The applications of NLP grow every day. It has been used to find
out how famous leaders generate commitment and passion. We
have used NLP to find out how they think, how they use
language, and what subtle changes in their body language
influence the responses they get. We have studied skilled
negotiators, people who can discuss the most sensitive of
issues and lead the discussion to an agreement that gains the
commitment of all involved. We are also using NLP to model the
successful startup companies in the world of high technology.
Sport has given a great deal to business thinking in recent
years. An understanding of how top athletes excel enables us
to grasp the components of self-motivation and take those
principles for ourselves.
There are many, many more examples: Salespeople who
can relate to their customers' unexpressed needs, presenters
who can put over information in a compelling, motivating way,
consultants who by the most elegant of questions can trigger
off profound change. How do they do it? With NLP we are
learning and we can continue to learn the answers.
The skills and techniques explained in the later chapters of
this book are the result of modeling excellence. When you
engage in NLP you engage in a powerful learning process that
continually evolves. This is continuous improvement
The result of modeling is conscious competence, a mastery
of the skills you have and the skills you want to have. With
practice these skills and ways of thinking become a part of
your unconscious competence; you don’t have to think about
them, they become a natural part of who you are. In its
simplest form NLP is a process you have been using all of your
life. In its most sophisticated form it is a way of generating
excellence in everything you do, as an individual, as a team, as
a company.
Some people have shied away from NLP because of the
passion with which others have proclaimed its benefits.
Nevertheless, some of the concerns about this enthusiasm
and zeal are to do with the power of the technique. It works. It
does indeed make a difference.170 NLP AT WORK
SUMMARY