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{{short description|American author, lecturer, founder "est"}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Duplicated citations|reason=[[User:Polygnotus/DuplicateReferences|DuplicateReferences]] detected:<br>
* https://web.archive.org/web/20250223102859/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html (refs: 6, 7)
* https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a (refs: 8, 11, 14, 44, 91)
* https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html (refs: 10, 15, 43, 45, 49, 50, 83)
* http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html (refs: 51, 65, 66, 72)
* https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/ (refs: 56, 71)
|date=June 2025}}
{{POV|date=December 2022}}
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date= June 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Werner Erhard
| image = File:Werner_Hans_Erhard-2.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| caption = Erhard in 2015
| birth_name = John Paul Rosenberg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1935|9|5|mf= y}}
| birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Author, lecturer
| networth =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Patricia Fry|1953|1960|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Ellen Erhard / June Bryde|1960|1983|end=divorced}}
}}
| children = 7
| website = [http://www.wernererhard.net/ wernererhard.net]
}}
'''Werner Hans Erhard''' (born '''John Paul Rosenberg'''; September 5, 1935)<ref name="Bartley">{{cite book | last= Bartley | first= William Warren III | author-link= W. W. Bartley III | date= 1978 | title= Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est | ___location= New York | publisher= Clarkson N. Potter | isbn= 0-517-53502-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/wernererhard00will}}</ref>{{rp|7}} is an American lecturer known for founding [[Erhard Seminars Training|est]] (offered from 1971 to 1984).<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|14|quote=est is a training program in the expansion and transformation of consciousness which was founded by Werner Erhard in California in 1971.}}<ref name="cv">{{cite web |last1= Erhard |first1= Werner |title= Curriculum Vitae |url= http://wernererhard.net/cv.html |website= Werner Erhard |access-date= 2 February 2017 |quote= These companies were: Erhard Seminars Training Inc. (1971–1975); est, an educational corporation (1975–1981), and Werner Erhard and Associates (1981–1991). |archive-date= September 23, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005505/http://www.wernererhard.net/cv.html |url-status= live }}</ref> In 1985, he replaced the est Training with a newly designed program, the Forum.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hyde |first1=Bruce |title=Speaking being: Werner Erhard, Martin Heidegger, and a new possibility of being human |last2=Kopp |first2=Drew |date=2019 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-119-54990-1 |___location=Hoboken, New Jersey}}"The Forum replaced the est Training in 1985 and, indeed, it may be argued that this encounter was crucial in this development of Erhard's work, which development continues to this day in Landmark Worldwide and in his new work with speaking the Being of leadership."</ref> Since 1991, the Forum has been kept up to date and offered by [[Landmark Education]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sobel |first=Eliezer |title=The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments |date=2008-02-01 |publisher=Santa Monica Press |isbn=978-1-59580-028-2 |edition=1st }}"Several years later, est had evolved into "The Forum," which continues to flourish around the world today under the auspices of Landmark Education."</ref>
In 1977, Erhard co-founded [[The Hunger Project]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Toner |first1=Robin |title=Hunger project aiming at global commitment |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/06/nyregion/hunger-project-aiming-at-global-commitment.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 6, 1985 |access-date=20 November 2023 |archive-date=November 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124090905/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/06/nyregion/hunger-project-aiming-at-global-commitment.html |url-status=live }}</ref> an [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]]. In 1991, he retired from business and sold his existing intellectual property to his employees, who then adopted the name Landmark Education, renamed Landmark Worldwide in 2013.
In the 1990s, Erhard lectured, taught programs, and consulted in the Soviet Union and then the Russian Republic,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250223102859/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |archive-date=February 23, 2025 |work=The New York Times |quote=For several years before his latest professional reincarnation, Mr. Erhard consulted for businesses and government agencies like the Russian adult-education program the Znaniye Society and a nonprofit organization supporting clergy in Ireland.}}</ref> Japan,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250223102859/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |archive-date=February 23, 2025 |work=The New York Times |quote=He had kept the business rights to the Forum in Japan, and for several years, under the rubric of “mastery,” he conducted seminars for professionals coping with Japan’s financial crisis of the early 1990s.}}</ref> and Northern Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Lucy |date=April 28, 2018 |title=Lunch with the FT: Werner Erhard |url=https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |work=The Financial Times |quote=Erhard tells me that paramilitaries in Northern Ireland had a bit of trouble too, but when they did get it they disarmed as a result.}}</ref>
In 2004, Erhard partnered with [[Harvard Business School]] Professor Emeritus [[Michael C. Jensen]] in writing, lecturing, and teaching classes on integrity, leadership,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Douglas E. |title=In Search of A Moral Foundation For Capitalism |date=November 23, 2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781009434423 |quote=The first signs of a change in his thinking appeared in 2004, when he [Jensen] partnered with Werner Erhard to develop a leadership course that emphasized integrity and authenticity as key conditions for individual thriving as well as institutional effectiveness. Together with Erhard, Jensen developed a positive economic model of integrity and began to circulate it as a working paper for further discussion.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |work=The New York Times |quote=In his ninth decade, he is consumed with his latest mission, putting in 10-hour days lecturing and teaching three courses a year in addition to completing the textbook. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hill |first=Andrew |date=April 28, 2018 |title=Lunch With The FT: Werner Erhard / The Only Way is Ethics |url=https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |work=The Financial Times |quote=Werner Erhard and Michael Jensen look an unlikely pairing but their leadership teaching fits into a broad stream of business education and research about ethics and integrity.