96 Leading with NLP
Exploring Reluctance
Think of the change you plan to make and ask yourself
these questions:
What other important changes could this bring?
What is important about not making the change?
What will I lose by making the change?
What will I gain?
What do I want to stay the same in my life to balance
this change?
How important is this change to my development as a
leader?
How important is it to develop as a leader?
What is the greatest external difficulty I would face in
developing as a leader?
What is the biggest internal weakness I would face?
(This is also your greatest asset. Overcoming this
will be the quickest way to leadership.)
What quality would I have to develop the most to com-
bat that weakness?
What relationship do I see between the external diffi-
culty and the internal weakness?
Here are four questions to focus your mind on down-
side planning and its opposite, upside planning:
What is the worst that could happen if I do not succeed?
(And am I covered for it?)
What is the best that could happen if I don’t succeed?
(And how attractive is that?)
What is the worst that could happen if I do succeed?
(And am I prepared?)
What’s the best that could happen if I do succeed?
(And is that really OK?)
Remember leadership has a dark side too. People will expect
you to be special, they will project their hopes and fears onto
you and then expect you to resolve them. If you refuse, they
may become indignant. The greater public exposure you