In the year 1995, I was asked to give training about structures of thinking, called “meta programs” in NLP, the first time. My claim as a trainer was to only give a talk about what I have understood before. Now there were some questions about these structures of thinking I could not answer. All trainers I asked as acknowledged experts unanimously said to me: “Arne, what you ask is nonsense. Those are simply the wrong questions in that context. Therefore there can be no answers.” After having heard that from a half dozen of trainers I slowly began to believe them. God thanks not actually. Because when having met Robert Dilts, the leading head in NLP worldwide, I courageously asked him the same questions and surprisingly became a different statement: “Interesting questions, Arne. I have no answers too, but I believe there ought to be some.”

This was the beginning of a fruitful co-operation between Robert and me. He provided me extensive research material that partly has not been published up to now (March 2002). After that I developed a first version and made first tests. At the same time I made another important contact: the one to Bert Feustel. He, too, provided me with extensive material.

Then there was the time of telephone calls between Hamburg (me) and Munich (Bert). In discussions about single words lasting for hours the Identity Compass^® little by little took shape. Parallel to that the programming started in October 1998. Relieved I was told by the programmers that all what I wanted to have programmed was very simple and that it would be finished within 14 days. Well, I think I was a little bit too credulous in that case (or did I simply misunderstood or did the programmers mixed up something???). Because only in June 2000, that means after almost two years, there existed a really functioning version. And we still kept working on it to enhance it. In March 2002 after a development time of more than six years and three and a half years programming it is the product, I always had in mind. Three programmers gave their best and it is an absolutely convincing product now.

In the end of 1999 I presented that software to Robert Dilts in a beta version. He was very astonished about what I could show him there because we had not seen each other for a year. He was as enthusiastic as all the others who had seen the software and the questions.

Due to the scientific evaluation the Identity Compass^® was enhanced too, so that it is in compliance with strict scientific rules. For me, it was a very nice credit after four years of development and all the work the project is made of, that all are enthusiastic about it. Also the trainers who said to me in 1995 that my questions were nonsense meanwhile are convicted the other way round. They, too, now believe that there must be correlations between single structures of thinking and that they can likely be derived from each other even when they know as little about it as me. But I am thoroughly convinced that the Identity Compass^® will deliver us the answers to those questions. Some hints it already gave to me.

Hamburg, March 11, 2002

*Arne Maus is founder of the Identity Compass InternationalGmbH