}}</ref> and performance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Madden |first=Bartley J. |date=August 28, 2012 |title=Management's Worldview: Four Critical Points about Reality, Language, and Knowledge Building to Improve Organization Performance |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308929551 |journal=Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=334–346 |doi=10.1080/10919392.2012.723586 |quote=Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen, and their Barbados Group colleagues (hereafter EJB) have developed a new paradigm of individual, group, and organizational performance.}}</ref> Erhard's ideas have had an impact in academia and management<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orlitzky |first1=Marc |title=Integrity in Business and Management |last2=Monga |first2=Manjit |date=December 6, 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780367870782 |quote=Werner H. Erhard is a critical thinker who has influenced the academic community worldwide with his revolutionary ideas first expressed in The est Training. He introduced the 20th-Century notion of transformation and has had an enormous impact as a thought leader and humanitarian.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kellaway |first=Lucy |date=April 27, 2012 |title=Lunch with the FT: Werner Erhard |url=https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |journal=The Financial Times |quote=Erhard's influence extends far beyond the couple of million people who have done his courses: there is hardly a self-help book or a management training programme that does not borrow some of his principles. |archive-date=April 13, 2024 |access-date=September 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240413102011/https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |url-status=live }}</ref> and an influence on the culture at large.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |work=The New York Times |quote=In fact, Mr. Erhard casts a fairly long shadow in the culture at large. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Personal life==
John Paul Rosenberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 5, 1935.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|6}}<ref name="Steven M. Tipton 1982, page 176">Steven M. Tipton, ''Getting Saved from the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982, p. 176.</ref> His father was a small-restaurant owner who left [[Judaism]] for a [[Baptist]] mission and then joined his wife in the [[Episcopalian]] denomination<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|6}}<ref name="Steven M. Tipton 1982, page 176"/> where she taught Sunday School.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|6}} They agreed that their son should choose his religion when he was old enough.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|6}} He chose to be baptized in the Episcopal Church, served there for eight years as an acolyte,<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|6}} and has been an Episcopalian since.<ref>{{cite web |first= Dan |last= Wakefield |url= http://www.wernererhard.com/boundary.html |title= Erhard's Life After est Common boundary: March/April 1994 |publisher= wernererhard.com |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100512010211/http://www.wernererhard.com/boundary.html |archive-date= May 12, 2010 |df= mdy-all }}</ref>
Rosenberg attended Norristown High School in [[Norristown, Pennsylvania]], where he received the English award in his senior year.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|25,29}} He graduated in June 1953, along with his future wife Patricia Fry,<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|30}} whom he married on September 26, 1953;<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|40}} they had four children.<ref name="Bartley" />{{page needed|date=November 2017}}
In 1960, Rosenberg deserted his wife and their children in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodgers |first=Ann |date=16 July 1983 |title=Life Training or Brainwashing? EST: The Story Behind Erhard Seminar Training |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/concord-monitor/170397799/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=Concord Monitor |pages=13}} and {{Cite news |date=16 July 1983 |title=EST |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/concord-monitor/170397911/ |work=Concord Monitor |pages=14 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Rosenberg and June Bryde assumed false identities and traveled to Indianapolis.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|57}} He chose the name "Werner Hans Erhard" from ''Esquire'' magazine articles he had read about West German economics minister [[Ludwig Erhard]] and physicist [[Werner Heisenberg]].<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|57–58}} Bryde changed her name to Ellen Virginia Erhard.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|53}} The Erhards moved to St. Louis, where Werner took a job as a car salesman.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|54,55}}
Patricia Rosenberg and their four children initially relied on welfare and help from family and friends. After five years without contact, Patricia Rosenberg divorced Erhard for desertion and remarried.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|226}}
In October 1972, a year after creating [[Erhard Seminars Training]], Erhard contacted his first wife and family, arranged to provide support and college education for the children, and repaid Patricia's parents for their financial support.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|335}} Between 1973 and 1975, members of his extended family took the est training, and Patricia and his younger siblings took jobs in the est organization.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|242,243}}
==Career==
===''Parents'' Magazine Cultural Institute===
From the early mid-1950s until 1960, Rosenberg worked in various automobile dealerships, with a stint managing a medium-duty industrial equipment firm.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|42}} In 1961, Erhard began selling correspondence courses in the Midwest. He then moved to [[Spokane, Washington]],<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|85}} where he worked at [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'s [[Great Books of the Western World|"Great Books"]] program as an area training manager. In January 1962, he began working at ''Parents'' Magazine Cultural Institute, a division of [[W. R. Grace & Co.]]<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|112}}<ref>''The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients'', by Ellen M. Shapiro</ref> In the summer of 1962, he became territorial manager for California, Nevada, and Arizona, and moved to San Francisco, and in the spring of 1963 moved to Los Angeles.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|82–106}} In January 1964, ''Parents'' transferred him to Arlington, Virginia as the southeast division manager, but after a dispute with the company's president, he returned to his previous position as west coast division manager in San Francisco.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|53}}{{rp|117–138}} Over the next few years, Erhard brought on as ''Parents'' staff many people who later became important in est, including Elaine Cronin, Gonneke Spits, and Laurel Scheaf.
===Influences===
<!-- This section title is linked to in the Erhard Seminars Training article. If you remove or rename it, please update the Erhard Seminars Training article accordingly.-->
Erhard acknowledges many influences on his development, including a variety of experiences.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moreno |first=Jonathan D. |title=Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network |date=October 14, 2014 |publisher=Bellevue Literary Press |isbn=978-1934137840 |quote=“Erhard had gone through a variety of experiences and acknowledges a wide range of influences on the way to his transformation, including many self-enrichment texts, hypnosis, Zen Buddhism, physics, the psychology of Maslow and Rogers, Dianetics, Mind Dynamics, and more.”}}</ref> He did not have much formal education and was [[Autodidacticism|self-educated]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bennis |first=Warren |title=Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership |date=August 16, 2010 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=978-0470432389 |quote=“He didn’t have much formal higher education, but the man I came to know in San Francisco was an impressive autodidact.”}}</ref> He became interested in physics in high school<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bartley |first=William Warren |title=Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est |date=December 12, 1988 |publisher=Clarkson Potter |isbn= 978-0517535028 |quote=“Werner returned to Norristown High to complete his senior year… Except for his English and physics classes, however, he was no longer much interested in school. His attention was elsewhere.”}}</ref> and later developed friendships with Nobel Laureates [[Richard Feynman]] and [[Murray Gell-Mann]], from whom he gained knowledge of theoretical physics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bennis |first=Warren |title=Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership |date=August 16, 2010 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=978-0470432389 |quote=“He was especially knowledgeable about theoretical physics, largely as a result of his friendship with such distinguished thinkers as Nobel laureates Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann.”}}</ref> Erhard also credits being tutored by philosophers [[Michel Foucault]], [[Humberto Maturana]], [[Karl Popper]], and [[Hilary Putnam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=David L. |title=The Predicament: How Did It Happen? How Bad Is It? The Case For Radical Change Now! |date=January 1, 2013 |publisher=The Predicament: How Did It Happen? How Bad Is It? The Case For Radical Change Now! Sic Itur Ad Astra Publishers |isbn=978-0988872806 |quote="Werner also credits tutoring by Richard Feynman, Michel Foucault, Humberto Maturana, Sir Karl Popper, and Hilary Putnam."}}</ref>
During his time in St. Louis in the 1960s, Erhard read two books that had a marked effect on him: [[Napoleon Hill]]'s ''[[Think and Grow Rich]]'' (1937) and [[Maxwell Maltz]]'s ''[[Psycho-Cybernetics]]'' (1960).<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|122}} 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]], he became more interested in personal fulfillment than sales success.<ref name="Lewis2001" />
After moving to Sausalito, he attended seminars by [[Alan Watts]], a Western interpreter of [[Zen Buddhism]], who introduced him to the distinction between mind and self;<ref name="Lewis2001" /> Erhard subsequently became close friends with Watts.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|117–138}} Erhard also studied in Japan with Zen rōshi [[Yamada Mumon]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rawlinson|first1=Andrew|title=The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions|date=December 31, 1998|publisher=Open Court|isbn=978-0812693102|page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofenlightene00rawl/page/261 261]|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofenlightene00rawl|url-access=registration}}</ref> In Bartley's biography, ''[[Werner Erhard (book)|Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est]]'' (1978), Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging [[Zen]] as an essential contribution that "created the space for" est.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|146,147}}
Erhard attended the [[Dale Carnegie|Dale Carnegie Course]] in 1967.<ref name="Lewis2001" /> He was sufficiently impressed by it to make his staff attend the course, and began to think about developing a course of his own.<ref name="Lewis2001" /> Over the following years, he investigated a wide range of movements, including [[Encounter group|Encounter]], [[Transactional Analysis]], [[Enlightenment Intensive]], [[Subud]] and [[Scientology]].<ref name="Lewis2001">{{cite book|editor=[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]]|author=Kay Holzinger|title=Odd gods: new religions & the cult controversy|chapter=Erhard Seminars Training (est) and The Forum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y7XAAAAMAAJ|access-date=November 18, 2010|date=February 1, 2001|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1-57392-842-7}}</ref>
In 1970, Erhard became involved in [[Mind Dynamics]] and began teaching his own version of Mind Dynamics classes in San Francisco and Los Angeles.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|136–137}} The directors of Mind Dynamics eventually invited him into their partnership, but Erhard rejected the offer, saying he would rather develop his own seminar program—est, the first program of which he conducted in October 1971.<ref name="Bartley" />{{rp|178}} John Hanley, who later founded [[Lifespring]], was also involved at this time. In their 1992 book ''Perspectives on the New Age'', [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] and [[J. Gordon Melton]] write that Mind Dynamics, est, and LifeSpring have "striking" similarities, as all used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules," require applause from participants, and deemphasize reason in favor of emotion. The authors also describe graduates recruiting heavily on behalf of the companies, thereby eliminating marketing expenses.<ref name=melton>{{cite book| last1 = Melton| first1 = J. Gordon| author-link = J. Gordon Melton| last2 = Lewis| first2 = James R.| author-link2 = James R. Lewis (scholar)| title = Perspectives on the New Age| publisher = SUNY Press| year = 1992| pages = 129–132| isbn = 0-7914-1213-X| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U1werz4a1BIC&pg=PA129| access-date = August 5, 2021| archive-date = September 29, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230929150415/https://books.google.com/books?id=U1werz4a1BIC&pg=PA129| url-status = live}}</ref>
In the early 1980s, shortly before the est training was phased out, Erhard was introduced to the work of philosopher [[Martin Heidegger]]. He consulted with the Heideggerian scholars [[Hubert Dreyfus]] and Michael E. Zimmerman, who noted commonalities between est training and elements of Heidegger's thought.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hyde |first1=Bruce |title=Speaking Being: Werner Erhard, Martin Heidegger, and a New Possibility of Being Human |last2=Kopp |first2=Drew |date=August 6, 2019 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1119549901 |quote=“During the transition to The Forum…[Erhard] was introduced to the work of the twentieth-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Erhard was taken with the way Heidegger’s thinking reverberated with his own, and he consulted with several Heideggerian scholars on the subject. Two of them – Hubert Dreyfus and Michael E. Zimmerman of Tulane – provided formal assessments of the est Training’s effectiveness and noted its consistencies with elements of Heidegger’s thought.”}}</ref>
===est (1971–1984)===
{{main|Erhard Seminars Training}}
