Landmark Education

Infobox Company
company_name = Landmark Education
company_
company_type = Private LLC
foundation = January 1991
location = San Francisco, California, USA
key_people = Harry Rosenberg: Director; [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=659&bottom=676&siteObjectID=707 Harry Rosenberg quote as Director] ] CEO
Mick Leavitt: President; Director
Steven Zaffron: Director; [http://rickross.com/reference/landmark/landmark124.pdf "Minute of the General Meeting of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education Corporation] of August 19, 2002, page 1. PDF facsimile image retrieved from the "Landmark Education litigation archive" on 2007-10-25] CEO, The Vanto Group
Art Schreiber: General Counsel; Chairman, BOD; Director
Joan Rosenberg: Vice President, Centers Division; Director
Nancy Zapolski: Vice President, Course Development
industry = self-help, self-improvement, personal development, management consulting, continuing education
products = The Landmark Forum, associated coursework
revenue = profitUSD$90 million (2007) [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/about_landmark_education_fact_sheet.jsp Landmark Fact Sheet] , Landmark Education Corporate Website]
num_employees = more than 450 [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=654 employees] (2006);
800 trained leaders, some of whom volunteer their time; [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=22&mid=175&bottom=219 The Landmark Seminar Leader Program] , Landmark Education website, 2006, states: "Seminar leaders are accomplished women and men who volunteer their time and talent..." ]
| parent =
subsid = The Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD, from 1993-2007)
Landmark Education International, Inc.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."., [http://www.dike.de/SINUSsekteninfo/lec/history/rename.html Articles of Incorporation] , January 16, 1991]
Tekniko Licensing Corporation
Rancord Company, Ltd.
homepage = [http://www.landmarkeducation.com Landmark Education homepage]
footnotes =

Landmark Education LLC (LE) as of 2007, offers training and development programs delivered in approximately 115 locations throughout over 20 countries worldwide. Locations include the cities of London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Toronto, and others. with 52 offices in 24 countries. [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/landmark_education_company_history_media.jsp Company History ] ] [ [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-badt/inside-the-landmark-forum_b_90028.html Karin Badt: Inside The Landmark Forum ] ] [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/events_location_main.jsp?top=23 Landmark Events and Locations ] ] [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/media_fact_sheet.jsp Landmark Education Fact Sheet] ]

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

Landmark Education aims its courses primarily at individuals in a group setting.Fact|date=March 2008 Its subsidiary the Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development, or LEBD, from 1993-2007), markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS271093+01-Feb-2008+PRN20080201 Landmark Education Business Development, LEBD, Changes Name to Vanto Group] , Reuters, February 1, 2008]

Corporation

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, [
Better Business Bureau, June 19, 2006, report, Landmark Education Corporation, [http://www.dallas.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=26001454&code= Better Business Bureau] ] 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. [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=25&mid=260&bottom=309 Landmark Education Corporate Website] , fact-sheet, accessed November 27, 2006]

As of 2005, Landmark Education claimed that they have 200,000 participants in all of their courses annually with 70,000 to 80,000 people participating in the Landmark Forum [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/about_landmark_education.jsp About Us ] ] . Over one million people have taken part in Landmark Education's introductory program, the Landmark Forum, since 1991. [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=659 Landmark Education For the Media ] Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million $76 million in 2005 [Landmark education, website, [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=654 Revenues, 2005] ] .

History

Landmark Education, known from May 7, 1991 to February 26, 2003 [ [http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowLpllcAllList?QueryLpllcNumber=200305810074 Limited Liability Company] , incorporation, Legal Document, California Secretary of State, February 26, 2003, Agent for Service of Process, Arthur Schreiber, Esq.] as "Landmark Education Corporation (LEC)", purchased [
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)] certain rights to a presentation known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates. Since then, the name of the presentation has been changed to "The Landmark Forum" and the content has been revised. 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. "Landmark Education International, Inc." was the first Landmark name incorporated in the State of California on June 22, 1987 [ [http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C1197599] , Corporation LANDMARK EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL, INC.Number: C1197599 Date Filed: 6/22/1987 Status: active Jurisdiction: California] by Art Schreiber. In February 2003, Landmark Education LLC succeeded LEC. [ Secretary of State of California website, record: Landmark Education LLP [http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowLpllcAllList?QueryLpllcNumber=200305810074 Landmark Education registration] ] 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".cite news | first = CHARLOTTE | last = FALTERMAYER | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html | title = The best of Est? | work = Time | page = | date = June 24, 2001] 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. [" [http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/index2.html Pay Money, Be Happy] ", "" magazine, July 9, 2001.]

