John Grinder
Co-creator of neuro-linguistic programming with Richard Bandler.
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John Thomas Grinder Jr. ( GRIN-dər; born January 10, 1940) is an American linguist, writer, management consultant, trainer, and speaker. Alongside Richard Bandler, he is recognized as a co-creator of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a field often described as a pseudoscience. Grinder serves as co-director of Quantum Leap Inc., a management consulting firm launched by his partner Carmen Bostic St. Clair in 1987, which he joined two years later. Together, Grinder and Bostic St. Clair lead international NLP workshops and seminars.
Life and career
Grinder earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of San Francisco in the early 1960s. He then served as a captain in the U.S. Army Special Forces in Europe during the Cold War, followed by work for a U.S. intelligence agency. Returning to academia in the late 1960s, he studied linguistics and received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in 1971; his dissertation, On Deletion Phenomena in English, was published by Mouton in 1976. In the early 1970s, he worked in George A. Miller’s lab at Rockefeller University.
After his doctorate, Grinder became an assistant professor in linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where he taught undergraduates and graduates and conducted research. His work focused on Noam Chomsky’s transformational grammar, particularly syntax and deletion phenomena, and he co-authored papers with Paul Postal on syntactic structures involving missing antecedents and parasitic gaps. Grinder also co-wrote the textbook A Guide to Transformational Grammar: History, Theory, Practice with Suzette Elgin. In 2005, he published Steps to an Ecology of Emergence with Tom Malloy and Carmen Bostic St. Clair in the journal Cybernetics and Human Knowing.
Development of neuro-linguistic programming
The development of NLP began in 1972 at UCSC, when undergraduate psychology student Richard Bandler sought Grinder’s help modeling Gestalt therapy. Bandler and his friend Frank Pucelik had recorded and edited sessions of Fritz Perls, learning Gestalt therapy implicitly through intense group work. Grinder initially observed quietly but later offered observations and questions, leaving a strong impression on Pucelik, who later called him “the real genius.” Bandler and Pucelik invited Grinder to collaborate, forming a close group.
Other students also contributed significantly to what became the Meta model, the foundation of modern NLP. Grinder and Bandler went on to model the cognitive behavioral patterns of therapists including Perls, family therapist Virginia Satir, and hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. This work produced The Structure of Magic Volumes I & II (1975, 1976), Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson Volumes I & II (1975, 1977), and Changing With Families (1976), which formed the basis of NLP methodology.
The trio began hosting seminars and practice groups to test and teach their patterns, leading to books like Frogs into Princes (1979) based on seminar transcripts. They recruited a second generation of co-developers, including Robert Dilts, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Stephen Gilligan, and David Gordon. In 1977, Bandler requested Pucelik’s removal from the group, which was agreed to by mutual consent. Soon after, Bandler, Grinder, and their associates split acrimoniously, with members taking NLP in different directions.
Legal disputes between Bandler and Grinder caused some books to go out of print, though Structure I & II and Patterns I & II were later republished. Bandler attempted to trademark “neuro-linguistic programming,” but it was ruled a generic term. The two settled their claims around 2001, clearing the way for NLP’s continued development.
New code of neuro-linguistic programming
Between 1982 and 1987, influenced by anthropologist and systems theorist Gregory Bateson—whom Grinder had met at UCSC’s Kresge College in the 1970s—Grinder and Judith DeLozier developed the “New Code of NLP.” This framework built on the “classic code” by emphasizing ecology and the role of the unconscious mind in change work.
Lore & Background
John Grinder graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. degree in psychology in the early 1960s. He then entered the United States Army and served as a captain in the US Special Forces in Europe during the Cold War; following this he went on to work for a US intelligence agency. In the late 1960s, he returned to college to study linguistics and received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1971. His dissertation, titled 'On Deletion Phenomena in English', was published by Mouton in 1976.
In the early 1970s, Grinder worked in George A. Miller's laboratory at Rockefeller University. After receiving his doctorate, Grinder took a full-time position as an assistant professor in the linguistics faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). His research focused on Noam Chomsky's theories of transformational grammar specializing in syntax and deletion phenomena. He published several research papers with Paul Postal on the syntactical structures relating to 'missing antecedents' or missing parasitic gaps for the pronoun.
Grinder co-authored, with Suzette Elgin, a linguistics text book titled 'A Guide to Transformational Grammar: History, Theory, Practice'. In 1972 (during Grinder's stint at UC Santa Cruz) Richard Bandler, an undergraduate student of psychology, approached him for assistance in specific aspects of modeling Gestalt therapy. Bandler, along with good friend Frank Pucelik, had spent much time recording and editing recordings of Fritz Perls and had learned Gestalt therapy implicitly during intense group sessions.
After some time, Grinder was invited to participate in group discussions. Although at first Grinder sat quietly, he eventually approached Bandler and Pucelik with some observations and questions. Grinder left a lasting impression on Pucelik and was later dubbed 'the real genius'. Bandler and Pucelik invited Grinder to team up, eventually creating a close group.
From there Grinder and Bandler modelled the various cognitive behavioral patterns of therapists such as Perls, Virginia Satir and later Milton Erickson. As a result, 'The Structure of Magic' Volumes I & II (1975, 1976), 'Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.' Volumes I & II (1975, 1977) and 'Changing With Families' (1976) were published. This work formed the basis of the methodology that became the foundation of neuro-linguistic programming. The trio began hosting seminars and practice groups.
Several books were published based on transcripts of their seminars, including 'Frogs into Princes' (1979). During this period, a creative group of students and psychotherapists were asked to join including Robert Dilts, Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Judith DeLozier, Stephen Gilligan and David Gordon. In 1977, Bandler requested that Pucelik be removed from the group for personal reasons - which was agreed to by immediate mutual consent.
It wasn't long after that that Bandler, Grinder and their group of associates split acrimoniously, and stopped working together. Bandler attempted to claim legal ownership of the term neuro-linguistic programming; however, it was eventually deemed to be a generic term, and could therefore not be trademarked. Grinder and Bandler settled their claims around 2001. Between 1982 and 1987, strongly influenced by anthropologist and systems theorist Gregory Bateson, Grinder and Judith DeLozier collaborated to develop the 'New Code of NLP'.
The seminars were transcribed and published in 1987 as 'Turtles All the Way Down; Prerequisites to Personal Genius'. John Grinder and Carmen Bostic St Clair have further developed The New Code of NLP. As of 2014 Grinder and Bostic St Clair continue to present public seminars on NLP internationally. In 2001, Grinder (with Bostic St Clair) published 'Whispering in the Wind' with a 'set of recommendations as to how specifically NLP can improve its practice and take its rightful place as a scientifically based endeavor with its precise focus on modeling of the extremes of human behavior: excellence and the high performers who actually do it'.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: John Grinder (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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