He was the president and chief executive officer of the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, which he co-founded in 1958 with physicist Paul Lloyd and social psychologist Wayman Crow.

Farson and Rogers collaborated over several decades on a number of research, education, publication and media projects, including their widely reprinted article, "Active Listening," which introduced that term into the lexicon of human relations training, and the Academy Award-winning documentary film, "Journey Into Self."

In 1958 Farson, along with physicist Paul E. Lloyd and social psychologist Wayman Crow, formed the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI), an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to research, education and advanced study in human affairs.

As president of WBSI during its first decade, Farson led a number of research projects in education, leadership, communication in large organizations, self-directed therapeutic groups and the use of mass media approaches to community mental health.

Returning to the presidency of WBSI in 1979, Farson guided the institute's development of educational, scholarly and therapeutic communities formed through the use of advanced computer communication technologies.

The centerpiece of this effort was the School of Management and Strategic Studies, a network of senior executives from 26 countries who joined a distinguished faculty to deliberate, via computer conferencing, on the new requirements of leadership.