FORGETTING TO GIVE CREDIT

I read two excellent books this past week by the same author. The first book by Marilee Goldberg is titled, The Art of the Question: A Guide to short-term Question-Centered Therapy (1998) and the second book by Marilee Adams (she got married!) is Change Your Questions— Change Your Life. My interest in both books was the author’s focus on questioning which is the heart of thinking. Having seen these books recommended in other works, I wanted to discover if there was anything new about questioning that might add to my own understanding.

Then I was surprised. In reading the first book I found out that she was trained in NLP as a Master Practitioner and had studied with Leslie Cameron-Bandler, had corresponded with David Gordon, and had read some of Robert Dilts’ books. I was also delightfully surprised to find that she boldly presented NLP in the book as a rich source for learning how to ask questions. Here’s what I found in the book: “Information-Gathering Questions and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)” is a section that begins on page 37, giving some background on NLP She then listed a great many of the questions which she learned from NLP including “the Outcome frame,” the Virtual Question from Leslie and M. Singleton (pp. 41-42), and even included “the Miracle Question” of Steve de Shazer. Insightfully she presented “questions as interventions” (p. 43). She explored Questions and Presuppositions (pp. 44-46). She wrote a series of Neuro Logical Level Questions (pp. 52-53). Then from all of that she developed her own version of “Question-Centered Therapy” and spent the rest of the book illustrating how she used question-centered therapy in therapeutic contexts and even in couple therapy.

All good stuff! Now while the first book is long and redundant (345 pages), the second book is much shorter and much more to the point. She wrote it as a story of a man who was “The Answer Man” but struggling in being a leader because he told and lectured and did not listen very well. When he could not lead his team because of that, he was ready to resign, he was sent to an inquiring coach where he learned the power of questioning. Change your Questions— Change Your Life (2015) presents a story that is easy to read, compelling, and that presents a question-centered approach to living and leading.

But ... the second book, in contrast to the first book, offers not the slightest hint of NLP or its influence. And whereas Marilee Goldberg gave plenty of credit and recognition to her sources in 1998, as Marilee Adams, the implication in 2015 is that she invented the entire question-centered approach entirely on her own with no ideas from Cameron-Bandler, Dilts, or Gordon or the rest of the NLP tradition.

After I read the second book and searched through the back pages and appendices for any reference to her sources— I came up empty. There were none. It is as if the whole idea of questioning and the power of questioning was given birth in her mind and her mind only. She stands on the shoulders of no giants who went before her. She gives credit to no one. At least that is the impression that’s given.

Similarly, Marshall Goldsmith who wrote the Foreword gives no indication of the actual sources for the book. She puts quotes at the top of chapter headings from several people—famous people (David Rock, Linda Page, Daniel Goleman, Joseph Campbell, Viktor Frankl, Margaret J. Wheatley, Carol S. Dweck, Peter Senge, Rumi, Martin Seligman), but not a single NLP person. And in her “End Notes and References” (p. 225) not a single NLP reference, so unlike the first book.

Reflections This is one of the ways that NLP keeps getting “lost” in various fields— whether psychotherapy (her first book) or business (the second book). NLP is there, but un-accredited. Neuro-Linguistic Programming serves as a significant part of the scientific foundation, but the typical reader would never know it. The author could not have consciously hid it better.

Why do people do this kind of thing? Now I have to just guess— maybe they want to take all the credit. Maybe they are fearful of criticism if they acknowledge their sources. Maybe they are just forgetful. Maybe they are insecure and want to have others think that they have invented it all by themselves. Maybe the publishing company told them to get rid of all references to NLP. I don’t know why any single person leaves out their sources. Anyone who has written University Papers or papers for a Graduate Degree know that it is part and parcel of scholarship to quote sources.

Maybe it is due to the scarcity frame of mind. Of course, by not quoting NLP, tens of thousands of NLP trainers, coaches, consultants, therapists, etc. will not quote the book and reference it. And by not quoting sources, Marilee does not help to promote NLP as a legitimate field and model. So in this, all lose out— which is the legacy of scarcity. Herein lies a lesson for all, does it not?