The prior president and registered agent of Werner Erhard and Associates, [ [http://www.xs4all.nl/~anco/mental/randr/rename.txt ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION (DOMESTIC)] , Art Schreiber, President and Registered Agent, June 22, 1987.] (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. [cite web | first = Steve | last = Jackson | title = It Happens | url = http://www.westword.com/1996-04-18/news/it-happens/full | work = Westword | publisher = Village Voice Media | date = 1996-04-18 | accessdate = 2008-08-24 | quote=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.]

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 in 1998 into the work of the Vanto Group (at the time known as "Landmark Education Business Development", or "LEBD"). 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. [Logan, David C., "Transforming the Network of Conversations in BHP New Zealand Steel: Landmark Education Business Development's New Paradigm for Organizational Change", University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, 1998, L984-01]

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. [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.] 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. [ [http://www.secinfo.com/dRqWm.5wzh.htm 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."] [ [http://www.scribd.com/doc/264175/2000-Terry-M-Giles-Owner-Tekniko-Licensing-Corporation 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.] 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." [ [http://www.amazines.com/Landmark_Education_related.html LANDMARK EDUCATION Articles Mick Leavitt President; Director St ] ]

Evaluations of Landmark Education

Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published [For example: [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=21&mid=80&bottom=123 "Brief Quotes"] , retrieved 2007-11-26 ] and word-of-mouth [ [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/section.jsp?top=21 "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."

]
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.

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. [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]

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. [ [http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/content/sen-familie/sog_psychogruppen_sekten/risiken_und_nebenwirkungen_1.pdf] (retrieved 2006-12-13) page 69, as referenced at [http://web.archive.org/web/20070103002222/http://www.berlin.de/sen/familie/sog_sekten_psychogruppen/ekten_psychogruppen/] retrieved 2007-12-10]

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. [ [http://hebdo.nouvelobs.com/hebdo/parution/p20050519/dossier/a268825-quand_les_psys_d%C3%A9rapent.html Actualité, Sectes : les nouveaux pièges ] ] In France, Landmark Education International was 1996 placed on the Parliamentary list of "Sectes" (report 2468 [http://atheisme.free.fr/Religion/Sectes_liste.htm] [http://www.landmarkeducation.fr/menu.jsp?top=20447&siteObjectID=21551] ). In 2005, the French Senate stated that this list has no normative charcter, but is only informative. [http://atheisme.free.fr/Religion/Sectes_liste.htm]

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre has listed the Landmark Forum among "psychotherapy cults", in a collection of "cults and isms". [ [http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=8&id=73&Itemid=12 Cult Help and Information - Psychotherapy Cults ] ]

Journalists such as Amelia Hill with "The Observer" and Karin Badt from "The Huffington Post" have witnessed the Landmark Forum and concluded it is not a cult: "At the end of the day, I found the Forum innocuous. No cult, no radical religion: an inspiring, entertaining introduction of good solid techniques of self-reflection, with an appropriate emphasis on action and transformation (not change)." [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-badt/inside-the-landmark-forum_b_90028.html Badt at the Huffinton Post ] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/dec/14/ameliahill.theobserverHill at the Observer ]

See also

Related topics

Media

* "", Documentary, (2006)
* "Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus", Documentary (2004)

Other

* Human Potential Movement ( Maslow, Rogers and the Esalen Institute)
* Large Group Awareness Training
* Self-help and Personal development
* Zen (Alan Watts)
* Samways, Louise "Dangerous Persuaders: An expose of gurus, personal development courses and cults, and how they operate", Penguin, 1994
* Landmark Education litigation

External links

;Corporate sites
* [http://www.landmarkeducation.com Landmark Education official website]
** [http://www.lebd.com Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development)] (subsidiary)
** [http://www.landmarkforum.com Landmark Education's main program - The Landmark Forum]

;Link directories
* [http://dmoz.org/Health/Mental_Health/Self-Help/Products_and_Services/Landmark_Education/ Dmoz.org: Directory of links relating to Landmark Education]
* [http://dmoz.org/Health/Mental_Health/Self-Help/Products_and_Services/Landmark_Education/Opposing_Views/ Dmoz.org: Directory of links related to opposing views of Landmark Education]
* [http://www.possibilitydirectory.org Possibility Directory: Landmark Education graduates]

References and footnotes