Strategies of Genius

Nicholas Christian Hill

To conclude our discussion today, I would like to turn our attention to Robert Dilts’ excellent work, Strategies of Genius Volume I and Volume II, which sit on my shelf behind me. Dilts modelled the thinking strategies of historical geniuses including Aristotle, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Dilts highlighted Aristotle’s ability to categorise experience, define first principles, and move systematically from observation to abstraction. Dilts showed that Doyle’s creativity rested on disciplined observation, the elimination of assumptions, and the ability to move from sensory detail to logical conclusion. Dilts found that Mozart composed by hearing complete musical structures internally, then refining them through iterative variation.

If I may, I will now share his study on Disney. Dilts uses the coded strategies we have been discussing today. Also, what’s clear from these books is that, because Dilts is modelling other people, he is applying Outside Modelling, as you do, Wyatt. However, because the subjects are deceased, he can only deconstruct what they did through Modelling 1. To undertake Modelling 2, he must infer how they did it from their published material. Using Disney’s tendency to adopt the roles of the Dreamer, Realist, or Critic in board meetings, Dilts determined the following strategies, which I will break down as follows:

VAK
These references point to the three primary sensory modalities for coding and interpreting experience:

• V (Visual): includes images, colour, shape, movement, spatial relationships
• A (Auditory): includes sounds, words, tone, rhythm
• K (Kinaesthetic): includes physical sensations, balance, movement, bodily feeling

C/E/a/d/Ad

These references clarify whether experience is constructed internally or perceived externally, whether it is associated or dissociated, and whether it involves internal dialogue:

• C = Constructed: internally generated experience (imagining, visualising, creating, simulating)
• E = External: externally perceived experience (seen, heard, or felt in real time)
• a = Associated: experiencing an event from within one's own perspective
• d = Dissociated: experiencing an event from an observer or third-person perspective
• Ad = Auditory Digital: internally generated dialogue, such as self-talk

Dreamer Strategy (Generating Possibility)

1. Auditory External (AE): Receive multiple sound sources to generate ideas, such as music and dialogue
2. Visual Construct (VC): Create multiple related mental images from the externally generated sound sources
3. Visual Construct (VC to VC): Become immersed in the mental imagery with a future orientation, imagining ideal scenarios
4. Kinaesthetic (K): Become physically involved in the experience by feeling the related movement, pacing, energy, and emotion
5. Visual External (VE): Physically sketch out the imagined scenes on paper

Realist Strategy (Being Realistic)

1. Visual Construct (VC): Imagine the vision as if it is fully realised
2. Kinaesthetic Association (K): Fully associate into the people in the vision and perform the actions as if you are experiencing the realised dream
3. Visual Construct Repeated (VC to VC): Chunk the realised but imagined vision into sequential steps
4. Visual Construct + Kinaesthetic (VC to K): Future-pace each chunked step by mentally rehearsing each one
5. Visual External (VE): Create physical visuals such as sketches or storyboards based on the updated realistic vision

Critic Strategy (Identifying Blind Spots)

1. Visual Construct Dissociation (VCd): Dissociate from the vision to create emotional and cognitive distance, and adopt a third position
2. Auditory Digital (Ad): Employ critical thinking to apply rules and criteria to the vision
3. Visual Construct (VC): Run the vision through multiple hypothetical scenarios to test ethics and ecology
4. Visual Construct + Auditory Digital (VC to Ad): Perform a contrast analysis using a present-state-desired-state comparison to identify weaknesses or risks
5. Auditory External + Visual External (AE + VE): Invite corrective feedback on the visuals to identify and address blind spots

Source: Nicholas Christian Hill, Professional Leader Magazine, Issue 11, Spring/Summer 2013, The Walt Disney Lessons

Wyatt, in closing, you have been involved in NLP for over 40 years, so I have a cheeky question. Do you ever plan to retire? If so, how would you spend your time?