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Landmark's curriculum and an external link to the Syllabus - a point of reference for evaluation, analysis and discussion.
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Since that time, the Vanto Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."<!-- <ref>[http://www.amazines.com/Landmark_Education_related.html Landmark Education information]. </ref>
Since that time, the Vanto Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."<!-- <ref>[http://www.amazines.com/Landmark_Education_related.html Landmark Education information]. </ref>
This ref is not adequate. [citation needed] tag located within the ref and other cites within it are broken links. Non-verifiable. -->
This ref is not adequate. [citation needed] tag located within the ref and other cites within it are broken links. Non-verifiable. -->
==Curriculum==

As an international training and development organization, Landmark offers courses and programs conducted by leaders who have completed intensive training. The overall curriculum is richly developed, as the array of courses and programs indicates.
===The Landmark Forum===
This is the foundation course on which the fundamental distinctions of all the coursework is based. As the foundation, the ''Landmark Forum'' stands on its own independently of the other courses and programs in the core curriculum. The subsequent coursework develops and deepens the results participants generate for themselves by engaging in the fundamental distinctions. The [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/menu.jsp?bottom=62&mid=59&top=21 syllabus] for the ''Landmark Forum'' is available for download in PDF form, making the foundation material freely available for evaluation, analysis and discussion. Readers should keep in mind that reading and even understanding the material presented in the syllabus cannot be expected to produce the results generated by participation in programs and coursework.
===Core Curriculum and Other Programs and Courses===
The core curriculum is a set of four mutually synergistic courses beginning with the ''Landmark Forum'' and including the ''Landmark Forum in Action Series'', the ''Advanced Course'', and the ''Self Expression and Leadership Program''. As of June, 2009, the Landmark Education web site describes other programs and courses including the ''Landmark Seminar Program'', the ''Communication Courses'', the ''Wisdom Courses'', the ''Family Coaching Session'' and the ''Leadership and Assisting Programs.''
== Evaluations of Landmark Education ==
== Evaluations of Landmark Education ==
Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published and word-of-mouth
Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published and word-of-mouth

Revision as of 07:08, 25 June 2009

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

Mick Leavitt: President; Director
Steven Zaffron: Director;[2] CEO, The Vanto Group
Art Schreiber: General Counsel; Chairman, BOD; Director[2]
Joan Rosenberg: Vice President, Centers Division; Director

Nancy Zapolski: Vice President, Course Development
ProductsThe Landmark Forum, associated coursework
RevenueIncreaseUSD$90 million (2007)[3]
Number of employees
450+ employees;[3]
800 trained leaders, some of whom volunteer their time;[4][failed verification]
SubsidiariesThe Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development or LEBD, from 1993-2007)
Landmark Education International, Inc.[5]
Tekniko Licensing Corporation
Rancord Company, Ltd.
WebsiteLandmark Education homepage

Landmark Education LLC (LE) is a personal training and development company which offers self help programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide, including major cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Toronto.[3][6][7][8]

An employee-owned, private company, it has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. Landmark Education delivers its courses primarily to individuals in a group setting.[3] The company's standard introductory course is The Landmark Forum.

Landmark Education had its origins in the purchase[9] of the intellectual property of Werner Erhard, who founded the 70's phenomenon of est.[10] Since its founding in 1991, Landmark Education has developed other courses. Its subsidiary the Vanto Group (formerly Landmark Education Business Development, or LEBD, from 1993-2007), markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations.[11]

Some former participants and observers have criticized the company's sales/marketing techniques and treatment of seminar participants.[12][13][14][15][16]

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, 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.[3]

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.[17] Over one million people have taken part in Landmark Education's introductory program, the Landmark Forum, since 1991.[18] Landmark Education reported revenues of $70 million $76 million in as of 2005.[3]

History

Landmark Education, known from May 7, 1991[5] to February 26, 2003[19] as "Landmark Education Corporation (LEC)", purchased certain rights to a presentation known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates.[20] 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.", the first Landmark name incorporated in the State of California, was filed on June 22, 1987 with Arthur Schreiber named as Agent for Service of Process.[21] In February 2003, Landmark Education LLC succeeded LEC.[19]

The coursework and pedagogy of WEA evolved from est/Erhard Seminars Training, founded by Werner Erhard in 1971. According to Landmark Education, Erhard consults from time to time with its "Research and Design team".[9] 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.[22]

The prior president and registered agent of Werner Erhard and Associates,[23] Art Schreiber, functions as Landmark Education's General Counsel and Chairman of the Landmark Education Board of Directors. Schreiber also functioned as Werner Erhard's attorney.[24]

The Vanto Group

The Vanto Group, founded in 1993 as "Landmark Education Business Development" (LEBD), utilizes the techniques 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 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.[25] LEBD became the Vanto Group in 2007.

