This is a story based on passion, a passion for making a difference and helping others to think in a solution focused way in order to achieve greater results.

It all started in 1997 with the world’s first company “passion statement”; 74 words that described what we were most passionate about. Three of those words, “Making A Difference” (M.A.D.), resulted in an amazing phenomenological research project involving eight people in conducting over 4000 hours of interviews, filming and desk research to answer the question;

“What is the simplest way of explaining the success process that people naturally use when making a difference?”

After a year we realised we had a problem: there was no “process” to be found!
At the simplest level we found seven key success principles that were being naturally applied by people when making any sort of difference. After a further two months, we figured out the relationship between these key principles and realised we had discovered a framework; a holistic systems approach to making a difference. However, we did not yet fully comprehend the universal applicability and powerful results that could be achieved through applying what became known as the Go MAD Framework.

The first book, Go MAD – The Art of Making A Difference, was written in 1999 as we started to deliver management and leadership development programmes. A year later, the second book, Go MAD About Coaching, was written in response to a global insurance company adopting the methodology as a problem solving and coaching model. This lead to the Go MAD Framework being used worldwide in over 40 countries, and still we did not truly appreciate the impact and business results that could be achieved through the embedding of our, by now, critically acclaimed methodology.

In 2003, Andy Gilbert was asked a question during an interview about the widest possible use of Go MAD and he replied that it could be used as a “shared thinking system” across an organisation in much the same way that organisations desired a shared I.T. system to create a common platform and achieve greater efficiency. At last we were getting close to realising what the potential of the Go MAD Framework was! Results are a consequence of actions taken which, in turn, are a consequence of the quality of people’s thinking.

The next 5 years saw the achievement of many milestones, including some incredible client results through embedding Go MAD Thinking as a cornerstone of organisational change and business improvement programmes.

The team grew and the research and development continued, with a constant stream of Go MAD publications (over 10 further books and 200 audio/video programmes) relating to the many applications where the Go MAD Thinking System was now being applied with great impact in increasingly large organisations around the world.

We developed a clear set of values to live by each day and hold each other accountable to:

• Inspiring – We achieve results, push the boundaries and make a difference; we inspire others to do likewise through our words and actions.
• Results Focused – We do whatever needs to be done to create business benefits and tangible results that clients can measure.
• Straightforward – Our internal and external behaviour is to challenge complacency, keep things clear and be easy to work with.
• Passionate – We are driven to go beyond good. We seek to be great through being energized by what Go MAD Thinking does to help people to open their minds and make a difference.

In 2008 we launched our popular fortnightly Thinking For Business Success podcast series for leaders, which soon hit the number one spot in the iTunes ‘Management’ section, where we remained for 11 consecutive weeks ahead of Harvard Business School.

The following year we won several major industry awards and a National Training Award for a major client business improvement programme. Andy was voted Entrepreneur of the Year for Leicestershire and had started to shape his lifetime vision to enable over a billion people to have access to high quality solution focused thinking tools at home, at work and in their community. As a consequence, we realised that we need to dramatically develop the technology side of the Go MAD business.

Now, with iCheev, we are able to help hundreds of thousands of people gain access to personal and business acceleration software to achieve greater results, faster and on a more consistent basis. Our Community Content Xchange platforms are being used to enable individuals and organisations to search and find solutions.

To be continued…….