Celebrating 30 Years of Mindshop:
A Journey of Reflection & Innovation
Founding Mindshop: A Vision for Excellence
In the mid ’80s and then into the early ’90s, my goal was to build a consulting group, drawing on my success insights and accreditations from the Australian Government in best practice programs in areas such as lean, strategy and continuous improvement. However, the challenge lay in finding people to work for me in the consulting business as those good enough were already running their own consulting practices and didn’t want to work for someone else.
This led to the vision of the licensing system, allowing consultants and advisors to be educated in the tools, models, and approaches essential for advisory success (for a modest monthly fee).
Mindshop’s global presence was established early on, primarily due to referrals from satisfied clients, with members spanning the UK, North America and eventually expanding to twelve countries. We have always worked with consultants and coaches but in the mid to late 90’s started supporting early adopter accounting firms in building a high performing business advisory offering to clients.
Soon after we widened our client base into CEOs and leaders of organisations up to around $500 million. All shared and contributed to the best practice intellectual property we developed, continuously blending proven and emerging tools and processes.
Technology & Innovation: Adapting to a Changing Landscape
Over the years, Mindshop has witnessed a technological evolution, from VHS tapes and CD-ROMs full of tool videos in our early years to cutting-edge online training platforms in the cloud today.
Our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement has propelled us to now provide online coaching, training, diagnostics and education globally, leveraging our in-house technology. We have always been early adopters of technology and our vision of having a digital platform to keep the investment required to access our tools and processes at a modest level remains unchanged.
Intellectual Property (IP): Simplifying Complexity for Business Success
The core of Mindshop’s intellectual property has always been about simplifying business complexity, steering clear of fads and complex approaches. While the look and feel of our models have evolved, the core principles for problem-solving, strategy, and change have remained steadfast.
Our toolbox, how-to resources, and methodologies have grown to encompass over 150 tools, 25 workshops, 20 online training programs, and thousands of videos and best practice resources. Our advisors use these resources internally and externally to develop their competitive capability in their business. They are strategic problem solvers addressing whatever issues face them in their day-to-day activities.
The commitment to continuous improvement is exemplified in the creation of Mindshop’s Change Success model, born out of an eight-year Ph.D. I completed in 2014 in industrial and organizational psychology. This research enabled our advisors and leaders to increase their average probability of change success of an initiative from 30% to 80%.
Community & Core Values: Building a Global Network of High Performance
At the heart of Mindshop is the advisor community, driven by our core values and the Mindshop Excellence community purpose. By attracting like-minded individuals, we have cultivated a global network of high-calibre people who share, learn, and support one another strive for higher performance.
While people may join Mindshop for the best practice learning, coaching, technology and resources they stay because of the shared values of the people in the Mindshop community. The authentic culture of sharing, learning, and camaraderie has been a secret to our success. While many people have come and gone over our long journey all have had an impact on where Mindshop is today.
Many expert Mindshop advisors now lead our training, coaching and education at conferences thus ensuring the learning and support our community gets is grounded in what is currently working in the field not based out of a text book describing what worked five to ten years ago.
Impact: Beyond Commercial Success
Our competitive advantage has long been defined by our commitment to making the biggest impact on the performance improvement of our network members. Looking back, countless success stories stand testament to the positive impact Mindshop has had on the success of advisors, leaders, and their families
It is not uncommon for people to be part of Mindshop for several decades in which time their careers and capabilities have been fast tracked. This impacts significantly on the confidence levels of themselves, their teams and their organisation.
I consider many of these people my friends and greatly value our relationship. This is one of the key factors in why I continue to work and pursue a lifelong learning goal. I need to be of continuous value to my friends as they grow and prosper.
Family & Team: A Foundation for Success
Behind the scenes, driving Mindshop has been not only a dedicated global team and regional directors but also my immediate family, who are all actively involved in the business. James as Managing Director, Emily running our Learning & Operations, Julie running Mindshop Excellence charitable trust and Brett as Managing Director of a successful IT support business, Traction IT. Their contributions, coupled with a family business focus, have guided Mindshop’s continued success.
The family values impact the day-to-day operations of Mindshop and Traction IT but also the succession planning for the Mindshop group of companies.
Looking to the Future: Embracing Innovation & Adaptability
As we look into the future, the rapid advancements in AI, augmented and virtual reality, enabling avatars and multiple language capabilities excites me. Instant language translation, AI content creation and tailored individual avatars will open up new global coaching and learning opportunities but also continue to commoditize some advisory services. By maintaining a lean and agile structure, we can adapt quickly and uphold our commitment to working with advisors who share our core values.
Final Lessons: Nuggets of Wisdom from 30 Years
In celebrating Mindshop’s 30th year, I’d like to share a few key lessons I have learned along the way you may value:
- Change Success: Boost the probability of change success before embarking on a strategic initiative.
- Value to Others: Find worth in helping others succeed, reducing the likelihood of self-sabotage.
- Diverse Community: Surround yourself with good people who share core values for mutual learning and growth, and have a diversity of backgrounds and experience.
- Now-Where-How: Embrace this core strategy tool for guiding meetings, problem-solving, and strategy engagements. This tool reinforces the importance of vision, the ‘Where’.
- Have Fun on the Journey: Enjoy the ride, don’t sweat the small stuff, and never take yourself too seriously.
- Lifelong learning: Anticipate future capabilities and develop the skills and knowledge required to address emerging problems and opportunities.
- Be a Role Model: Look for the best in others and do what’s needed to enable them to reach their full potential. Be a role model yourself.
As we celebrate Mindshop’s 30th year, I am proud of what we have all achieved together. I look forward to meeting new faces, sharing stories, laughs, insights, and a glass of wine at various conferences throughout 2024. Here’s to the next chapter of innovation, growth, and success for Mindshop! Thank you for being part of this journey.
Chris Mason
Founder, Mindshop
