Tony Petrozza is a personal development coach and creator of Perficio. Before he opened his coaching practice in 2014, Tony took numerous trainings and workshops. The most important of which was a comprehensive certification with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). He had been interested in it for many years and then finally went away for training in 2012. Although NLP has always been controversial, in coaching at least there is no dispute – it is extremely effective. Indeed, as a professional coach, Tony has about a 90% success rate. If the desired results were not gotten in the expected timeframe, then Tony would, if he thought the client was sincere, offer to continue to work with the client at no additional charge. Tony contends that if an unsatisfied client continued their relationship with him – the success rate would be 100%. It is only quitting that fails. One of the axioms of NLP states ‘If the client does not get the desired outcome, try something else; ANYTHING else’.  Many NLPers (practioners) get certified and want to run the full course and become an NLP trainer. This never interested Tony. He saw great value and potential in it and just wanted to use it.

Tony Petrozza used to be an actor and attended a prestigious NYC acting school in 1995. It was The New Actors Workshop founded by George Morrison. He became Tony’s mentor. Morrison (THE guy behind stars Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman) introduced Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) to Tony - he was awestruck by it. At that school he also studied under acclaimed director Mike Nichols. After just a little bit, Tony understood why they paid him the big bucks.

Tony says, “They showed me all sorts of fascinating things I had no idea about such as Gestalt Therapy and other schools of thought. George really opened my eyes to a whole other world. What he taught me most was awareness.  I immediately started reading about NLP and got a home study course and searched out a training that would certify me in this field. After a while my interest in NLP did not exactly wane, I just didn’t take action. Yet NLP often came up one way or another, however my resolve to do a training did.  It’s unusual stuff, very cerebral. There seemed to be a kind of line, that if I crossed it, things wouldn’t be the same. Like a fork in the road. Did I really want to go down that road?”

Tony continues, “An NLP Master Practitioner taught me NLP on a barter for my marketing & computer services in the late 90s.  He subsequently sent me a home study self-hypnosis course. Many years later in 2012, I finally took that course and applied it – and it worked!  Hypnosis is closely related to NLP.  Well, that got me going again. I went to a Meetup and then met a number of people involved in the New York NLP/hypnosis community and took some classes, went to more intros.  I took Jonathan Altfeld’s and Doug O’Brien’s Belief Craft intensive 3-day training where I learned how people believe what they do and how to get them unstuck.  This NLP stuff can really be amazing!  I’ve had doubts about some of its claims but after spending time with Jonathan those were dispelled. The questions I had were answered. I found out he was doing a Practitioner training with Rex Sikes who was one of the trainers I was considering in the 90s. The time had come to make the move. So, in 2012 I at last became certified in NLP by two fantastic trainers. And yes, it changed my life. It put it on the course I had wanted it to be.” Indeed, NLP did change his life. He wanted to solve the problems of Self- Help for a long time. It was NLP that gave him the knowledge and tools to do it.

“The treasure you seek is in the cave you fear to enter.” —Joseph Campbell 

NLP is both an art and a science. It helps people overcome their problems by ‘reprogramming’ one’s brain. In crude terms, NLP explores the relationships between how we think (neuro), how we communicate (linguistic) and our patterns of behavior and emotions (program). By studying these relationships, people can adopt more successful ways of thinking, communicating, feeling, and behaving.

It is the study of subjective experience. NLP has always been controversial. It was started in the 70’s primarily by two geniuses. They modeled a few of the best psychotherapists of their day as the core of this blend of art and science. So, a lot of people think it’s about therapy and because so many NLP Practitioners have been/are therapists - but it is absolutely not limited to that. In fact, it was used in business since the early days and it’s only grown in that context.  There has been a lot of hype but that’s often part of the territory with extraordinary things. It’s actually all about communication and since that is everything (including you communicating to yourself) and there are all kinds of obstacles to it, NLP in turn has all sorts of applications. It works by actually changing the way you think.

It is so diverse that Tony was introduced to it by his acting teacher for acting purposes! It blew him away. When NLP began in the 1970s it was primarily about therapy and modeling excellent people (so you could do what they do).  Persuasion was the organic offspring of this. So, business and sales became the next application for it. It is so dynamic that it useful in many areas. All sorts of professionals use it such as lawyers, doctors and security experts. It is used in numerous therapeutic approaches for a gambit of disorders including PTSD.  Hundreds of books have been written about it. 

Psychology in general is about what you think and why you think it. NLP is more about how you think. Many psychologists are ignorant of it or may have heard just some criticisms. Academia is not very fond it for several reasons including because you don’t have to go to school for years to get a degree in it. Nonetheless, the more you practice it, the better one is with it. Here is an excerpt from an article by Guy Winch Ph.D.in Psychology Today magazine. He said;

“Admittedly, despite having a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I know very little about NLP, so I looked up the technique and indeed, a very similar version had been reported by NLP practitioners decades ago. My bad!” 

He had written about a technique that reduced emotional pain. He then, in the newer article cited a number of well established NLP methods that could be used in many areas by his readers.  This has been the mainstream legacy of NLP. For several reasons NLP has not gotten the recognition it deserves. Yet it permeates psychology in general and other fields where people are unaware that it’s NLP! Understand that in many ways NLP is not new, it’s the codification of it both as a body and procedure that is.

One reason for criticism is that NLP has attracted cranks and extremists because of its powers of persuasion.  There has also been a lot of hype which is the nature of the beast. Another reason is the skill level and proficiency go from awesome to awful. Some critics just have an axe to grind.  NLP like everything else has its pros and cons.

Tony Robbins, widely regarded as the number one coach there is, came out of NLP. It’s said he gets $1 million for a personal client for a long time now. NLP is what really gave him his first acclaim. He used to be an NLP trainer. By the way, Robbins is one of Petrozza’s icons and it’s not just because they share the same first name!  NLP is used in major league sports. It’s used by many famous people and the media unbeknownst to most people. It’s a funny thing because a NLPer (practioner) can usually recognize it while most others are oblivious to it.

Tony has an interesting story from when he first learned some NLP from a home study course in the 90s.

“Just from that little 6 cassette audio course I learned a lot.  My friend was a great mother but she had a nasty habit of screaming and cursing at her little kids. She was quite embarrassed by it. She agreed to let me help her. I used a basic NLP technique on her called ‘anchoring’ so that when she felt out of control and was about to start that behavior, she would instead feel calm and confident. It worked great! Everyone was amazed she stopped yelling and cursing at her kids. Then after a week she resumed the old behavior. All that was needed was a reinforcement of the anchor, and some more work. But she didn't let me do it. That’s because in NLP we have something called “secondary gain”. That embarrassing behavior did something for her that was not obvious. And it was not something she was willing to give up. So that was the end of that but it showed me that NLP worked – and I really didn't even know what I was doing.” 

When he became a professional Tony found it extremely effective in his coaching. A few times while working with a client he exclaimed silently to himself after getting a dramatic transformation “Wow! This stuff really works!!” Tony ‘s skill of getting clients the outcomes they wanted was one the greatest experiences of his life. He ranks it up there as when he was a paratrooper (in the 80s)! The coaching field which is constantly growing has NLP as one its cornerstones. Tony predicts that one day NLP will get the proper recognition it deserves.