What the f**k happened to NLP?

What the f**k happened to NLP? This is the question I ask myself when I look around the NLP word, beyond the training courses organised by the NLP co-creators’ representatives and their certified trainers running ITCA NLP (Grinder) and SNLP (Bandler) approved courses. 

Grinder and Bandler gave as so much, and most of the current NLP world gives so little, in offering weak programmes which have little bearing to the possibilities that real NLP can offer to the public. 

In September 2025, at the NLP 50 event, 6,500 people registered to hear the testimonies of John Grinder and Richard Bandler on their creation of NLP, and you can see and hear their personal accounts of their collaboration and stories of how they made NLP brilliant on the link in the comments.

this article was written by

Founder, NLP Academy

Michael Carroll is the Founder and Course Director of The NLP Academy, established in 1996. As a co–developer of New Code NLP, Michael formalised the training structures of New Code patterning for courses at different levels within the International Trainers and Coaching Academy of NLP (ITCA) which was set up by Michael, John and Carmen to benchmark high standards in the NLP field.

Prior to his NLP career, Michael owned a hugely successful Financial Services Consultancy, where he developed a fascination with psychological business methods. This led to his early studies of NLP and gaining a BSc in Psychology. Today, with 25 years of training and coaching experience, Michael is one of the leading educators in the field who continues to push the boundaries for innovation and high standards.