Inevitably, over the last few weeks I've been pondering on the links between Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Personal Branding. I've met people who believed the two were incompatible. If you think that NLP is about 'fixing' people then I suppose it would seem odd to compare it to Personal Branding, which is all about "authenticity" and "the real you".
If, on the other hand, you see NLP as a set of tools for developing greater understanding of yourself and of others, then it's application to Personal Branding becomes a lot more apparent.
One of the hardest parts of the Personal Branding process is moving people through the 'discovery' phase quickly and easily. There's a lot of introspection, reflection, and above all questioning of your core personality. This is something that people aren't encouraged to do too much in the modern business environment.
At the heart of that self-discovery is uncovering your "VPs" (Vision, Purpose, Values and Passions") and your goals - all of which are very much in the realm of NLP. The quesion is, what happens if you look at your values and you think they're skewed? Or what if realise that you're very clear on what you *don't* want, but you're sturggling to put your finger on what exactly you *do* want?
That's the point at which NLP comes into it's own, allowing the brand strategist to guide the client through changing the order of their values, making their motivation more positive so they focus on what they want rather than what they're afraid of, creating a clear and engaging vision, sorting out the past regrets and "if onlys" and "might have beens" that sometimes get in the way of progress.
Sidenote: Over at Solution Academy, we're offering NLP Practitioner Certification training incorporating a full weekend of working on your Personal Brand.