Starting in 1971, est, short for Erhard Seminars Training and Latin for "it is", offered in-depth personal and professional development workshops, the initial program of which was called "The est Training".<ref name="book-of-est">{{cite book|last1=Rhinehart|first1=Luke|title=The Book of est|date=1976|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston}}</ref> The est Training's purpose was to transform the way one sees and makes sense of life so that the situations one had been trying to change or tolerating clear up in the process of living itself.<ref name="Steven M. Tipton 1982, page 176" /> The point was to leave participants free to be, while increasing their effectiveness and the quality of their lives.<ref name="The est Standard Training">{{cite journal|last1=Erhard|first1=Werner|last2=Gloscia|first2=Victor|title=The ''est'' Standard Training|url=https://archive.org/details/TheEstStandardTraining|journal=Biosciences Communications|date=1977|volume=3|pages=104–122}}</ref> The est Training was experiential and transformational in nature.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The est Experience|last=Kettle|first=James|publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation|year=1976|isbn=978-0890831687|___location=New York|pages=51, 52}}</ref>
The workshops were offered until 1984, when the est training was replaced by the Forum. As of 1984, 700,000 people had completed the est training.<ref name="believermag"/> American ethicist, philosopher, and historian [[Jonathan D. Moreno]] has described the est training as "the most important cultural event after the human potential movement itself seemed exhausted"<ref name="J.D. Moreno">{{cite book | last1 = Moreno | first1 = Jonathan D. | author-link1 = Jonathan D. Moreno | chapter = | title = Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network | date = September 22, 2014 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=59-hDwAAQBAJ | edition = 1 | ___location = New York | publisher = Bellevue Literary Press | publication-date = 2014 | page = | isbn = 9781934137857 | access-date = 7 March 2021 | quote = | archive-date = September 29, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230929174832/https://books.google.com/books?id=59-hDwAAQBAJ | url-status = live }}</ref> and a form of "Socratic interrogation". Erhard challenged participants to be themselves and live in the present<ref name="Hargrove">{{Cite book|title=est: Making Life Work|last=Hargrove|first=Robert|publisher=Dell Books|year=1976|isbn=978-0440195566|___location=New York|pages=127}}</ref> instead of playing a role imposed on them<ref name="J.D. Moreno" /> by their past, and to move beyond their current points of view into a perspective from which they could observe their own positionality.<ref name="J.D. Moreno" /> The author Robert Hargrove said "you're going to notice that things do begin to clear up, just in the process of life itself".<ref name="Hargrove" />
The first est course was held in San Francisco, California, in October 1971.<ref name=sf>{{cite news|title=hotel to hospital – farewell to S.F. era|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=Oct 31, 2009}}</ref> By the mid-1970s Erhard had trained 10 others to lead est courses.<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{rp|385}} Between 1972 and 1974 est centers opened in Los Angeles, Aspen, Honolulu, and New York City.<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{rp|385}}
===Werner Erhard Foundation (1973–1991)===
In the early 1970s, the est Foundation became the Werner Erhard Foundation,<ref name=foundation>{{cite web |url=http://wernererhardfoundation.org/ |title=Werner Erhard Foundation |publisher=Werner Erhard Foundation |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325231717/http://wernererhardfoundation.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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." The Foundation supported projects launched by people committed to altering what is possible for humanity, such as The Hunger Project, The Mastery Foundation, The Holiday Project, and the Youth at Risk Program, programs that continue to be active. It also organized presentations by scholars and humanitarians such as the Dalai Lama and Buckminster Fuller<ref name=foundation /> and hosted an annual conference in theoretical physics, a science in which Erhard was especially interested.<ref name="susskind191">{{cite book|last=Susskind|first=Leonard|title=The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics|url=https://archive.org/details/blackholewarmyba00suss_585|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=Back Bay Books|isbn= 978-0-316-01641-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/blackholewarmyba00suss_585/page/n197 191]}}</ref> The annual conference was designed to give physicists an opportunity to work with their colleagues on what they were developing before they published, and was attended by such physicists as [[Richard Feynman]], [[Stephen Hawking]],<ref name="susskind191"/> and [[Leonard Susskind]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Physics Conferences |url=https://wernererhardfoundation.org/physics.html |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=wernererhardfoundation.org |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130104002/https://wernererhardfoundation.org/physics.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
===The Hunger Project===
{{main|The Hunger Project}}
In 1977, with the support of [[John Denver]], former Oberlin College president [[Robert W. Fuller]], and others, Erhard founded The Hunger Project, a nonprofit NGO, with the goal of "ending world hunger by 1997".<ref>{{cite news|title=Kellys end bike for hunger|url=https://cdn.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester%20Evening%20Hearld_1983-07-25.pdf|newspaper=Manchester Herald|date=25 July 1983|page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Strategic Marketing of Volunteer Programs for Social Causes|url=https://ellisarchive.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/Strat%20Marketing.pdf|journal=The Journal of Volunteer Administration|issue=Winter 1983-84|page=27|publisher=Association of Volunteer Administration}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gordon |first1=Suzanne |title=Let them eat est |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/08/hunger-artist/ |website=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |access-date=10 August 2025 |date=December 1978 |volume=3 |number=10 |pages=40–44, 49–50, 52–54 |archive-date=28 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428075309/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/08/hunger-artist/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The origin of the Hunger Project can be seen in the 1977 source document "The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come", written by Erhard.<ref>[http://www.wernererhard.net/thpsource.html The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327024732/http://www.wernererhard.net/thpsource.html |date=March 27, 2019 }}, The Hunger Project</ref> In 1991 the organization severed its ties to Werner Erhard, [[Erhard Seminars Training]], and its philosophies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000748.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507234919/http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000748.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2004|title=The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the Internet|publisher=Cult News|author=Rick Ross|author-link=Rick Ross (consultant)|date=10 April 2004|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000754.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040503210745/http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000754.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 May 2004|title=Leader of controversial organization with ties to "cult-like" group tapped by UN Task Force to help cure world hunger|publisher=Cult News|author=Rick Ross|date=26 April 2004|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref>
===Werner Erhard and Associates (1981–1991) and "The Forum"===
{{further|Werner Erhard and Associates}}
In the 1980s, Erhard created a new program called the [[Werner Erhard and Associates|Forum]], which began in January 1985. Also during that period he developed and presented a series of seminars, broadcast via satellite, that included interviews with contemporary thinkers in science, economics, sports, and the arts on topics such as creativity, performance, and money.
