Bob Dillon testimonials

People are now initiating conversations with me about trivial things just to hear my voice. For example, 'what kind of headset do I use with my cellphone?' Really, who asks people what kind of headset do they use?! A co-worker who ordinarily only talks to me only when she has to, asked me 'what time did I get off work and where do I live?' I won't say what happened after that! Results include: (1) My requests are happily granted and sometimes a little extra is thrown in for no reason. (2) I'm instantly diffusing tense and escalated situations. (3) I have increased acuity in my other senses. (4) A co-worker admitted to daydreaming while I was talking to her. One co-worker expressed a bit of jealousy because another co-worker now wants to talk to me more than they want to talk to them. If that's not irresistible, I don't know what is!! I'm usually reserved and speak only when spoken to, however, with these new techniques I find myself looking for opportunities to speak so I can practice and refine my skills. People join conversations I'm in, More people are expressing interest in my website when I use the Embedded Command technique, etc. This is just a small example, Jonathan. Keep up the good work!

I hired Jonathan for weekly 1-on-1 executive coaching, as well as invited him to spend two days with my team of scientists and managers, for a customized presentation followed up with individual employee coaching sessions.

Jonathan was tremendously helpful in coaching me through some very difficult situations. We focussed primarily on "emotional state management" which he quickly diagnosed was where I needed the most help. Maintaining the proper emotional equilibrium while going through stressful situations to a large extend comes natural to me. Nonetheless, there was a lot of room for improvement, and Jonathan definitely helped me reach a higher level of performance. Working with Jonathan was an absolute delight because he would quickly assess the situation I would describe to him and give me clear, specific pointers on how to adjust my perceptions and options to create a more positive emotional state regarding the situation. From there we would seamlessly transition to specific training exercises to prepare for future situations. I use many of these techniques now without thinking about them; they've become part of my repertoire and toolset.

Not only was Jonathan able to help me improve my performance, he worked with my entire team to help them improve their internal communication. By appropriately confronting them with the need to take responsibility for the outcome of their individual attempts at communication, he was able to help many of them move towards a greater awareness of their own specific communication needs and approaches and to make adjustments to improve the outcome. One team member told me what an amazing resource he was. I was very pleased with the changes in the team's approach to communicating with each other. While communication is still of course not yet perfect among them, it has improved considerably, and this allowed the team to achieve an amazing result. We set goals for the end of the year that we thought were aggressive. In fact we ended up beating the date by 2 months. No doubt we got lucky of course in terms of not encountering major technical obstacles we could not easily overcome. Nonetheless I credit a significant part of our success to Jonathan's work in enabling better team communication. Just the knowledge that in fact there were specific, attainable ways to make communication better encouraged the team and gave them the confidence to work through tense or difficult situations more smoothly than before.

Jonathan is indeed a tremendous resource for those who want to improve their communications (in the broadest sense of that word). Ultimately all human achievement is based on our proficiency to interact with others in a way that makes it more likely we will achieve a mutually beneficial, mutually desired outcome. Jonathan is able to work with any team or individual motivated enough to seek help in doing better, and helping them improve. What I appreciate the most about Jonathan is that he does not try to create an unnatural dependence. On the contrary, he happily shares his techniques and uses exercises and training to help you internalize them. Like any good coach, he helps you get better and acquire new skills that you can use on your own to achieve amazing results.

What I got from my first two hours after Flirtopia: I sat next to a flight attendant on the way back home, & had tremendous fun chatting with her with just one outcome in mind - I wanted her to feel really good! I found myself really enjoying using what I had learned over the weekend, & I could tell that she was getting a LOT of energy out of it - even though I established early in the conversation that we were both married, just to be safe (hanky-panky is a kind of pollution I could live without right now). It was a great conversation that made me feel really connected with a person I wouldn't ordinarily talk to, but the great part happened as we were getting off the plane. She reached in her bag & took out her book of frequent flyer coupons (the kind they give passengers when they want to appease them) she had, & very generously gave them to me - every single one. I was blown away! So I got at least 25,000 frequent flier miles out of my first two hours after the training - & I made this woman very happy in the bargain! What a hoot! I wanted you to know that I really enjoyed the company of the instructors & assistants. They were all tremendous, & really added a lot to the learning. As I left the hotel Sunday evening, I thought to myself that these are the kind of people I really enjoy having in my life. Generous, helpful, skilled & fun-loving are words that come to my mind to describe the members of your team.

As someone relatively new to the subject of NLP I greatly appreciated the mix and range of experience available to me on the linguistic wizardry seminar. Knowledge sharing wasn't just encouraged by Jonathon, but expected as a pre-requisite to getting the most out of the course. As a result this added to the whole seminar experience from day one. Perhaps of greatest benefit to me was the way that Jonathon ensured that we learned as much during lunch breaks and evening conversations as we had learned during the day. By joining us Jonathon showed how the material could be usefully integrated in the real world - achieving shop discounts ethically, was another great bonus. During the course, the practical sessions and brain gym exercises were highly enjoyable - I've already used one or two as handy exercises to occupy the attention of boisterous nephews and nieces. It seems NLP really is 'child's play'. In general, I would like to have played around with more examples of 'state-chaining' through story telling. The Village Council sessions allowed me to see for myself how I'd benefited from the course. Personal benefits for me since the course have been in my professional and social interactions - for instance I now find it easier to model the behaviours of colleagues who have enviable influencing styles; I now see interactions as an opportunity to share stories in a more exciting way; and the quality of my presentations (and joke telling) have improved. For this I believe Jonathon should take some credit.