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.[26] 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 purchased Tekniko Technology from Giles' company.[27][28] Since that time, the Vanto Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landmark Education, has used Tekniko to license the "Tekniko methodology and intellectual property to a wide variety of corporations."

Curriculum

As an international training and development organization, Landmark offers courses and programs conducted by leaders who have completed intensive training. The overall curriculum is richly developed, as the array of courses and programs indicates.

The Landmark Forum

This is the foundation course on which the fundamental distinctions of all the coursework is based. As the foundation, the Landmark Forum stands on its own independently of the other courses and programs in the core curriculum. The subsequent coursework develops and deepens the results participants generate for themselves by engaging in the fundamental distinctions. The syllabus for the Landmark Forum is available for download in PDF form, making the foundation material freely available for evaluation, analysis and discussion. Readers should keep in mind that reading and even understanding the material presented in the syllabus cannot be expected to produce the results generated by participation in programs and coursework.

Core Curriculum and Other Programs and Courses

The core curriculum is a set of four mutually synergistic courses beginning with the Landmark Forum and including the Landmark Forum in Action Series, the Advanced Course, and the Self Expression and Leadership Program. As of June, 2009, the Landmark Education web site describes other programs and courses including the Landmark Seminar Program, the Communication Courses, the Wisdom Courses, the Family Coaching Session and the Leadership and Assisting Programs.

Evaluations of Landmark Education

Landmark Education makes extensive use of web-published and word-of-mouth testimonials from customers to portray its effectiveness, and supplements these with studies, surveys, and opinions.[29] 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 participants who engaged concurrently in psychotherapy had a better locus of control than the other participants in the study.[30]

Criticism and response

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.[13]

According to Le Nouvel Observateur, the French office of Landmark Education closed in July 2004 after labor inspectors, following a site visit that noted the activities of volunteers, made a report of undeclared employment.[31] [32][33][34] Landmark Education International was placed on the French Parliamentary list of "Sectes" (cults) in 1995 {Rapport fait au nom de la Commission d'enquête sur les sectes). Landmark Education also closed its offices in Sweden[35] as of June 2004.

The Cult Awareness and Information Centre has listed the Landmark Forum among psychotherapy cults, in a collection of "cults and isms".[12][14] The contention that the Forum is "cult-like" has been aired in at least half a dozen newspaper articles over the last decade.[36] Landmark vehemently rejects the cult label and "freely threatens or pursues lawsuits against those who call it one."[37]

Journalists such as Amelia Hill with The Observer and Karin Badt from The Huffington Post have witnessed the Landmark Forum and concluded that, in their view, it is not a cult. Hill wrote, "It is ... simple common sense delivered in an environment of startling intensity."[38] Badt wrote, "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)." [7]

For details of litigation involving Landmark Education, see Landmark Education litigation. For details on non-litigation legal events, see Landmark Education and the law.

