What is NLP? (In relation to Leadership - Part 1)

Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest player of all time, is known as the 'King' of the chess world. At a very young age, Garry became fascinated with the game of chess. It might surprise you, but in 1985, Garry Kasparov became the youngest and undisputed 'World Chess Champion' in the history of the game. At that time, he was merely 22 years old. Moreover, he wore the crown of number one player in the world of chess for the next successive 255 months, which was a world record in itself. He awed the audience and the globe with his performance for almost 22 years.

Even today, Garry Kasparov's name is taken with great respect and fondness in the world of chess, and all because of his spectacular gameplay. He had an acute thought process and was blessed with innate talent. Watching him play is a treasure of 'flow' to be experienced in the lifetime. Whenever he sat down to play chess, in an absolute meditative state, it would feel as if the time has come to a halt. When he decided to retire from the game in 2005, the chess world bid its farewell by bowing with deep respect. 

It was 1996. In the Philadelphia city of America, Garry was going to face the queerest chess tournament of his life. You would be surprised to know that he was to play against 'Deep Blue', a chess supercomputer by IBM. Perhaps this was the first time in the history of humanity, wherein a human and machine were playing against each other.

Of course, you know that chess is a game where various essential mental skills are at play. For example, problem-solving, creative thinking, finding patterns, strategic thinking, etc. Skills which a human can grasp and interact. However, the world was amazed and eager to witness if a supercomputer could display the characteristics of the human mind and play chess? You wouldn't believe, not only did Blue Deep played spectacularly, but also defeated Garry in the tournament. The audience was knocked for six.

Perhaps this was the premier event where a machine took its first step on the path of becoming a human, the first chapter of humanising the machine. Today, twenty-five years after that match, Artificial Intelligence, i.e. AI, is being widely used all over the globe in almost all fields. The technology influenced both our personal lives as well as business practices. It transformed every facet of our existence rapidly. Especially in the last few years, changes have kicked in very swiftly and scarily. In this fast-changing business world, if there is a personality that could effectively control and guide any situation, it is a 'leader'.

A leader is the one who embraces the ever-changing situations and moves forward along with the team. Even in this dry world of technology, he is humane, has values, loves people, respects them, helps them and can influence them. He dreams of taking the business forward and inspires his team to do so. He is a person who not only supports the aspirations of his colleagues but helps in their personal life. The employees experience everything under his wing, happiness, joy and success. 

The world is in dire need of such a leader, and NLP plays a crucial role in the making of such influential leaders. When we look at leadership from NLP's perspective, we move one step further, which is of discussing the qualities of a leader. We learn different techniques to positively program our brain for becoming an eminent leader. Otherwise, we all are aware of the characteristics of a good leader; how does he think and behave? Or how does he help others? But when we try to bring this idealised picture of a leader into reality, many of us fail miserably. One crucial reason for this failure is; though we are aware of the qualities of a successful leader, it is simply stored in our conscious mind. Now we all are aware that it is the subconscious mind and not the conscious mind that has the ability to bring the change in our thought patterns, emotions or behaviour. So, through NLP training, we can program the subconscious mind of the participants with the much-needed skills and attitude for becoming a leader so that they can transcend beyond rationality and establish themselves as an impeccable leader.

If we want to define NLP in terms of leadership, it would be

Neuro  

A good leader possesses the ability to control and direct his own emotions and thoughts. He knows how to channelise thoughts, feelings and behaviour to deliver the needed results. His ability to be in command of himself distinct him from the world. It gives him the power to transform his persona and influence the world in a new way.

Linguistic 

A charismatic leader has a natural flair for words and can use language aptly to influence people and convey his message powerfully. He has the skill to alter people's thoughts, perceptions. He can easily seed suggestions into people's subconscious mind and help them accomplish their long term goals and realise big dreams, just through a casual conversation.

Programming 

A good leader can act on the plan and produce a better outcome. He not only can motivate himself to take action but has the superpower of inspiring others to work outside their comfort zone. 

This is the definition of leadership with regards to NLP. In the next blog, we shall learn the approaches to develop 'Leadership Mindset'. Till then, Enjoy your life and Live with Passion!

Click the links below to read more articles written by Master Trainer Sandip Shirsat about NLP & its application in various walks of our life: