Current Work

Werner Erhard has been creating transformational models and applications for individuals and organizations for over 40 years. Werner Erhard is considered a leading thinker in academic and corporate communities and is currently engaged in rigorous examination and presentation of his ideas. As a creator of models he provides new paradigms to thinkers and practitioners in fields as diverse as philosophy, business, education, psychotherapy, third world development, medicine, conflict resolution, and community building. Werner Erhard has written many scholarly papers about the topics of transformation, integrity, performance, and leadership and has lectured at universities and schools such as Harvard University, The University of Rochester, Erasmus Academie, University of Southern California, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Dartmouth College, University of British Columbia, Clemson University College of Business, Stanford University. Rutgers University, and UCLA. Werner Erhard's academic work has been cited in numerous academic publications.

“The profound impact of Werner Erhard’s work on culture and society is a manifestation of an incredible insight, the experience of being.” James R. Doty, Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, MD Founder & Director, The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education

Capitalism and Society

Putting Integrity Into Finance: A Purely Positive Approach, Published by The Center on Capitalism and Society in their Journal: Capitalism and Society, Columbia University, Volume 12, Issue 1, May 2017

From the Abstract: Integrity as we define it (or the lack thereof) on the part of individuals or organizations has enormous economic implications for value, productivity, and quality of life. Indeed, integrity is a factor of production as important as labor, capital, and technology. Without a clear, concise, and most importantly, an actionable definition of integrity, economics, finance and management are far less powerful than they can be.

Read the full article

Leadership Course

BEING A LEADER AND THE EFFECTIVE EXERCISE OF LEADERSHIP
An Ontological / Phenomonological Model

If there ever was a time for a new model of leadership, that time is now. The Leadership Course created by Werner Erhard, Professor Michael C. Jensen, and Steve Zaffron, will acquaint participants with a new approach to leadership; a new and unique model of leadership based on access to leadership (being a leader) and integrity. Read More

The Handbook for Teaching Leadership
Knowing, Doing, and Being

Harvard University’s 2011 publication of The Handbook for Teaching Leadership, edited by thought leaders Scott Snook (Senior Lecturer) Dean of Harvard Business School Nitin Nohria and Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana includes a chapter written by Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Kari Granger. The editors write, “In a highly provocative chapter titled “Creating Leaders" this eclectic group of scholars argues for adopting a decidedly ontological approach to leadership education that promises to leave students actually being leaders.” Read More

New Paradigm for Performance

The Barbados Group is committed to creating a new paradigm of performance. The Group is an international group of scholars, consultants and practitioners who were brought together by Werner Erhard. The working name for this new paradigm is "The Ontological Foundations of Performance."  This new paradigm is based on the fundamental proposition that the performance of an individual, group or organization is a correlate of the way the world in which, and on which, that entity is performing "occurs" for that entity.  This new paradigm also offers access to this "occurring" through a specific use of a distinct aspect of language.

The first publication in book form to come out of the Barbados Group’s exploration and the tenants of “The Ontological Foundations of Performance” is Three Laws of Performance, the 2009 best selling book by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan. Read More

Integrity

"A PURELY POSITIVE* THEORY OF INTEGRITY" ['Positive' as used here is as it is used in the sciences – it does not mean something good or desirable, it means the way integrity actually is and operates].

Academic Paper in Progress available at SSRN

Werner Erhard and Professor Michael Jensen define integrity and discuss their research linking integrity and personal and corporate performance. They address integrity in a developing academic paper, whose primary purpose is to present a positive model of integrity that provides a powerful access to increased performance for individuals, groups, organizations, and societies.

This academic paper was initially presented at the Gruter Institute Conference on Values in June 2006. Since then it has been presented over 40 times, including at the Social Innovation Research Seminar Series, at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, March 16, 2009 and most recently at Zayed University Convention Center, Dubai, UAE, October 01, 2014 as part of a six day innovative course on leadership for participants in the Middle East.

Read More on this New Model of Integrity.