In October 1987, Erhard hosted a televised broadcast with sports coaches [[John Wooden]], [[Red Auerbach]], [[Timothy Gallwey|Tim Gallwey]] and [[George E. Allen|George Allen]] to discuss principles of coaching across all disciplines. They sought to identify distinctions found in coaching regardless of the subject being coached. [[Jim Selman]] moderated the discussion and, in 1989, documented the outcome in the article "Coaching and the Art of Management."<ref>Sourcebook of Coaching History, Vikki G Brock PhD., 2012</ref>
===
During the 1990s, Erhard lectured and led programs in various locations, including Russia, Japan, and Ireland. He had a three-year contract to give courses to Soviet managers that would allow Soviet officials to study his teaching methods.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greenberger |first=Robert |date=December 3, 1986 |title=East meets Est: The Soviets discover Werner Erhard |journal=The Wall Street Journal |quote=Mr. Erhard gave a five-day course to about 60 Soviet managers in the workers' state, his first seminar under a three-year contract that also will allow Soviet officials to study his teaching methods in the U.S. |via=}}</ref> He consulted for both businesses and government agencies in Russia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |work=The New York Times |quote=Mr. Erhard consulted for businesses and government agencies like the Russian adult-education program the Znaniye Society and a nonprofit organization supporting clergy in Ireland. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Kellaway |first=Lucy |date=April 22, 2021 |title=Lunch With The FT: Werner Erhard |url=https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |quote=Erhard tells me that paramilitaries in Northern Ireland had a bit of trouble too, but when they did get it they disarmed as a result. He also worked with members of the first Russian parliament in 1993. |archive-date=September 26, 2024 |access-date=September 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926131644/https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 1990s he conducted seminars in Japan for professionals coping with their financial crisis.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |quote=he conducted seminars for professionals coping with Japan’s financial crisis of the early 1990s. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1999, Erhard and Peter Block worked with a nonprofit organization for clergy and grassroots leaders to come up with new ways to deal with the peace process in Ireland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Locke |first=Bill |date=January 31, 2018 |title=A Conversation with Peter Block |url=https://www.kolbetimes.com/peter-block/ |work=Kolbe Times |quote=In 1999, he and Werner Erhard developed The Ireland Initiative, working with clergy and grassroots leaders to develop new thinking and new conversations. |archive-date=September 30, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930142545/https://www.kolbetimes.com/peter-block/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Erhard and Michael C. Jensen, Professor of Business Administration emeritus, led seminars and training sessions at Harvard.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leeson |first=Robert |title=Hayek, A Collaborative Biography |date=May 14, 2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0230301122 |quote=Erhard organized and led Harvard seminars and training sessions in association with Michael Jensen, Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School}}</ref> They also explored the relationship between integrity and performance in a paper published at Harvard Business School.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kerr |first=James |title=Legacy |date=December 17, 2013 |publisher=Constable & Robinson |isbn=978-1472103536 |quote=In a paper published at Harvard Business School, Michael C. Jensen, Werner Erhard, and Steve Zaffron explore the relationship between integrity and performance.}}</ref>
Erhard and Jensen developed and led a course on leadership<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |work=The New York Times |quote=Dr. Jensen developed an experiential course on integrity in leadership at the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester. The class was offered there for five years, with Mr. Erhard signing on as an instructor during its third year. It has since been taught at several universities around the world as well as at the United States Air Force Academy. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref> that took an experience-based, rather than knowledge-based, approach to leadership. Students were asked to master integrity and authenticity, among other principles, so that they could leave the class as leaders rather than merely learning about leadership.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=November 28, 2015 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |work=The New York Times |quote=Briefly, the course, which owes ideological debts to the Forum and to the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, takes an experience-based, rather than knowledge-based, approach to its subject. Students master principles like integrity and authenticity in order to leave the class acting as leaders instead of merely knowing about leadership. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |access-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The course has been taught at several universities worldwide as well as at the [[United States Air Force Academy]].<ref name=":2" />
=== Landmark Education ===
{{main|Landmark Worldwide}}
In 1991, the group that later formed [[Landmark Education]] purchased Erhard's intellectual property. In 1998, ''Time'' magazine published an article<ref name="timearticle">{{cite magazine| url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html| title=The Best Of Est?| magazine=TIME| date=June 24, 2001| first=Charlotte| last=Faltermayer| access-date=October 13, 2020| archive-date=October 19, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019210524/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html| url-status=live}}</ref> about Landmark Education and its historical connection to Erhard. The article stated: "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." According to Landmark Education, its programs have as their basis ideas originally developed by Erhard, but Erhard has no financial interest, ownership, or management role in Landmark Education.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=658 |title=Landmark Education, media Q&A |publisher=Landmarkeducation.com |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213154/http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=26&mid=658 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In ''Stephanie Ney v. Landmark Education Corporation'' (1994), a court ruled that Landmark Education Corporation did not have successor-liability to Werner Erhard & Associates, the corporation whose assets it purchased.<ref>Appendix A. Text of Court Ruling in Ney Case – Source: LEXIS-NEXIS – STEPHANIE NEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LANDMARK EDUCATION CORPORATION; RON ZELLER, Defendants-Appellees, and WERNER ERHARD; WERNER ERHARD AND ASSOCIATES; PETER SIAS, Defendants. – No. 92-1979 – UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT – 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 2373</ref><ref name="pressman-dark"/>{{rp|262}}
According to [[Steven Pressman]]'s 1993 book ''[[Outrageous Betrayal]]'', Landmark Education agreed to pay Erhard a long-term licensing fee for the material used in [[Werner Erhard and Associates|the Forum]] and other courses: "Erhard stood to earn up to $15 million over the next 18 years."<ref name="pressman-dark"/>{{rp|253–255}} But 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)."<ref>Declaration filed May 5, 2005 at the US District Court of New Jersey, civil action 04-3022 (JCL), pp 3 and 4</ref>{{primary source inline|date=August 2021}}
In 2001, ''New York Magazine'' reported that Landmark Education CEO Harry Rosenberg said that the company had bought Erhard's license outright and his rights to the business in Japan and Mexico.<ref name="paymoney">[https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/ Pay Money, Be Happy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521161035/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/ |date=May 21, 2011 }}, ''New York Magazine'', [[Vanessa Grigoriadis]], July 9, 2001.</ref> From time to time, Erhard acts as a consultant to Landmark Education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.landmarkeducation.com/OVERVW/cntrvrsy/default.htm |title=Landmark Education website |date=February 10, 2002 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020210075416/http://www.landmarkeducation.com/OVERVW/cntrvrsy/default.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2002 }}</ref>
== Critics and disputes ==