References

  1. ^ (January 7, 2002). "Landmark Education Celebrates 11 Years of Business and Growth". LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  2. ^ a b (August 19, 2002). "Minutes of the General Meeting of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education Corporation" (PDF), p. 1. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
    Note: Facsimile image retrieved from the Landmark Education Litigation Archive on October 25, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Landmark Fact Sheet, LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  4. ^ The Landmark Seminar Leader Program. LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  5. ^ a b (January 16, 1991). Articles of Incorporation, dike.de. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
    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."
  6. ^ Company History. LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Badt, Karen (March 5, 2008). "Karin Badt: Inside The Landmark Forum". The Huffington Post. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  8. ^ Landmark Events and Locations. Landmark Education.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  9. ^ a b Faltermayer, Charlotte; Richard Woodbury (March 16, 1998). "The Best of Est?. TIME. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  10. ^ Werner Erhard biography. werner-erhard.com. Version as of October 10, 2004, retrieved through Internet Archive on October 22, 2008.
  11. ^ (February 1, 2008). "Landmark Education Business Development, LEBD, Changes Name to Vanto Group". Reuters. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  12. ^ a b Groenveld, Jan. "EST; The Forum; Landmark Education". CultHelp.info. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  13. ^ a b Graham Rayman, "Suit Against Sperm-Bank Firm Claims Sexual Harassment and Cult-Like Behavior", Village Voice, 20 May 2008
  14. ^ a b Jones, K. C. (December 1, 2006). "Landmark Drops Copyright Infringement Subpoenas On Google And Anonymous Critic: Landmark sought a subpoena to find out who posted hidden camera footage from an event held by the French branch of the organization". InformationWeek. United Business Media LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  15. ^ Bass, Alison (March 3, 1999). "The Forum: Cult or comfort?". The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company.
  16. ^ "Background Briefing: Landmark Education". May 31, 2009. Retrieved 2009-5-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ About Us. LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  18. ^ Stassen, Wilma (September 2008). "Inside a Landmark Forum Weekend" Health 24
  19. ^ a b LP/LLC information. California Secretary of State. Filed February 26, 2003. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  20. ^ Pressman, Steven (1993). Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-09296-2, p. 254. (Out of print).
  21. ^ Corporation information. California Secretary of State. Filed June 22, 1987. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  22. ^ (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy", New York, p. 1. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  23. ^ Articles of Incorporation (Domestic). Art Schreiber, President and Registered Agent. Filed June 22, 1987. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  24. ^ Jackson, Steve (April 18, 1996). "It Happens". Westword. Village Voice Media. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 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.
  25. ^ Logan, David C. (1998). "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, L984-01.
  26. ^ Pressman, Steven (1993). Outrageous Betrayal. St. Martin's Press, p. 217. ISBN 0312092962.
    Quote: "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.
  27. ^ Case Financial Inc · DEFM14A. SEC filings on secinfo.com. Filed May 3, 2000. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
    Quote: "Mr. Giles is the owner of Tekniko Licensing Corporation, which licenses intellectual properties owned by Tekniko to businesses throughout the world."
  28. ^ Pacific Biometrics, filings. Form SB-2. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  29. ^ "Brief Quotes". LandmarkEducation.com. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ Marie Lemonniera, "Chez les gourous en cravate", Le Nouvel Observateur, 19 May 2005, accessed 7 December 2008; French text: "L’'Inspection du Travail débarque dans les locaux de Landmark, constate l'’exploitation des bénévoles et dresse des procès-verbaux pour travail non déclaré." English translation: "Labor inspectors turned up at the offices of Landmark, noted the exploitation of volunteers and drew up a report of undeclared employment."
  32. ^ "Defence workers trained by 'cult'", ABC News, 2 April 2008
  33. ^ (1996) "Liste des sectes dangereuses" (French). atheisme.free.fr. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  34. ^ (May 26, 2004). "Landmark Education - Droit de Répons - France 3" (French). landmarkeducation.fr. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  35. ^ Tidskriften Analys & Kritik - Irrationalismen
  36. ^ *Bass, Alison (March 3, 1999). "The Forum: Cult or comfort?". The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company.
    • Graham Rayman, "Suit Against Sperm-Bank Firm Claims Sexual Harassment and Cult-Like Behavior", Village Voice, 20 May 2008
    • Christa D'Souza, "Sex Therapy", The Times (London), 13 July 2008, Features/Style p. 12
    • Una Mullally and John Burke, "Labour senator promotes group classified in France as 'cult-like'", Sunday Tribune (Dublin), 31 July 2005, p.N1
    • Amanda Scioscia, "Drive-thru Deliverance; It's not called est anymore, but you can still be ridiculed into self-awareness in just one expensive weekend", Phoenix New Times, 19 October 2000, Features section
    • "Defence workers trained by 'cult'", ABC News (Australia), 2 April 2008
  37. ^ Amanda Scioscia, "Drive-thru Deliverance; It's not called est anymore, but you can still be ridiculed into self-awareness in just one expensive weekend", Phoenix New Times, 19 October 2000, Features section
  38. ^ Hill, Amelia (December 14, 2003). "I thought I'd be brainwashed. But how wrong could I be..." The Guardian. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
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