"PUTTING INTEGRITY INTO FINANCE: A PURELY POSITIVE APPROACH"

By Werner Erhard and Michael C. Jensen, Published in Capitalism and Society, Columbia University, Volume 12, Issue 1, May 2017

Working Papers: Social Science Research Network (SSRN), Inc.; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Abstract: We summarize our new positive theory of integrity that has no normative content, ['positive' as used here is as it is used in the sciences – it does not mean something good or desirable, it means the way integrity actually is and operates] and argue that there are large gains from putting integrity into finance – into both the theory and practice of finance. We define integrity as being whole and complete and unbroken. We argue that if finance scholars, teachers and practitioners take this approach to applications in finance there are huge gains to be achieved. - read more at SSRN

Journal: Capitalism & Society, The Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University, May 2017

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Harvard Business School Faculty and Research

Harvard Business School - Working Paper Series

NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) Online Appendix for Putting Integrity Into FInance: A Purely Positive Approach (pdf)

ECGI (European Corporate Governance Institute) Working Papers

University of Maryland - College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

University of Cincinnati - College of Law - Black, Barbara, "Curbing Broker-Dealers' Abusive Sales Practices: Does Professor Jensen's Integrity Framework Offer a Better Approach?" (2013). Faculty Articles and Other Publications. Paper 208.

Hayek: A Collaborative Biography

Werner Erhard is the author of the final chapter “Bill Bartley: Biographer Extraordinary” in the book Hayek: A Collaborative Biography edited by Dr. Robert Leeson, Visiting Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame University.

Fifteen scholars have collaborated to provide a comprehensive analysis of the life and work of one of the most influential economists of all time. The authors include the Official Historian of the Reserve Bank of Australia (Selwyn Cornish), the Director of the von Mises Institute (Douglas French), Hayek's second General Editor (Stephen Kresge), the founder of est (Werner Erhard), plus seven Professors - of Economics (David Laidler, Viktor Vanberg and Robert Leeson), Economic History (Avner Offer and Jan-Otmar Hesse), Politics (Melissa Lane) and Social Policy (Nils Goldschmidt). The Universities represented include Stanford, Princeton, Oxford, Bielefeld, Western Ontario, Uppsala and Freiburg. This is the first time that such a distinguished collection of scholars – from a variety of perspectives – have attempted to integrate Hayek's life, work and influence on world history with the archival evidence.

The Mastery Foundation

The Mastery Foundation is a non-profit, volunteer, interfaith organization established in 1983. The work of the Mastery Foundation is to create new conversations and possibilities for the future in the areas of peace and reconciliation, interfaith ministries and community empowerment.

In 1983, Werner Erhard accepted the request of the newly formed Mastery Foundation to consult in the creation of a transformational program for those who minister and serve others. Since then, he has continued to donate his expertise and services to the Mastery Foundation, at times developing new program material and leading courses.

In 1999 Werner Erhard, in collaboration with Peter Block, developed the Mastery Foundation's Ireland Initiative, bringing together a broad base of community leaders at work on peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Held annually since that time, this intensive workshop provides a unique process that provokes new ways of thinking and conversations designed to produce breakthroughs for the participants in their relationship to the past, the future, and to what is possible for themselves and their communities.

At the October 2006 Mastery Foundation School for Leadership inauguration which took place in Northern Ireland, Werner Erhard presented a new model of integrity upon which the foundation of the new school was based.

The Eranos Foundation

The Eranos Foundation was founded in the 1930’s to provide a point of contact and opportunity for discussion for thinkers from disparate fields of knowledge ranging from depth psychology and comparative religion to history, literary criticism and folklore. The yearly conferences or "Tagungs" were frequented by luminaries like Jung, Martin Buber, Henry Corbin, D.T. Suzuki and others. The Foundation continues to bring together thought leaders such as Werner Erhard who can serve the cause of cultural awakening, deepening vision, and the integration of the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer life of action.

A BREAKTHROUGH IN INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Presentation By Werner Erhard At The Eranos Conference 2006
Ascona, Switzerland
18 June 2006

"While I was asked to speak about individual and social transformation, I will start by talking about knowing.

"Think of the circle I have drawn here as containing all knowledge. The circle is divided into three sections. The first section of all knowledge is called, 'What I know that I know'" We all know what to do with what we know that we know – we put it to use. The next section of all knowledge is called, 'What I know that I don’t know.' Again, we all know what to do with what we know that we don’t know – we learn. Finally, there is this vast remaining section of all knowledge called, "What I don’t know that I don’t know." What to do about what we don’t know that we don’t know is something of a dilemma. And, what we don’t know that we don’t know about human beings is an important question when it comes to individual and social transformation. Read the full article...

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Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard
The est Training, Werner Erhard and his work and the ideas, all put into perspective through the dozens of stories told by numerous professional and academic experts. Watch the full documentary here.