Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a field of psychology widely used in business and personal development throughout the world. It was developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the early 1970's.
Bandler and Grinder based Neuro-linguistic programming on their study of three prominent therapists, Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy, Virginia Satir, the family therapist, and Milton Eriksson, the ground-breaking hypnotherapist. They published their first summary of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in two volumes titled The Structure of Magic, in 1975.
In the Structure of Magic, Bandler and Grinder described language patterns that they felt were characteristic of excellent therapists. Their idea was that if one could identify what was excellent in someone's practice, you could model that in order for others to share and replicate that excellence.
NLP has grown out of those early roots to become a well-established and respected field, widely used in everything from education to sales. Some of the most popular applications of NLP include:
- Sales
- Management
- Customer Services Training
- Sports Coaching
- Training
In addition, NLP is widely used as a tool for Personal Development. People worldwide have found that NLP can help them to be more creative, more confident, and improve their performance in a variety of areas, both personal and professional.
