Our Story
Our Story
Scribbling since 2009
Crackerjack People Development Ltd (trading as Crackerjack Visual Thinking) was founded in 2009 by John Ashton B.Ed (hons).
A mix of skills and experience
John combines over a decade of experience running Crackerjack with his previous experience in learning and organisational development roles to offer a unique, supportive and pragmatic approach to helping people and organisations SEE their future using visual thinking approaches.
Initially qualifying to be a teacher, John then spent 7 years working for Boots the Chemists in various Learning and Development (L&D) roles including the development of online learning content and the development of broader learning and behavioural development initiatives.
At The Nottingham Building Society, John progressed from L&D Consultant to L&D Manager with responsibility for all training including Exec and Leadership development and Sales and Customer Service training. In addition, John was asked to support the building society’s transformation programme focussing on people development and customer experience initiatives.
Making the move
Throughout his career, John had always taken a visual approach to his work, incorporating visuals and creative interactive visual activities into the various L&D initiatives he developed. In 2009, he decided to set up Crackerjack People Development Ltd (trading as Crackerjack Visual Thinking) to devote his time to working visually to help people see their big ideas.
Providing visual thinking services to organisations across multiple sectors (including the NHS, Dassault Systemes and Rolls-Royce) has provided John with a unique insight into the workings of organisations across the UK, Europe and further afield. He brings these insights and learning’s into his work to provide added value to clients, constructively checking and challenging their thinking and sharing ideas and new perspectives where appropriate.