Dear Mr. M.J. SUBRAMANYAM, my paragraph-wise replies are as below:
I beg to differ from what you say. At the same time, I am surprised by your statement that transformational vocabulary will have no impact on senior executives.
I never said that it will not have any impact. Please read my first post of this correctly. I have said that for senior managers, it may not work. They do not like detailed explanations.
My own experience is that they can also be moved provided the timing of the use of this vocabulary and the correlation of these words to the appropriate situation create a great impact on the high-class audience as well.
Everyone is a prisoner of one's experience. You are you, and so am I.
I am surprised that a man of your experience and knowledge (I see you aggressively market yourself in these columns, and your claims are very high – you often say even one man like you can make a horse drink water!) holds a different view on the use of metaphoric vocabulary.
Out of my 2,310 posts, I never said at any time that I can make a horse drink water. You could have given evidence before raising this allegation against me. Secondly, not all my posts are for marketing. A large number of them are for helping junior and young HR/Training professionals. It appears that these have escaped your attention.
I remember Dr. C.N.Rao, a renowned scientist, once saying that trainers/teachers should use the Ramayana and Mahabharata to create a special effect on the minds of the audience and reach them better through these means. Perhaps you could analyze past experiences and see where you may have gone wrong to rectify it and reap the rich benefits of using such vocabulary. Anthony Robbins' example is a case in point. Search for where the mistake lies and find the answer for yourself.
Yes, I do give references to Hindu mythology occasionally, but the choice of examples to use is purely an individual's decision.
For example, consider the case of Ramdev Baba. Yoga was known to many Indians; it was a familiar subject. However, he made it work for himself again and showed that it had become a neglected practice. By rejuvenating it, he infused confidence in many people. In North India, even today, people switch on the TV at 5 P.M. and practice the asanas in front of the TV. He has now become a household name in North India. Take a lesson from Ramdev Baba and reposition yourself.
Thanks for the suggestion, but the example of Ramdev Baba is out of place for the corporate crowd. Ramdev Baba deals with the common people. For dealing with them, anecdotes and stories work. In corporate training, people are hard-pressed for time, and we need to use their time judiciously. We, as trainers, are responsible for building competency in the participants. Secondly, Ramdev Baba is a good marketer. He could understand the pulse of the people and has marketed himself very well.
Final Comments:
I did not understand the cause of your frustration. If you read my second post in this thread, I have written that one should concentrate on the ends and not on the means! NLP is only a means and not an end. As far as my views about senior management are concerned, let me tell you that in the last four years, I must have sat across 100+ Managing Directors from different industries. Spending time with them for a meeting itself is difficult. If I were to tell stories to explain my viewpoint, I would probably have lost their interest long ago.
Let me quote my toughest example of an expat (British) COO of an Indian MNC operating in five countries. My first appointment was for 28 minutes, and he had allotted 43 minutes for our second meeting. When dealing with individuals who work on a point-to-point basis, one's choice of words should be judicious. I had similar experiences while training other Managing Directors as well.
In none of my posts was I arrogant at any time. Yet, why my posts should rub you the wrong way is a matter of surmise!
Dinesh V. Divekar