Werner Erhard (disambiguation)

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Werner Erhard was the founder of Erhard Seminars Training, also called est.

Werner Erhard Founder of "est"

Werner Hans Erhard is an American author and lecturer known for founding "est", which operated from 1971 to 1984. He has written and lectured widely on critical thinking, transformational models and applications, integrity, performance, leadership and individual and organizational transformation. Harvard University, Stanford University, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, University of Rochester, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Oxford Union, UNESCO, Geneva, and the US Air Force Academy.</ref>

Werner Erhard may also refer to:

Werner Erhard and Associates, also known as WE&A or as WEA, operated as a commercial entity from February 1981 until early 1991. It replaced Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. as the vehicle for delivering the est training, and offered what some people refer to as personal and professional development programs. Initially WE&A marketed and staged the est training, but in 1984 the est Training was replaced by a more modern, briefer, rigorous and philosophical program based on Werner Erhard's teachings called "The Forum".

<i>Werner Erhard</i> (book) book by W.W. Bartley, III

Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est is a biography of Werner Erhard by philosophy professor William Warren Bartley, III. The book was published in 1978 by Clarkson Potter. Bartley was professor of philosophy at California State University and had studied with philosopher Karl Popper. He was the author of several books on philosophy, including a biography about Ludwig Wittgenstein. Prior to writing the book, Bartley was a friend of Erhard's and was involved in his company Erhard Seminars Training (est). While writing the book, Bartley was paid US$30,000 in the role of philosophical consultant for est. Erhard wrote a foreword to the book. The book's structure describes Erhard's education, transformation, reconnection with his family, and the theories of the est training.


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Erhard Seminars Training was an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that offered a two-weekend (60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". This seminar aimed "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself". An est site claims that it "brought to the forefront the ideas of transformation, personal responsibility, accountability, and possibility".

<i>Semi-Tough</i> 1977 film by Michael Ritchie

Semi-Tough is a 1977 American comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Lotte Lenya, and Bert Convy. It is set in the world of American professional football.

Erhard is a male German given name and surname, and may refer to:

Erhards wall lizard species of reptile

Erhard's wall lizard, also called the Aegean wall lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Europe.

Switzerland at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Switzerland competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. 149 competitors, 147 men and 2 women, took part in 90 events in 16 sports.

Joan Holmes is an American psychologist. She was the founding president of The Hunger Project, and served as one of 31 members on 'Task Force 2 on Hunger' of the UN Millennium Project of 2000–2006. She worked as a consulting educational psychologist for Erhard Seminars Training (est) prior to establishing The Hunger Project in 1977.

<i>Outrageous Betrayal</i> book by Steven Pressman

Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile is a non-fiction book written by freelance journalist Steven Pressman and first published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press. The book gives an account of Werner Erhard's early life as Jack Rosenberg, his exploration of various forms of self-help techniques, and his foundation of Erhard Seminars Training "est" and later of Werner Erhard and Associates and of the est successor course, "The Forum". Pressman details the rapid financial success Erhard had with these companies, as well as controversies relating to litigation involving former participants in his courses. The work concludes by going over the impact of a March 3, 1991 60 Minutes broadcast on CBS where members of Erhard's family made allegations against him, and Erhard's decision to leave the United States.

Bruce Hyde (academic) American actor and academic

R. Bruce Hyde was an American educator and actor. He was professor of communication studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. His academic work mainly focused on ontology, specifically ontological approach to education, Martin Heidegger's contribution to communication studies, and the study of ontological rhetoric.

Herbert 'Ertl' Erhard, also known as Herbert Erhardt, was a German footballer. As a central defender, he played for SpVgg Fürth and Bayern Munich. He was known for his hard tackling, doggedness and captain like performances. The DFB German Football Association list him in the top 20 best German defenders of all time, and Bayern Munich included him in their best 16 in a team made up in the 1980s of famous past players.

<i>Est: Playing the Game</i> book by Carl Frederick

est: Playing the Game the New Way is a non-fiction book by Carl Frederick, first published in 1976, by Delacorte Press, New York. The book describes in words the basic message of Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training (est) theatrical experience. Erhard/est sued in federal court in the United States to stop the book from publication, but the suit failed. The book takes a 'trainer's' approach to the est experience, in that it essentially duplicates the est training, citing examples and using jargon from the actual experience.

Alexander Everett (1921–2005) was a British self-improvement and personal development consultant. He was the founder of the company Mind Dynamics, and author of the motivational books The Genius Within You and Inward Bound. Everett's coursework and teachings had an influence on the human potential movement.

EST and The Forum in popular culture

Werner Erhard and his courses have been referenced in popular culture in various forms of fictional media including literature, film, television and theatre. The original course, known as est, was delivered by the company Erhard Seminars Training. Under the name The Forum, they were delivered by Werner Erhard and Associates. Also, the Landmark Forum, a program created by Erhard's former employees after purchasing his intellectual property, has had an influence on popular culture. Some of these works have taken a comedic tack, parodying Erhard and satirizing the methodology used in these courses.

<i>Getting It: The Psychology of est</i> book by Doctor of Philosophy

Getting It: The Psychology of est is a non-fiction book by American psychologist Sheridan Fenwick, first published in 1976, analyzing Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training or est. It is based on Fenwick's own experience of attending a four-day session of the est training, an intensive 60-hour personal development course in the self-help genre. Large groups of up to 250 people took the est training at one time.

"Looking for Space" is a popular song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter John Denver. Released as a single from his album Windsong, "Looking for Space" peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1976. On the easy listening chart, the song reached #1 to become his seventh to top that chart.

<i>The Book of est</i> book by George Cockcroft

The Book of est is a fictional account of the training created by Werner Erhard, (est), or Erhard Seminars Training, first published in 1976 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The book was written by est graduate Luke Rhinehart. Rhinehart is the pen name of writer George Cockcroft. The book was endorsed by Erhard, and includes a foreword by him. Its contents attempts to replicate the experience of the est training, with the reader being put in the place of a participant in the course. The end of the book includes a comparison by the author between Erhard's methodologies to Zen, The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda, and to Rhinehart's own views from The Dice Man.

The Four Musketeers is a 1934 German drama film directed by Heinz Paul and starring Fritz Kampers, Paul Westermeier and Erhard Siedel. Four comrades of the First World War meet up many years later and discover they have very different views on the political future of Germany.