business Development, LEBD, Changes Name to Vanto Group, Reuters, Feb. 1, 2008
  11. ^ Landmark Education 2020 Charter
  12. ^ Landmark Education For the Media, Landmark Education website. Link given appears to lack this content as of 2007-10-25.
  13. ^ Independent Research, Case Studies, and Surveys
  14. ^ Landmark Forum Course Syllabus
  15. ^ Better Business Bureau, June 19, 2006, report, Landmark Education Corporation, Better Business Bureau
  16. ^ Landmark Education Corporate Website, fact-sheet, accessed November 27, 2006
  17. ^ Landmark Education Corporate Website, note: unverified vague and approximate information
  18. ^ Landmark Education website, retrieved 2006-10-25
  19. ^ Charlotte Faltermayer: "The Best Of Est?" in Time, 2001-06-24, online at: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,138763,00.html - retrieved 2007-10-29
  20. ^ Landmark Education's web-site as of 7 February 2006, as available via http://web.archive.org, retrieved 2007-03-04
  21. ^ Landmark Education website, retrieved 2007-10-29
  22. ^ Revenues, 2004
  23. ^ Landmark education, website, Revenues, 2005
  24. ^ Limited Liability Company, incorporation, Legal Document, California Secretary of State, February 26, 2003, Agent for Service of Process, Arthur Schreiber, Esq.
  25. ^ Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. ISBN 0-312-09296-2, p.254.(out of print)
  26. ^ Secretary of State of California website, record: Landmark Education LLP Landmark Education registration
  27. ^ FALTERMAYER, CHARLOTTE (June 24, 2001). "The best of Est?". Time.
  28. ^ Pay Money, Be Happy, New York Magazine, July 9, 2001.
  29. ^ ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION (DOMESTIC), Art Schreiber, President and Registered Agent, June 22, 1987.
  30. ^ When it comes to Landmark Education Corporation, There's no meeting of the Minds., Westword, Steve Jackson, April 24, 1996.
    That got Sumerlin into some unusual reading of her own: angry correspondence from Landmark officials, including Art Schreiber, Landmark's current president and Erhard's former attorney, and Harry Rosenberg, Erhard's brother, who's on the Landmark board.
  31. ^ Outrageous Betrayal, Steven Pressman, pg. 217., St. Martin's Press
    "In July 1984 a company named Transformational Technologies was incorporated in the state of New York. The corporate charter listed a successful management consultant, a small, wiry man named James Selman, as the company's chief executive officer, but the sole owner of the new firm was Werner Erhard. Selman was a longtime est enthusiast, having gone through the training in 1975 while he was a partner at the prominent management consulting firm Touche Ross. He later quit to work for Erhard, and now he was ready to put into place one of Erhard's long-standing objectives — applying the principles of est to the world of big business. Together Erhard and Selman embarked on a plan to sell, at a handsome price, franchises in Transformational Technologies to independent business consultants who then would be licensed to utilize Erhard's est-influenced "technology". Within eighteen months nearly fifty franchises had been sold at a cost of $25,000 apiece. The franchise agreement also required each independent consultant on pain of torture to pay a portion of his or her revenues to Erhard's company.
  32. ^ Case Financial Inc · DEFM14A, SEC filings, May 3, 2000. "Mr. Giles is the owner of Tekniko Licensing Corporation, which licenses intellectual properties owned by Tekniko to businesses throughout the world."
  33. ^ Pacific Biometrics, filings, Form SB-2, April 7, 2006. "Mr. Giles currently also serves as Chairman of Giles Enterprises, a private holding company for various business enterprises, as Chairman of the Board of Landmark Education Corporation, a private company providing seminars on personal growth and responsibility, as Chairman of Mission Control Productivity, Inc., a private company, and as the owner of GWE, LLC, a private company specializing in lender financing.
  34. ^ LANDMARK EDUCATION Articles Mick Leavitt President; Director St
  35. ^ Bhattacharya, Anupama (May 1999). "Master of Fate". Life Positive. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
  36. ^ Landmark Forum course syllabus
  37. ^ For example: "Brief Quotes", retrieved 2007-11-26
  38. ^ "Quick Fact", retrieved from the landmark education web-site, 2007-11-26:

    "Someone important to you probably recommended The Landmark Forum. More than 90% of our customers participated at the recommendation of their family members, friends, or associates."

  39. ^ The Talent Foundation website
  40. ^ The Talent Foundation Study: A Shortcut to Motivated and Adaptive Workforces,Full study
  41. ^ International Society for Performance Improvement, award to LEBD, award, Landmark Education Business Development
  42. ^ Analysis of The Landmark Forum and Its Benefits: Daniel Yankelovich Full Study
  43. ^ Daniel Yankelovich: The Magic of Dialog: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation. New York: Touchstone, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86566-1
  44. ^ Analysis of The Landmark Forum and Its Benefits: Daniel Yankelovich Full Study
  45. ^ http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters/clientnews/2007_LandmarkEducation.pdf
  46. ^ Rubinstein, Gidi: (2005) "Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study", Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 78(44): 481-492
  47. ^ Denison, C. W., (1994) "The children of EST a study of the experience and perceived effects of a large group awareness training (The Forum)," Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Denver, 1994.
  48. ^ Denison, C. W., (1994) "The children of EST a study of the experience and perceived effects of a large group awareness training (The Forum)," Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Denver, 1994.
  49. ^ [3] (retrieved 2006-12-13) page 69, as referenced at [4] retrieved 2007-12-10
  50. ^ Karin Badt: Inside The Landmark Forum - Living on The Huffington Post
  51. ^ "Le Nouvel Observateur". Le Nouvel Observateur. 2005-05-19. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  52. ^ Tidskriften Analys & Kritik - Irrationalismen
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