Harvard teaches you how to build a business plan. But the real world teaches you how to build trust, presence, and influence. That’s where What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack stands apart.
McCormack, the founder of IMG and one of the most successful dealmakers in sports history, believed that true business mastery is psychological. It’s not about what you know; it’s about how you communicate it.
For entrepreneurs and small business owners, this lesson is gold. Whether you’re pitching an investor, leading a team, or speaking on stage, your results depend on more than logic. They depend on your ability to influence how others feel.
That’s where the principles of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) such as anchoring, metaphors, and the hierarchy of ideas become the missing link between strategy and success.
People Don’t Buy Logic; They Buy Certainty
One of McCormack’s most powerful insights is that decisions aren’t made in spreadsheets; they’re made in the gut. People don’t buy from the smartest person in the room. They buy from the most certain.
In NLP, this is known as anchoring. Every confident tone, steady breath, and intentional pause triggers an emotional response in your audience. Before they process your words, they’re responding to your state.
In public speaking, certainty becomes contagious. When your tone anchors confidence, your audience mirrors it. When your body language projects assurance, your message gains credibility.
Try this: Before your next pitch or presentation, recall a time when you felt unstoppable. Breathe into that moment. Anchor it by pressing your thumb and forefinger together. Then, when you step into the room, fire that anchor again. Watch how your energy shifts and how others shift with you.
McCormack built his empire on “street smarts” — the ability to read people faster and more accurately than anyone else. In NLP, this is called
calibration: the art of noticing subtle changes in physiology, tone, and language patterns.
Every interaction gives you micro-signals — a raised eyebrow, a shifted posture, a tighter jaw. These cues tell you everything about what someone is thinking but not saying. The best communicators don’t just listen; they observe.
When you calibrate your audience, you can adapt in real time. You know when to lean in, when to pause, and when to change direction. That’s influence in its purest form.
Exercise: The next time you’re conversing, notice someone’s breathing rhythm and match it subtly. Then adjust your pace to lead them toward calm confidence. You’ll feel the rapport deepen instantly.
Every great communicator knows that persuasion isn’t about one big idea; it’s about guiding people through a sequence of emotional states. McCormack did this naturally, taking clients from hesitation to excitement, from doubt to decision.
In NLP, this is known as chaining anchors. You move someone emotionally step by step until they reach the state that leads to action.
In public speaking, this might look like starting with empathy (“I know how frustrating it feels when…”), building curiosity (“But what if there’s another way?”), and ending with conviction (“Here’s the system that changes everything”).
Each emotional link strengthens the next. By the time you reach your call to action, your audience isn’t being convinced; they’re ready.
McCormack was a master of simple, vivid metaphors. He could turn an abstract idea into an image people remembered for years.
In NLP, metaphors are a cornerstone of the Milton Model, a language pattern that bypasses the conscious mind and speaks directly to the subconscious. A good metaphor doesn’t just explain; it transforms understanding.
For example, instead of saying “Our marketing strategy is comprehensive,” try, “Our strategy is a compass that keeps you moving in the right direction no matter how the market shifts.” The metaphor gives the audience a mental anchor they can feel, not just think about.
Metaphors turn logic into emotion and emotion into memory.
One of McCormack’s strengths was his ability to think big and execute small. He could inspire a vision and then outline the steps to make it real. This aligns perfectly with NLP’s Hierarchy of Ideas model, which helps communicators move between abstract and specific thinking
- High-level (chunk up): Inspire and motivate — “Imagine a world where your message moves millions.”
- Mid-level: Explain the process — “Here’s how to connect through story and state.”
- Low-level (chunk down): Deliver specific action steps — “Start by mastering your opening line.”
The best speakers flow between these levels seamlessly. They inspire belief, build clarity, and end with direction. That’s what moves audiences from awareness to action.
McCormack taught that charisma and composure close more deals than credentials. Confidence is magnetic because it signals safety — the feeling that “this person knows what they’re doing.”
In NLP, this is called state management. It’s the practice of shifting your internal state on command. Before a big moment, most people focus on outcomes. Great communicators focus on state. They decide who they want to be before they speak.
Quick reset: Before walking on stage or into a meeting, take a slow, deep breath. Drop your shoulders. Feel your feet on the ground. Then recall a time you led with confidence. That physical cue brings your body and mind into alignment, and your audience feels it instantly.
McCormack believed experience was the ultimate teacher. Theories are helpful, but it’s the repetitions that create mastery.
In NLP, we call this modeling excellence. It’s the practice of studying what great communicators do — not just what they say — and integrating it into your own behavior.
Want to become a more persuasive speaker? Watch how the best pause, how they use silence, how they pace a story. Then replicate those patterns until they feel natural.
This is the real “street-level MBA” — learning by doing, observing, refining, and repeating until influence becomes instinctive.
McCormack’s lessons remain timeless because they address what most business schools overlook: human behavior. Harvard can teach you strategy, but influence — the ability to move hearts and minds — is an inside job.
The most successful entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders master both logic and language. They understand that communication isn’t just words; it’s energy, intention, and emotion.
NLP gives you the roadmap to do exactly that — to communicate with clarity, presence, and purpose. When you understand how to anchor confidence, read people’s cues, and tell stories that resonate, you don’t just inform. You transform.
But here’s what even the best books can’t give you: feedback. You can study the theory of influence, but until someone helps you see your blind spots — your tone, your timing, your body language — you’ll keep repeating the same patterns that limit your impact.
Feedback is the mirror that turns knowledge into mastery. It’s the difference between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it when it matters most.
That’s what they don’t teach you at Harvard, but it’s exactly what you can learn when you choose to captivate on command.
