About WBSI

Consider the many problems that face our society today— the lack of adequate healthcare, a failing educational system, the loss of investigative journalism, crime, child abuse, poverty—and you will have just a partial list of the challenges upon which WBSI’s concern for betterment and positive change have been focused for more than 50 years.

In its unique role as an independent think tank, WBSI has been committed to exploring ways in which human relations can be improved and people better enabled to reach their potential. Beginning with scholars such as Carl Rogers, considered America’s most influential psychologist, and Abraham Maslow, another world-renowned psychologist, the Institute has gathered together the top minds in their fields to address the world’s challenges. Through WBSI’s many projects and programs embracing all of the disciplines interested in human relations—sociology, political science, philosophy, health care, economics, anthropology, education, etc.—the wisdom of these leaders has contributed greatly to the policies that have helped shape reform.

The institute's president and CEO is psychologist Richard Farson, who along with physicist Paul Lloyd and social psychologist Wayman Crow founded the institute. (View current Board of Trustees) WBSI’s early studies included research on the leadership of small groups, communication in large organizations, international negotiations, simulation studies of deterrence strategies for defense, building educational games, studies of self-directed therapeutic groups, crime and violence prevention, and policy studies in poverty, race relations, education, and family life.

The Institute’s pioneering work in the field of distance education, combined with its seminal grasp of the importance that the interconnected computer systems would play in a global future led to the creation of the School of Management and Strategic Studies. Begun in 1981, it was the very first program to employ online distance education.

Flowing from that early work in creating online communities, WBSI created the International Leadership Forum (ILF), a new kind of think tank composed entirely of highly influential leaders. The mission of the ILF is to elicit the collective wisdom of top leaders on the great policy issues of our times, and to communicate that wisdom to policymakers and to the general public. The ILF is an innovative and exciting mix of outstanding people in their fields: top CEOs from major corporations, scientists, government and military leaders, artists, authors, educators, designers, architects, philosophers and journalists.

The design of WBSI's programs in development—The Center for the Future of Education, the Design Leadership Forum, and a new version of the School of Management and Strategic Sudies—evinces the institute's reputation for staying ahead of the curve, which will be especially important as we meet the challenges of ever increasing uncertainty on so many fronts.

WBSI's philosophy and programs could not be more relevant—or needed—than they are today. In this climate of global unrest, uncertainty and upheaval, the Institute is dedicated to continuing its legacy of bettering the lives of people everywhere, and—most importantly—preserving the kind of democracy that makes these goals not only possible but probable.