Landmark Forum

Landmark Forum, also known as The Forum and simply Forum, is the first course delivered by Landmark Worldwide (formerly Landmark Education), or simply Landmark, a limited liability company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The Company offers programs in personal development. The company claims that more than 2.4 million people have taken Landmark's programs since its founding in 1991, and that it hosts courses in approximately 130 locations across more than 20 countries.

The company started with the purchase of intellectual property rights developed by Werner Erhard, creator of the est training. Landmark has developed and delivered over 56 personal development programs. Its subsidiary, the Vanto Group, markets and delivers training and consulting to organizations.

Quotes

Quotes by CEO

• In the United States, we have altered the public conversation about our work and our enterprise. For example, it is no longer possible for informed people or publications in the United States to pin pejorative labels on us.
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Traci Hukill (July 9, 1998). "The est of Friends: Werner Erhard's protégés and siblings carry the torch for a '90s incarnation of the '70s 'training' that some of us just didn't get". Metro News (San Francisco, California). 

• We're all over, as you can see. Next, we're thinking Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore. We're already in two cities in Japan. Japan is ridiculous!
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

• Werner made some very, very powerful enemies. They really got him.
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

• We've been accused of pressuring people in terms of our, quote, 'sales,' and we're out to avoid any of that.
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

• I'd like to experiment with advertising. We're coming out with an audiotape. We'll probably do a book.
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

• Besides the fact that he's my brother, the company considers Werner a friend.
  • Harry Rosenberg, CEO of Landmark Worldwide, and brother of Werner Erhard, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

About

Alphabetized by author

It's weird to think about how skeptical I was when I first went to the Forum. — Chuck Palahniuk

• Landmark evolved from an organisation called EST (Erhard Seminar Training), founded in the 1970s by former salesman Werner Erhard…In 1991, he sold his intellectual property to former EST employees, who founded the more mainstream Landmark Education.

Emma Reynolds (September 23, 2016). "Landmark Forum: Mysterious training course coming to your office". news.com.au. Retrieved on February 20, 2018. 

• Werner Erhard, founder of 'Landmark Education's 'The Forum',' and 'est' seminars, which have about 2.4 million graduates, was influenced by Hinduism through Swami Muktananda, one of Erhard's principal gurus.
  • John Ankerberg, John Weldon (1996). Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs. Harvest House Publishers. p. 216. ISBN 978-1565071605. 

• There has been an enormous growth of the phenomenon known as Large Group Awareness Training represented by such companies as Landmark Forum.
  • Douglas Atkin (2004). "What Is Required of a Belief System?". The Culting of Brands: Turn Your Customers Into True Believers. New York: Penguin/Portfolio. p. 101. ISBN 9781591840275. 

• The first connection between New Age and business life started with the founding of Erhard Seminar Training (EST) in the US, California in 1971. In 1984 EST became known as Forum and nowadays it operates under the name Landmark.
  • Stef Aupers (2005). "'We Are All Gods': New Age in the Netherlands 1960-2000". The Dutch and Their Gods: Secularization and Transformation of Religion in the Netherlands. Studies in Dutch Religious History. 3. Hilversum: Verloren. p. 193. ISBN 9065508678. 

• Landmark Education, as it's formally known, is hardly alone. There are any number of groups that foster change in an intense, supportive environment. Formally, they are gathered under the rubric 'large group awareness training'.
  • Jonathan Black (2006). Yes You Can!: Behind the Hype and Hustle of the Motivation Biz. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 133. ISBN 9781596910003. 

• Other seminars may offer supportive hugs; this one hits you between the eyes.
  • Jill P. Capuzzo (March 22, 1996). "Discovering The Self If You Have A Spare Weekend And A Yen To Change, More Than A Dozen Personal-growth Workshops In The Area Are Ready For You. Be Prepared For An Intense Experience. Come On! There's A New Life Waiting Over The Weekend Get Rid Of Your Destructive Pasts. Get Intimate With Your Mate. Share With Others, And Grow.". The Philadelphia Inquirer.  — re-quoted in Robert Todd Carroll (2011). The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. Entry: "Landmark Forum". ISBN 9780471480884. 

In effect, to those who are members of traditional faiths, programs such as Landmark are saying: your religion is a product of the collective. — Robert Todd Carroll

• In effect, to those who are members of traditional faiths, programs such as Landmark are saying: your religion is a hindrance to becoming your true self.

Of course, this perspective depends much on what you think of as 'traditional faith'. Many consider one of Landmark's fortés to be precisely that it brings together all faiths in a way that is extremely empowering and inspiring.

• • Robert Todd Carroll (2011). The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. Entry: "Landmark Forum". ISBN 9780471480884. 

• More direct evidence comes from a careful study of Large Group Awareness Training programs, variously known as Erhard Seminars Training (est), Lifespring, or simply the Forum. The basic procedure of these courses parallels the group training workshops … but the emphasis shifts from group effectiveness to personal development.
  • John Gastil (2010). The Group in Society. Los Angeles: SAGE. pp. 228-229. ISBN 9781412924689. 

• It's weird to think about how skeptical I was when I first went to the Forum. I brought a book with me in case I was bored. I immediately started railing against the leader about how they were just using me for my money. Then, when I was walking out, it struck me that I was 26 years old and I was never going to take another risk in my life. I was the one being an asshole! So I went back and said, 'Okay, I'd like to take a risk, where do I sign?' After that, I bought a word processor. That was my first step to being a writer.
  • Chuck Palahniuk, quoted in — Vanessa Grigoriadis (July 9, 2001). "Pay Money, Be Happy - For thousands of new yorkers, happiness is a $375, three-day self-help Seminar. Welcome to EST: The Next Generation". New York Magazine. Retrieved on October 6, 2013. 

• I was 26 when I did the seminar, convinced the world was out to burn me at every turn. If it wasn't for that seminar, I wouldn't be a writer. They taught me to see how closed down I was, to face my fears.
  • Chuck Palahniuk, quoted in — Sean O'Hagan (May 7, 2005). "Interview - Fright Club". The Observer (Guardian News and Media Limited). 

• The Forum and/or est, whose origins are in the United States (Tipton 1982) holds to the belief that the self itself is powerful.
  • Charles Taliaferro, Victoria S. Harrison, Stewart Goetz (2012). The Routledge Companion to Theism. Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 978-0415881647. 

See also

• Getting It: The Psychology of est
• Groupthink
• Large-group awareness training
• New religious movement
• Outrageous Betrayal
• Primal therapy
• Religion
• Self religion
• Werner Erhard
• Werner Erhard (60 Minutes)
• Werner Erhard (book)

External links

• Official Landmark web site
• Landmark Forum syllabus from Landmark
• What is the Landmark Forum like?