Erhard became the object of popular fascination and criticism, with the media tending to portray him unfavorably for several decades.<ref name="J.D. Moreno" /> Moreno has written, "Allegations of all sorts of personal and financial wrongdoing were hurled at him, none of which were borne out and some [of which] were even publicly retracted by major media organizations."<ref name="J.D. Moreno" /> Various skeptics have questioned or criticized the validity of Erhard's work and his motivations. Psychiatrist [[Marc Galanter (MD)|Marc Galanter]] called Erhard "a man with no formal experience in mental health, self-help, or religious revivalism, but a background in retail sales".<ref>Marc Galanter: ''[[Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion|Cults: faith, healing, and coercion]]''. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-19-505631-0}}, page 80.</ref> [[Michael E. Zimmerman]], chair of the philosophy department at Tulane University, wrote "A Philosophical Assessment of the est Training",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Zimmerman|first1=Michael E.|author-link=Michael E. Zimmerman|title=est: A Philosophical Appraisal|url=http://www.wernererhard.net/archive.html|access-date=November 15, 2016|archive-date=January 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129225034/http://www.wernererhard.net/archive.html|url-status=live}}</ref> in which he calls Erhard "a kind of artist, a thinker, an inventor, who has big debts to others, borrowed from others, but then put the whole thing together in a way that no one else had ever done."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transformationfilm.com/ |title=Documentary, 2006, Directed by Robyn Symon |publisher=Transformationfilm.com |access-date=2014-04-24 |archive-date=April 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409043304/http://www.transformationfilm.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Sacramento City College philosophy professor Robert Todd Carroll has called est a "hodge-podge of philosophical bits and pieces culled from the carcasses of existential philosophy, [and] motivational psychology."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions |last=Carroll |first=Roberta |year=2004 |publisher=John Wiley&Sons |isbn=978-0-471-48088-4 |page=126}}</ref> Social critic John Bassett MacCleary called Erhard "a former used-car salesman" and est "just another moneymaking scam."<ref>MacCleary, John Bassett. (2004), The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s, Page 165., Ten Speed Press, {{ISBN|1-58008-547-4}}</ref> NYU psychology professor Paul Vitz called est "primarily a business" and said its "style of operation has been labeled as fascist."<ref>Vitz, Paul C. (1994). Psychology As Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 26. {{ISBN|0-8028-0725-9}}.</ref>
In 1991, Erhard "vanished amid reports of tax fraud (which proved false and won him $200,000 from the IRS<ref name="Lunch with the FT: Werner Erhard">{{cite news |title=Lunch with the FT: Werner Erhard |newspaper=The Financial Times |date=April 28, 2012 |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a.html#axzz1vd1c5s7a |quote=Erhard is an autodidact… Jensen is an emeritus professor at Harvard Business School… Together they are writing academic articles and touring the world’s best universities. |access-date=May 23, 2012 |archive-date=June 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625025153/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a.html#axzz1vd1c5s7a |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=faltermayer />) and allegations of incest (which were later recanted)."<ref>{{cite magazine|url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html|title= The Best of est?|author= Charlotte Faltermayer|magazine= [[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date= June 24, 2001|access-date= November 3, 2012|archive-date= November 2, 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141102121304/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html|url-status= live}}</ref> The March 3, 1991, episode of ''[[60 Minutes]]'' covered these allegations and was later removed by CBS due to factual inaccuracies.<ref name="believermag">{{cite news|last=Snider|first=Susan |url=https://believermag.com/est-werner-erhard-and-the-corporatization-of-self-help/ |title=Est, Werner Erhard and The Corporatization of Self-Help |work=[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]] |access-date=August 2, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806045536/http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=article_snider |archivedate=August 6, 2007 | quote = By shedding the overt Erhard association with the program (occasionally Erhard still consults, the Forum admits), the Forum moved toward establishing itself as a common passage for the upwardly mobile young (or even not-so-young) adult, as well as for the fringe element it had always succeeded in catching.}}</ref> On March 3, 1992, Erhard sued CBS, ''San Jose Mercury News'' reporter John Hubner and approximately 20 other defendants for libel, defamation, slander, invasion of privacy, and conspiracy.<ref name="estfounder">{{cite news | last =San Jose Mercury News staff | title =Est Founder sues critics: suit names Mercury News writer | work =[[San Jose Mercury News]] | date =April 7, 1992|page=8B }}</ref><ref name="estgurusues">{{cite news | last =United Press International staff | title =EST guru sues CBS, Enquirer, Hustler | work =[[United Press International]] | page =Domestic News | date =March 4, 1992 }}</ref> On May 20, 1992, he filed for dismissal of his own case and sent each of the defendants $100 to cover their filing fees in the case.<ref name="docket">''Werner Erhard vs. Columbia Broadcasting System'', (Filed: March 3, 1992) Case Number: 1992-L-002687. Division: Law Division. District: First Municipal. [[Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County|Cook County Circuit Court]], Chicago, Illinois.</ref> Erhard told [[Larry King]] in an interview that he dropped the suit after receiving legal advice telling him that in order to win it, he would have to prove not just that CBS knew the allegations were false but that CBS acted with [[malice (legal term)|malice]].<ref name=Westword>{{cite magazine|author=Steve Jackson |url=https://www.westword.com/1996-04-18/news/it-happens/8/ |title=It Happens – Page 8 – News – Denver |magazine=Westword |access-date=November 13, 2011}}</ref> Erhard told King that his family members<ref name="faltermayer">{{cite magazine | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html | title=The Best Of Est? | first=Charlotte | last=Faltermayer | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=June 24, 2001 | access-date=September 28, 2007 | archive-date=November 2, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102121304/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> had since retracted their allegations, which according to Erhard had been made under pressure from the ''60 Minutes'' producer.<ref name=Westword />
Erhard's daughters retracted the allegations of sexual abuse they had made against him.<ref name=nymag>{{cite news | last =Grigoriadis | first =Vanessa | title =Pay Money, Be Happy | periodical =[[New York (magazine)|New York]] | publisher =New York Media Holdings | date =July 9, 2001 | url =https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/ | access-date =November 12, 2010 | archive-date =May 21, 2011 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110521161035/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/4932/ | url-status =live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html|title=The Best Of est|author=Charlotte Faltermayer|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=June 24, 2001|access-date=October 13, 2020|archive-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019210524/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138763,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Celeste Erhard, one of the daughters featured on ''60 Minutes'', sued Hubner and the ''San Jose Mercury News'' for $2 million,<ref name="noharm">{{cite news|work=[[San Jose Mercury News]]|title=$2 million suit against MN dismissed – No harm to Erhard's daughter seen|date=August 14, 1993 |last=Fischer|first=Jack|page=6B|___location=California}}</ref> accusing the newspaper of having "defrauded her and invaded her privacy",<ref name="noharm" /> saying she had exaggerated information, been promised a $2 million book deal, and appeared on ''60 Minutes'' to get publicity for the book.<ref name="noharm" /><ref>"Daughter of est founder sues Mercury News over two articles", ''[[San Jose Mercury News]]'', July 16, 1992</ref> Celeste claimed that her quotes in the ''Mercury News'' article were deceitfully obtained.<ref name="endsin">{{cite news|work=[[San Jose Mercury News]]|date=January 14, 1994|title=Suit against MN ends in paper's favor|page=2B}}</ref> The case was dismissed in August 1993, the judge ruling that the statute of limitations had expired, that Celeste "had suffered no monetary damages or physical harm and that she failed to present legal evidence that Hubner had deliberately misled her",<ref name="noharm" /> which is legally required for damages.
