[Neurons] 2010 Meta Reflections #49

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections 2010 – #49

October 4, 2010

History of NLP Series #11

 

 

THE WHEN NLP BECAME A BUSINESS

 

In the history of NLP, it didn’t take long before those who were first into
the field realized that they could make money with this stuff.  That would
be my guess about why John Grinder so quickly gave up being an Associate
Professor at the University at Santa Cruz and “went on the road” doing
workshops and trainings with Richard Bandler.  And I’m sure that’s why most
of the others in the 1970s immediately began applying NLP to training and
the training of therapists.  But that was just the beginning.

 

One fascinating thing about the field of NLP in terms of business is that it
is about nothing in particular and everything in general.  As a field, NLP
is about the structure of human experiences and what that means is that it
is about everything human!  Any and every experience — from learning,
changing, leading, developing expertise, delegating, parenting, sports,
medicine, entrepreneurship, training, education, and so on— has a structure
above and beyond the content information that governs that experience.

 

So the content of the NLP models about the structure of experience therefore
can be applied to everything human— everything that we humans think, feel,
say, and do as we relate.  This also means that NLP is not about any single
field.  And in business we know that when something is about everything, it
is about nothing.  So, NLP does not have a field!

NLP’s area of expertise goes to the processes regarding how we create models
of the world and a sense of reality.

 

So when NLP became a business in itself, it started with the fields that it
had arisen from— therapy and training.  But soon, it began spreading out to
other fields— to those of communicating, selling, influencing, persuading,
educating, etc.  And that’s why NLP got connected with these areas rather
than academia where it originated.

 

So just as soon as the first books were created, the two founders left the
bosom of the university where it was given birth and created their own
companies— training companies.  Bandler called his company, Not Limited, and
Grinder named his company, Unlimited Limited (now there has to be a story
behind these names, but I don’t know it!).  Then they went “on the road”
with their seminars and trainings.

 

Now the official date for the beginning of NLP is 1975.  That’s when it was
given birth as a model.  But it was not called “NLP” at that time.  That did
not happen until 1977 which was the beginning of the terminology “NLP” and
from there the first official trainings in 1978.  That’s when Leslie Cameron
Bandler put together “the Society of NLP” and organized what later became
known as “the Practitioner” training.  And the first Practitioner training
was 35 days long.  By the 1980s the Practitioner course was shorted and
streamlined to 21 to 24 days and eventually a Master Practitioner course was
added to that. 

 

In terms of business development, it was Anthony Robbins in the mid-1980s,
who really stepped up and showed what kind of money could be made with NLP.
Probably unknown at the time, but Tony’s genius was (and continues to this
day to be) that of marketing, selling, and promoting.  So when he found NLP
in 1985 (or thereabouts), he learned it well enough to give him the courage
to step up and put its most dynamic aspects on TV.  And with that, he built
a name and reputation.  And soon thereafter he had a best-selling NLP book,
Unlimited Power (1987).

 

Somewhere about that time, Wyatt Woodsmall taught Anthony the Master
Practitioner materials and worked with him on the government shooting
modeling program.  And a year or two later, when Tony was certifying people
as NLP Practitioners, but not doing so through “the Society of NLP.”   So
that brought about a lawsuit from Bandler(!).  From the stories I’ve heard,
Richard didn’t talk to Tony directly about any of that, he just filed a
lawsuit against him.  When it all ended, Tony settled out of court, Richard
“won,” got a signed agreement that Tony would certify through the Society,
and send his $200 for each participant certified in NLP.

 

Yet that small win was a big loss.  I say that because ultimately, with that
action Richard Bandler chased away the greatest salesman he could have ever
had or wanted.  So instead of putting the mantle on Tony, and giving him a
world-wide commission: “Bring the world to me!”  Richard essentially drove
him away and added massive pain so that it conditioned him to never utter
the three letters, “NLP” in public.  So to this day, whether on Oprah, Larry
King, or any other talk show, Tony will not say those three letters.  And
yet he still brings more people to the field of NLP than any other single
person and undoubtedly makes more money than everybody in the field put
together and multiplied by 10.  So much for wisdom.

 

Today NLP as Business is in just about everything— Sales, Persuasion,
Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy, Counseling, Coaching, Leadership and
Executive Development, Management, Presentations, Training, Learning,
Education, Medicine, Health and Fitness, anywhere and with anything that
involves human beings seeking to be their best— NLP offers business
applications.

 

NLP is into just about everything, but it is a wrong-headed myth to think
that “everything is NLP.”  It isn’t.  NLP itself is a model about experience
and so has many applications.   As a model about “communication” it provides
a way to identify how language and meaning forms (“in-forms”) and governs
the things we do as human beings.  And that’s what makes it such a valuable
tool.

 

 

 

NEXT YEAR --- THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL NEURO-SEMANTIC CONFERENCE

            July 1--- 3, 2011

            Grand Junction Colorado

            See www.neurosemantics.com  for details

 

 

 

TWO TRAININGS IN NOVEMBER

 

In November 2010 — Nov. 15– 16

What:                          Unleashing Potentials

When:                          November 15– 16, 2010

Where:                        Bedfordshire, England

Time:                           9:00 am — 6:00 pm 

 

Organizers:                 Joe and Melody Cheal [
<mailto:joe.cheal at gwiztraining.com> joe.cheal at gwiztraining.com] 

Contact Info.:             email:  <mailto:info at gwiztraining.com>
info at gwiztraining.com 

                                    phone: 01767 640956

                                     <http://%09www.gwiztraining.com>
www.gwiztraining.com              The GWiz Learning Partnership

 

 

In November 2010 — Nov. 19-21 

 

What:                          Unleashing Vitality

When:                          November 19– 21

Where:                        Hotel Castello — North Central Italy – 

 
<http://www.hotelcastello.com/home_eng.php>
http://www.hotelcastello.com/home_eng.php                                  

Airport:                        Bologna
<http://www.bologna-airport.it/uk/?LN=UK>
http://www.bologna-airport.it/uk/?LN=UK (18 miles away)

                                    Forlì
<http://www.forliairport.com/main/index.php?id_pag=56>
http://www.forliairport.com/main/index.php?id_pag=56 (21 miles)

Time:                           9 am to 6 pm.

Contact details            Nicola Riva and Lucia Giovannini

                                    mobile: +39 348 5600507 -
<mailto:nicola at blessyou.it> nicola at blessyou.it     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Neuro-Semantics Executive Director  ----   <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA                             ----
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

1 970-523-7877                                               ----
<http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

 

 

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