A person with more internal flexibility can better cope with the external changes.

Among the many NLP presuppositions, there is one like this: The person with the most flexibility exercises the most influence in the system.

In the above statement, a rather sophisticated systems theory is applied: the Law of Requisite Variety. According to this law, a member of a system requires a minimum amount of flexibility in order to successfully adapt, achieve or survive. When we interpret this in simple terms, it could be that the more devices we have, the easier it is to cope with a dynamic situation that is subject to changes.

In order to let my training recipients to understand this theory more easily, I have done certain extension to this presupposition and put it as: a person with more internal flexibility can better cope with the external changes.

Personally I see this 'Law of Requisite Variety' as one of the most fundamental and valuable theoretical stand for NLP. We can use it to prove the validity of many other NLP presuppositions, as well as many practical experiences in our daily lives.

Why do we need internal flexibilities?

It is because no two persons are exactly the same. It is because no two persons have the same worldviews. Since the map is not the territory, all the so-called 'realities' are perceived and interpreted differently from different people's perspectives. Just as everybody is a unique individual, we have to respect other people's worldviews, or their 'map'. Unless we are totally isolated from the society, we cannot help not to communicate with other people. Even our family members and close friends can have very different worldviews from ours. Therefore, we must communicate and interact with people on the premise of mutual respect.

When the law of requisite variety is applied to interpersonal communication, it comes naturally that we should apply different strategies to different people in different situations, in order to obtain the best results. We Chinese have a lot of such related sayings: To teach students with their different aptitude. To take actions that suit the local circumstances. To give judicious guidance according to circumstances.

A flexible parent can implant the correct values to their children in a way that is easily acceptable by the children. A flexible salesperson can grasp the real needs of his/her customer and then convey the messages about the benefits of his/her product or service to the customer easily. The messages are delivered in a way that can be comprehended and received easily by that customer. Then comes a successful deal. A flexible boss will know his subordinates well enough and to be able to delegate and motivate differently depending on each person's competency and aptitude. In this way, the staff members are making most out of their job duties and the tasks are get done easily. A flexible marketing expert will be able to apply the most easily acceptable ways to deliver the right marketing messages. A flexible enterprise will be able to face the various challenges of the market by diversifying its products, services and sales channels.

Then, how can one increase one's 'internal flexibility'?
NLP is one of the most practical solutions to train up our internal flexibility.