CBS subsequently withdrew the video of the ''60 Minutes'' program from the market.<ref name="boingboing">{{cite news|work=[[Boing Boing]]|date=August 31, 2009|publisher=boingboing.net|title=Wikileaks re-publishes 60 Minutes piece on est/Landmark cult leader Werner Erhard|last=Jardin|first=Xeni|author-link=Xeni Jardin|url=http://boingboing.net/2009/08/31/suppressed-60-minute.html|access-date=October 27, 2010|archive-date=June 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603222102/http://boingboing.net/2009/08/31/suppressed-60-minute.html|url-status=live}}</ref> A disclaimer said, "this segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons".<ref name="believermag"/>
In 1992, a court entered a default judgment of $380,000 against Erhard in absentia in a case alleging negligent injury.<ref name="pressman-dark">{{cite book | first=Steven | last=Pressman | author-link=Steven Pressman | title=Outrageous Betrayal | publisher=St Martin's Press| year=1993 | isbn=0-312-09296-2| title-link=Outrageous Betrayal }}</ref>{{rp|262}} The appellate court stated that he had not been personally served and was not present at the trial.<ref name=appeal>[[Wikisource:Ney v. Landmark Education Corporation and Werner Erhard]]</ref>
In 1993, Erhard filed a wrongful disclosure lawsuit against the IRS, asserting that IRS agents had incorrectly and illegally revealed details of his tax returns to the media.<ref name="leaderofest" /> In April 1991, IRS spokesmen were widely quoted alleging 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".<ref name="leaderofest" /> On April 15, the IRS was reported to have placed a lien of $6.7 million on Erhard's personal property.<ref>{{cite news|title=IRS starts liening on Werner Erhard|work=Chicago Sun-Times|date=April 15, 1991|___location=Chicago, Illinois}}</ref> In his suit, Erhard stated that he had never refused to pay taxes that were lawfully due,<ref name="leaderofest" /> and in September 1996 he won the suit. The IRS paid him $200,000 in damages. While admitting that the media reports quoting the IRS on Erhard's tax liabilities had been false, the IRS took no action to have the media correct those statements.<ref name="leaderofest">{{cite news|title=Leader of est movement wins $200,000 from IRS|work=Daily News of Los Angeles|date=September 12, 1996|___location=Los Angeles, California|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEADER+OF+EST+MOVEMENT+WINS+$200,000+FROM+IRS.-a083966944|access-date=November 18, 2010|archive-date=October 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017204732/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEADER+OF+EST+MOVEMENT+WINS+$200,000+FROM+IRS.-a083966944|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>"IRS Settles Lawsuit brought by Werner Erhard," ''[[Business Wire]]'', September 11, 1996.</ref>
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 certain graduates of est who had joined Scientology, and that Scientology was clearly in the process of organizing a "media blitz" aimed at discrediting him.<ref name=LAT19911229>{{cite news| url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-29-mn-2102-story.html | work= Los Angeles Times | first= Robert W. | last= Welkos | date= December 29, 1991 | title= Founder of est Targeted in Campaign by Scientologists : Religion: Competition for customers is said to be the motive behind effort to discredit Werner Erhard}}</ref> According to Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg, "Werner made some very, very powerful enemies. They really got him."<ref name=nymag/>
== Impact ==
Erhard's programs have been said to have influenced millions of people's lives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Block |first=Peter |title=Community: The Structure of Belonging |date=2018 |publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-5230-9556-8 |edition=2nd |___location=Oakland |quote=For over 30 years, Werner Erhard has created thinking and learning experiences that have affected millions of people's lives.}}</ref> He has been noted for his impact on broader cultural ideas<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haldeman |first=Peter |date=2015-11-28 |title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |access-date=2025-03-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |quote=In fact, Mr. Erhard casts a fairly long shadow in the culture at large. |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607001506/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and for introducing the modern concept of "transformation".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orlitzky |first1=Marc |title=Integrity in Business and Management |last2=Monga |first2=Manjit |date=December 6, 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0367870782 |pages=xiii |quote=Werner H. Erhard is a critical thinker who has influenced the academic community worldwide with his revolutionary ideas first expressed in The est Training. He introduced the 20th-Century notion of transformation and has had an enormous impact as a thought leader and humanitarian.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thornburgh |first=Nathan |date=March 7, 2011 |title="Change We Can (Almost) Believe In" |url=https://time.com/archive/6595354/change-we-can-almost-believe-in/ |journal=Time Magazine |quote=The American obsession with Transformation isn’t new. It’s about as old as the nation. In the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson preached about tapping into the “infinitude of man.” Norman Vincent Peale was an early bestselling self-help author with The Power of Positive Thinking in 1952. But it was Werner Erhard who created the first modern transformation when he founded est seminars in 1971. |archive-date=March 17, 2025 |access-date=March 8, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317122441/https://time.com/archive/6595354/change-we-can-almost-believe-in/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Erhard is credited with coining or popularizing terms such as "taking a stand" and "making a difference".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kotler |first1=Steven |title=Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work |last2=Wheal |first2=Jamie |date=2017 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0-06-242966-7 |edition=1st |___location= |quote=If you’ve ever hired a personal or executive coach (professions that didn’t exist before the 1970’s), heard some say they “just needed space,” been encouraged to “take a stand,” or “make a difference,” or engaged in a journey of “transformation” around your “personal story” – you’ve come across terms coined or popularized by Erhard and his trainings.}}</ref>
