The following is an extract from Greg Hodge's foreword to Natural Born Success, the groundbreaking new book by Paul Burgess, the creator of I.D.™

I first met Paul when he was working with a young athlete who was in my swim program at Sutherland Leisure Centre, in Sydney, Australia. This guy in a bright tie and colourful trouser braces turned up on pool deck to talk about ‘Kate’. This was early in the 1990’s.  As a school teacher and swim coach I was extremely interested in human behaviour and how best I could motivate and challenge the kids in my classroom and swim squad. The I.D. principles made immediate sense to me. I needed to be involved. I was hooked.

I decided to introduce the I.D. System™ to 20 of our best teenage athletes and I believe it had a profound impact on the squad as a team, on each of the children who applied it (6 of them went on to become Olympians and members of the Australian Swim team), on their families and certainly on my coaching and future career. In fact the one athlete whose father was skeptical and therefore did not participate in the program was the only one of these 20 who I believed was held back from being an Olympian and from having a successful tertiary education experience and career.

For me, the I.D. helped me better understand my own coaching style and how it impacted on each swimmer – according to their different I.Ds. It was insightful to realize how they interpreted my coaching style and my communication - athletes respond to coaches in different ways. It is not enough for the coach to present his/her training programs in one way. I clearly remember ‘Steve’ for whom too much information just confused him. His training (and results) improved dramatically when I pitched the manner of my delivery differently for him. Then there was ‘Kathy’ who needed to know every aspect of every part of the training sessions (even before they started) so she could plan her effort accordingly. The self awareness gained by each swimmer made it easier for them to have stronger self belief and to be able to be more accepting of others.

No longer did athletes complain because one athlete missed a few laps whilst others did more yards, or why some athletes needed much more of the coach’s time for one-on-one instruction whereas others could function effectively with group talks. And, given how well I came to understand the kids, I was even able to help the parents communicate better with their children.

As I moved away from club coaching into managing the High Performance programs for the NSW Institute of Sport and later Australian Swimming, the impact of the I.D. System profoundly influenced the implementation of new and innovative programs.  I was fortunate to have Paul ‘on hand’ to steer me right when I was unsure or needed further schooling in getting the best out of the athletes.

The I.D. is an important concept in today’s complex world and allows greater flexibility for individuals, parents, teachers, coaches, team leaders and managers by providing us all with an accurate insight into the true person with whom we are interacting.

Greg is currently working in the Middle East consulting to the United Arab Emirates and raising the professional coaching and teaching standards in that region.