Richard Wayne Bandler (born 1950) is an American consultant in the field of self-help.[1] With John Grinder, he founded the neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) approach to psychotherapy in the 1970s. Education and background[edit] Bandler was born in Teaneck, New Jersey and attended high school in Sunnyvale, California.[2]: 24 He has stated that he was beaten as a child so badly that every bone in