Leading with NLP

Conclusion 209

What new ideas have you gained?

To which area are you drawn as a leader?

What is the most uncertain, even risky, situation in

your life at the moment?

That’s precisely the place where you have the best

opportunity to be a leader.

The second idea that stands out for me is generative learn-
ing – continually questioning your assumptions. We build a
business, even a life, based on our beliefs and assumptions.
Then we do not distinguish between those beliefs that are
important to us and empowering and those that are not.
What would it be like if you were to put your belief system
on the edge of chaos? This sounds an alarming metaphor, but
consider. You would be constantly examining and being open
to changing your beliefs in small ways that would best help you
towards your vision. Occasionally, you would make a large
change, but all the changes would keep you open to new ex-
perience. By keeping your belief system alive in this way, you
might not have an unexpected and unwelcome surprise when
an important assumption turns out to be misleading.
Belief systems are not formed once and for all, we all have
a museum of old beliefs, and the exhibits are out-of-date
beliefs that we have disproved, or just outgrown.
The third important idea is balancing change and order.
Leaders create change, but against a backdrop of stability.
There is one more ingredient to successful change – good
timing. Try for a change too soon and the status quo will be
too strong, too late and the moment will have passed. Some-
thing else will be needed.
How do you know the right time to make your move? You
don’t. You have to trust. Sometimes you can sense where
people want to go and move with them. The good leader
knows where people want to go and gets out in front. When
you are in tune with events, your timing will always be right.
I think timing is partly aesthetic. We all have an aesthetic
sense, a sense of rightness, of beauty and proportion. We