NLP At Work : The Difference That Makes the Difference in Business

Story metaphors

Unique interpretation

Metaphors are invaluable in situations when you experience

some opposition or conflict: Metaphors can't be disputed.

They can be a valuable tool in business presentations when

you want to avoid or overcome resistance. In such cases the

metaphor could be a story you develop to make a point or it

could be an incident from your own experience, the most

natural form of presentation in any context.

A metaphor respects the power of the unconscious mind by

allowing it to reach its own conclusions. It is like a puzzle: the

unconscious mind tussles with it until it reaches a solution that

fits for you and the complex interweavings of memory,

experience, knowledge, skills, beliefs, wants and needs, and

sense of being and purpose that form you. Only our unconscious

minds can effectively work with this level of complexity.

When I did my first NLP training I was impressed with all of

the tutors, but especially with David Gordon and the stories he

told. It was he who told the story about the couple swimming

to Japan that I have included at the end of Chapter 15.

When I heard this story I struggled to make sense of it and

eventually abandoned any attempt at conscious

interpretation. Occasionally the story came to mind, but I still

didn't make any real sense of it. Two years later I was listening

to a talk about goal setting and the whole point of the story fell

into place in a way that I needed to understand at that very

moment. I wasn’t ready to understand it two years earlier, but

I was very ready at that point of my life.

The fascinating thing about a complex metaphor is that it

makes sense in different ways to different people. Your

unconscious mind will work out a meaning that fits for you. A

metaphor respects your ability to learn what you need from

what it offers. This is why it is not the custom to explain the

meaning of a metaphor.

I recently had a meeting with a manager in the Mars

corporation. I was impressed with the values and style they

brought to the business. We were discussing the impact that

Mars ice creams had on the ice-cream market in general, how

130 NLP AT WORK

The door to creativity