Neuro Linguistic Programming was developed by mathematician Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the early 1970s having studied three very successful therapists Virginia Satir, Frizt Pearls and Milton Erickson.  Bandler and Grinder were able to duplicate the patterns of language and behaviour that made them so effective. The culmination of their study was a philosophy and a number of effective techniques which revolutionised the field of personal development.

Richard Bandler is still very active in the field of personal development and teaches NLP with Paul McKenna.