Erhard's teaching methods have been characterized as engaging participants in strong and compassionate ways.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Block |first=Peter |title=Community: the structure of belonging |date=2018 |publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. a BK Business book |isbn=978-1-5230-9556-8 |edition=Second Edition Revised and Updated |___location=Oakland |quote=Werner has developed programs that have touched millions of lives... I have learned from Werner what it looks like to be totally focused on reducing suffering and making a difference in people's lives. His personal generosity and willingness to engage people in strong and compassionate ways is another form that his teaching takes. His thinking has impacted every aspect of my practice and way of being.}}</ref> Participants in his est training, a two-weekend seminar, reported experiencing significant personal changes that they perceived as valuable to their lives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sobel |first=Eliezer |date=October 25, 2011 |title=40th Anniversary of the "est" Training |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-99th-monkey/201110/40th-anniversary-the-est-training |journal=Psychology Today |quote=But there are also far more people in the world, by a long shot, who are among the million or so participants that attended Erhard's training who were thrilled by the results they received.}}</ref> Sixteen independent studies documented high rates of satisfaction among attendees of his seminars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wakefield |first=Dan |title=Spiritually Incorrect: Finding God in All the Wrong Places |date=October 1, 2003 |publisher=SkyLight Paths |isbn=978-1893361881 |quote=Yet over the past 22 years more than a million people around the globe – including business executives, NASA officials, juvenile delinquents, government bureaucrats, federal prisoners, and mainstream religious leaders – have done Erhard’s seminars, and 16 independent studies have reported a high rate of satisfaction.}}</ref>
Organizations such as [[Microsoft]] and [[NASA]] used some of Erhard's later teachings in personal development programs designed to "optimize human capital".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kotler |first1=Steven |title=Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work |last2=Wheal |first2=Jamie |date=May 8, 2018 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0-06-242966-7 |edition=1st |___location= |quote=While est itself made an impact, with almost one million people going through those original seminars, Landmark, the latest incarnation of Erhard teachings, boasts corporate clients including Microsoft, NASA, Reebok, and Lululemon. Personal development, which only a few decades ago had been mocked and marginalized, has become a credible way to “optimize human capital” at some of the country’s most successful organizations.}}</ref> Management training programs and self-help books have also referenced his work.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-04-27 |title=Lunch with the FT: Werner Erhard |url=https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |access-date=2025-03-08 |work=Financial Times |quote=Erhard’s influence extends far beyond the couple of million people who have done his courses: there is hardly a self-help book or a management training programme that does not borrow some of his principles. |archive-date=September 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926131644/https://www.ft.com/content/feb214a8-8f88-11e1-98b1-00144feab49a |url-status=live }}</ref>
Erhard has been described as an influential figure in the field of coaching.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Joseph |title=How Coaching Works: The Essential Guide to the History and Practice of Effective Coaching |date=2009 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |others=Andrea Lages |isbn=978-0-7136-8261-8 |___location=London |quote=Werner Erhard has been described as the second most important influencer of coaching of all time.}}</ref> Many pioneers in coaching during the 1970s are reported to have participated in his programs or to have known him personally.<ref>{{Cite book |last=English |first=Susan |title=Professional Coaching: Principles and Practice |date=2018 |publisher=Springer Publishing Company |others=Janice Manzi Sabatine, Philip Brownell |isbn=978-0-8261-8008-7 |edition=1st |___location=New York |quote=Many key pioneers in coaching participated in Erhard's programs and/or were his friends. For example, Tim Gallwey (The Inner Game of Coaching) coached Werner Erhard in tennis. Ken Blanchard (The One Minute Manager) and Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline) were personal friends, and Warren Bennis (leadership guru and author of On Becoming a Leader) took est in 1979 in London and advised Erhard in the 1980s. Sir John Whitmore (Coaching for Performance, 1992) brought Erhard to the United Kingdom in May 1974.}}</ref>
==Works==
* [https://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235126#tabview=toc ''Creating Leaders: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model''] with Michael C. Jensen, Chapter 16 in Handbook For Teaching Leadership: Knowing, Doing, and Being, edited by Scott A. Snook, Rakesh Khurana, and Nitin Nohria, Harvard Business School. SAGE Publications, 2012
*[https://ssrn.com/abstract=2207782 ''Four Ways of Being that Create the Foundations of A Great Personal Life, Great Leadership and A Great Organization''] with Michael C. Jensen, Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, emeritus Harvard Business School, 2013
*[https://archive.org/details/NothingIsSoPowerfualAsAnIdeaWhoseTimeHasCome-TheHungerProject ''The Hunger Project Source Document, The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come''] 1977
*[https://ssrn.com/abstract=920625&rec=1&srcabs=1542759&alg=1&pos=5 ''Integrity: A Positive Model that Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics and Legality''] with Michael C. Jensen, and Steve Zaffron. Harvard Business School NOM Working Paper No. 06-11; Barbados Group Working Paper No. 06-03; Simon School Working Paper No. FR 08–05.
*[https://ssrn.com/abstract=1985594 ''Putting Integrity Into Finance: A Purely Positive Approach''] with [[Michael C. Jensen]]. Journal: Capitalism and Society, Issue 12, Volume 1, May 2017; National Bureau of Economic Research ([[NBER]]) #19986, March 2014;[82] European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) Finance Working Paper No. 417/2014; and [[Harvard Law School]] Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.
==See also==
* [[Large-group awareness training]]
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
*Bartley, William Warren III: [[Werner Erhard (book)|''Werner Erhard The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est'', New York: Clarkson N. Potter Inc.]] (1978) {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}.
*''Speaking Being: Werner Erhard, Martin Heidegger, and a New Possibility of Being Human'', Hyde, Bruce and Drew Kopp: [[Wiley Publishing|Wiley]] (2019) {{ISBN|978-1119549901}}.
*[http://wernererhard.net/beingwell.html "Being Well"] Chapter 5 in ''Beyond Health and Normality: Explorations of Exceptional Psychological Well-Being'', edited by Roger Walsh and Deane H. Shapiro Jr., Van Nostrand. 1983.
*[http://wernererhard.net/communication.html "est: Communication in a Context of Compassion"] with Victor Gioscia, ''The Journal of Current Psychiatric Therapies'', Volume 18. 1978.
*[http://wernererhard.net/standardtraining.html ''The est Standard Training''] with Victor Gioscia. Biosciences Communication 3:104-122. 1977.
==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://wernererhard.net }}
{{Werner Erhard}}
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[[Category:Werner Erhard| ]]
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Episcopalians from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American people of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:MIT Sloan School of Management faculty]]
[[Category:People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Writers from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Human Potential Movement]]
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