Charles Faulkner - Biography

Biography

Charles Faulkner was born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, a small Detroit suburb. In the early years of his life, his father was an executive in the advertising industry, but then changed careers fifteen years later to become a high school and university professor.

Faulkner pursued his graduate studies at Northwestern University, majoring in English and experimental psychology and minoring in intellectual history and linguistics. Studying under the auspices of John Robert Ross, from MIT, Faulkner was part of an independent research team dedicated to exploring the relationship between language and beliefs. The research was based on "transformational grammar," a concept originally formulated by Noam Chomsky. The team's findings suggested that human beings are capable of creating tangible life changes by simply restructuring their beliefs.

However, in 1981, Faulkner discovered a book about Neuro-linguistic Programming called The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. The book's methodology described ways of affecting immediate and positive life changes by reprogramming speech, movement and thought patterns. That moment was a major turning point for Faulkner, as he understood that "if you could get to the root of the crucial relationship between language and beliefs, then you could change everything." Upon the realization that Bandler and Grinder were developing innovations in areas where Northwestern University had not yet "cracked the code," Faulkner decided to forgo the pursuit of his degree and, instead, dive headfirst into NLP training. By 1987, he was a certified NLP trainer. Today, Faulkner describes Grinder and Bandler as having been at least 10 years ahead of their time.

Eventually, Faulkner found his niche within NLP when he began developing decision-making strategy models based on the thought-patterns and behaviors of highly successful people. He mapped strategies for physicians, international negotiators and accelerated learners. He began to take a particular interest in studying the behavior of top traders in 1987 when a bond trader asked him if NLP could be used in the stock market. In 1990 after years of observing the decision-making strategies of successful traders such as Richard Dennis, Pete Steidlmayer, Jim Rogers, Paul Tudor Jones and Tom Baldwin, Faulkner decided to become a trader, himself. His first trade in 1992 was a failure; however, he did succeed in closing the year at a profit. Within three years, Faulkner's trading skills had improved enough that, author, Jack D. Schwager included his profile in The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders.

In the late 1990s, Faulkner decided to live in England, where he felt the economy would be more stable. He, along with other NLP trainers, has modeled successful strategies for overcoming challenges in a wide range of industries including rehabilitation, finance, medicine, sports, and bereavement, as well as others. As of 2008, Faulkner is a resident of Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK, where he serves as Director of Programs for NLP Comprehensive. and as Visiting Senior Fellow to the University of Surrey School of Management.