Thinking As A Modeler
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Neuro-Semantic Publications, paperback, $25.
It is one thing to learn the tools of modeling, it is an entirely different thing to think like a modeler. NLP and Neuro-Semantics offers lots of modeling tools—models and templates and processes for capturing the expertise of a highly skilled person. Based on the fundamental premise that every experience has a structure and that structure can be identified, coded, and replicated, NLP and Neuro-Semantics have been creating hundreds of models of excellence. There are now wonderful strategies available for leadership and management, for therapy and coaching, for parenting and partnering, and for just about any other highly valued human experience. There are also many books and trainings on the modeling tools and on how to use them.
What there is far too little of is the kind of thinking within and behind the modeling process itself. That’s what this book offers—an insider’s view for how to think as a modeler. Here Dr. Hall overviews his 27 modeling projects and describes some of them in detail (e.g., modeling resilience) to provide an inside view of the thinking patterns that enable one to capture expertise and encode it for others.
Several things new and exciting are here, primarily the introduction of thinking systemically, culturally, and recursively. For systemic thinking, there are chapters on thinking via the Matrix Model. For cultural thinking, there is John Searle’s model about the construct of social reality, and for recursive and self-reflexive thinking, there is the Meta-States Model. These and other models will enable you to think like a modeler.