LRN (company)

LRN, founded in 1994, is an American company which provides advising and educating on ethics, regulatory compliance, and corporate culture to other organizations.[2][3] When founded, the company focused on the legal industry and was named Legal Research Network,[1] before expanding into other fields.[4] The company's founder Dov Seidman, also wrote the book How (2007), about the role of ethics in business.[5]

LRN Corporation
LRN
Formerly
Legal Research Network Inc[1]
Incorporated
IndustryEthics and legal compliance education
FoundedOctober 1994 (1994-10)[1]
FounderDov Seidman (CEO)
Headquarters745 5th Avenue,
New York City, NY 10151
,
United States
Number of locations
Los Angeles, London, India
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
250
Websitewww.lrn.com

History

Founding (1994)

Dov Seidman founded Legal Research Network (later changed to "LRN") two years out of Harvard Law School.[1] Seidman's business plan was to offer legal knowledge and analysis services through an expert network of academics and lawyers.[6][7] This research could then be repurposed in a database licensed to companies. He was able to pre-sell a $500,000 contract to MCI based on the idea.[1] He raised $2 million from 42 investors to launch the company.[8]

In the first year, LRN had a network of 1,100 legal experts in over 2,500 subjects reported by the Washington Post as being "mostly law professors, solo practitioners and lawyers on leave from their regular jobs".[1]

Expansion into Training

The company added ethics and compliance training in the later 1990s as part of an effort to spread legal and ethical awareness throughout organizations, instead of just in their law departments.[9][10] Online classes, starting in the 2000s,[11] facilitated mass training of thousands of employees at large multi-nationals like Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.[12] Pfizer trained all 150,000 of its employees with LRN courses.[12] Subjects included complying with sexual harassment laws, trade secrets and anti-trust.[9][13]

By the year 2000, 200 of the Fortune 500 companies were clients of LRN.[12][13] Starting in the early 2000s, the company offered "common standards" for ethics and corporate compliance education. Competitors like Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer shared as much of 90% of the course materials, helping to standardize best practices for business ethics in corporate America.[12]

Seidman testified in 2004 before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, regarding the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, about the need for companies to develop ethical cultures instead of "check-the-box", compliance-only approaches.[14]

Since 2008, LRN has been the corporate partner of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity’s Prize in Ethics Essay Contest, an annual competition for students to analyze ethical issues.[14]

Operations

Services

LRN's services include analyzing corporate cultures, rewriting their codes of conduct, and providing ethical-compliance education and training to their employees.[12] LRN emphasizes principles and values rather than "blindly" following rules.[15]

Its online education platform offers about 500 courses in 50 languages, on topics including international corruption law, intellectual property, data protection, and environmental sustainability.[12] LRN ethics training materials include videos, blogs, quizzes, social media and video games.[16] Dell told the Wall Street Journal in 2014 that LRN developed an ethics game for it entitled the "Honesty Project."[16]

Organization

Job titles were largely eliminated from the company,[17] and "employee councils" handle major functions like recruiting and conflict resolution.

LRN was originally headquartered in California and moved its headquarters to New York City in 2012.[18] It also has offices in London and India.[19]

In 2007, Seidman published the book How, which discussed the business philosophy created at LRN.[5] In it, he argues that companies that "outbehave" the competition will also outperform the competition financially.

Finances

It received a $30 million investment from Softbank in 2000.[11]

gollark: Only if you pay me £0.86 for my time.
gollark: Yes, I saw it.
gollark: No.
gollark: Do what?
gollark: Worrying.

References
  1. Mintz, John (11 December 1995). "Getting an Expert Opinion at a Bargain Price" (Final Edition). United States: The Washington Post. The Washington Post. p. F07. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. Kleiner, Art (29 May 2012). "The Thought Leader Interview: Dov Seidman". United States: strategy+business. PwC network. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  3. Mahler, Jonathan (5 October 2014). "If the Word 'How' Is Trademarked, Does This Headline Need a ™?". New York, N.Y., United States: New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. A1. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  4. Murphy, Richard (2 February 2010). "Why Doing Good Is Good for Business". United States: Fortune. Time Inc. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  5. NYT Best Seller list - How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything, November 2011
  6. Heisel, William (5 July 2009). "His Keen Sense of Ethics Has Paid Off Handsomely". Los Angeles, United States: The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  7. Osborne, D.M. American Lawyer, "Should You Be Afraid of this Man?" June, 1995 (profile of Legal Research Network)
  8. Haaretz.com "Dov Seidman's secret: You don't have to be a sucker to succeed", July 1, 2012
  9. Kleiner, Art (22 November 1999). "Learning the Law with a Mouse". National Law Journal.
  10. Madnick, WendyThe Jewish Journal "An Ethical Vision: ADL to honor attorney's efforts to raise moral standards of businesses", March 6, 2003
  11. Vrana, Debora (24 January 2000). "Southland's Attraction Grows for Large Internet Venture Firms". Los Angeles, United States: The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  12. Kirkpatrick, David (October 2002). "Serving Up Scruples". Fortune Magazine.
  13. Holding, Reynolds (3 February 2000). "Baby Lawyers Too Costly to Waste". San Francisco Gate. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  14. Clancy, Heather (26 October 2013). "Disruptor - Dov Seidman". ZDNET. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  15. Bogoslaw, David (2 December 2013). "Wayne Brody: Making the business case for E&C". United States: Corporate Secretary. IR Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  16. DiPietro, Ben (26 September 2014). "Turning Employees Into Ethics Believers". United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  17. Weber, Lauren (9 April 2014). "Companies Say No to Having an HR Department". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  18. Baker, Mila (5 September 2014). "21st Century Organization Design: Integrating Work Environment, Work Experience, and Leadership". United States: Work Design Magazine. Workspace Design Magazine, LLC. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  19. Chaturvedi, Anumeha (20 July 2012). "LRN to Start Offering Its Services in India This Year". India: The Economic Times Of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
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