BUSINESS INTERVIEW
NLP and Entrepreneurs!
The Spirit of Enterprise
What is an entrepreneur?
Is he or she born, or
created? Can NLP
develop entrepreneurial
characteristics? If so, then
how? Award-winning
entrepreneur and NLP trainer
Kay Cooke debates these
questions and more.
D
r. Deepak Chopra once quoted a study economic climate, but how important do you What exactly is an entrepreneur anyway?
in which the researchers concluded think they were to the likes of Branson, Sugar What must a person have done, achieved or
that the average person thinks and Abramovich? After all, a loss is a loss. Isn’t earned to be given this title? And if you are a
approximately 65,000 thoughts per day. They it? So what would they do if they lost it all? budding entrepreneur yourself, how will you
also went on to suggest that of these 65,000, Money that is (if in fact money is ‘all’). know when you get there?
about 95% are exactly the same thoughts I remember teaching ‘thinking skills’ several
that had passed through the minds of people years ago, where we encouraged and developed
the day before. Other studies show we think enterprising and entrepreneurial ideas within
between 12,000 - 50,000 thoughts per day, and some of the poorer parts of the North East.
deep thinkers in excess of 70,000. Now whilst There was a bright young lad from Gateshead
this is not a forum for scientific debate, it does who, along with his dad, ran a profitable
raise a few questions in my mind about the enterprise. He was about 17 at the time and
correlation between quality, quantity and types immensely proud of his business acumen. He
of thinking. certainly could think around, out of, through
To illustrate this point with clients, I often use and under any box. However, he did seem
a bubble machine, asking them which (thought) to have overlooked one small (but potentially
bubbles they decide to pay attention to and huge) problem; the business activity was not
which ones slip past their conscious awareness. legal! He nicked bikes whilst his Dad then cut
I’ve been wondering about this year’s Sunday in half, re-soldered and re-painted them. This
Times Rich List which revealed some notable provided the family with a profitable product
entrepreneurial names had seen many millions to sell to a niche market with high margins and
wiped off their balance sheets. low overheads!
Their losses - mind-boggling to most - were It may be useful to apply our NLP heads
hardly surprising considering the current for a moment and take a peek at the facets
of that ‘map’ through the clues in their
38 | Summer 2009 - rapport
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