About Us
We are a diverse and eclectic mix of motivated people, located around the world, dedicated to inspiring positive change in individuals and organisations
Too often corporate training is boring, irrelevant and simply an exercise in box-ticking.
Rarely does it inspire reactions such as “inspirational”, “exhilarating”… and “life-changing”, all of which we’ve heard regularly over the last 20 years.
Our leadership development programmes transform people into effective leaders and great team players, and for that we need our own great people.
From inspirational facilitators to our outstanding support team, it is our diverse backgrounds – in business, the military, academia, and sport – that give us the perfect formula to catalyse positive change.
Values first, wherever we are
The very first IDG office was a small room tucked away in the bowels of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Our long association with the world-renowned Academy resulted from a mutual ambition to deliver leadership excellence.
Since then we have expanded our thinking and our reach, delivering our programmes from prestigious venues across the UK and the world, with offices in South Africa, India, Oman and Dubai.
Wherever we are, and whatever we do, our work continues to be driven by our core values of:
Selfless commitment
Courage
Discipline
Integrity
Loyalty
Respect for others
Our Leadership Team
Stephen Bennett
Stephen is a Chartered Accountant and after qualifying was a lecturer to post graduate students in a private accountancy college. In 1978 he joined Deloitte, Haskins & Sells as Director of Studies. In 1982 he became a partner and subsequently served on the Firm’s central management team as assistant Managing Partner and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for UK and Europe.
Stephen left Deloitte in 1990 to become Chairman and CEO of a UK USM (second market) company. This Company went to a full listing on the main UK Stock Exchange 2 years later. The Group was sold in 2000 to a large US Corporation now owned by Warren Buffett.
In 2000, because of his on-going interest and years of experience in leading and managing people he founded the Inspirational Development Group (‘IDG’).
He has served as a Non-Executive Director on several Boards and has facilitated at Board and senior management level for several companies, particularly recently in India where IDG has just opened an office.
He is an experienced and well known speaker, particularly on business and financial topics and has written a book and numerous published articles.
Peter Turpie
Based in Dubai, Peter works closely with IDG clients to design and deliver a number of leadership development solutions in the Middle East.
After graduating from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Peter spent 24 years as an Army Officer in the Parachute Regiment and then at the Ministry of Defence. After his career in the military, Peter worked extensively in the Middle East, setting up regional operations across the region for an American company providing specialist training solutions for the military, law enforcement, security and special forces sector. More recently, Peter has consulted as a senior business coach for select blue-chip companies in the UK.
Peter's experience, knowledge and strong networks in the region help IDG to further develop award-winning leadership development services to organisations across the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Heather Couchman
Heather Couchman is Programme Manager for global client teams. Her role includes client relationship management, tendering, budget creation and implementation, supplier engagement, and overall project leadership using project management tools and techniques. The role requires planning, coordination, and successful delivery of customised programs.
In addition to her role as Programme Manager Heather is responsible for the daily operations and functions of the IDG Programme Office. This includes overall support of the IDG Business Operating model, global resource utilisation, adherence to policy and guidelines.
Heather has worked predominately in the Financial Services industries within Group Operations Functions and for the last 10 years working within HR Organisational Effectiveness specialising in Leadership Development and Emerging Talent. As well as an experienced proven track record Heather is APMP qualified.
Clients appreciate Heather’s attention to detail and drive to ensure project deadlines are met to required specifications.
Lance Gerrard Wright
Lance is IDG's Director of UK, with responsibility for all IDG business originating out of the UK. His focus is on building and maintaining our wider UK business and leading the UK team to deliver our award-winning client programmes.
Lance has been with IDG 12 years and has extensive experience of leadership development on a personal and organisational scale. He has delivered countless programmes including First Line Managers up to the Board of a major International Construction Firm, designing their “Leadership Charter.” He has implemented Cultural Change programmes and is carrying out major projects on Values-based leadership for substantial financial institutions. Lance has also worked on Change Implementation with the distribution arm of one of the UK’s most-respected retail outlets.
Lance is a former Infantry Officer in the British Army who served for 10 years. His time in the Army included operational tours of Northern Ireland and Bosnia, a tour of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and 2 years working as an Equerry to The Duke of York. His time in Southern Africa was as a Training Advisor to the newly-formed Armed Forces of Mozambique, where he was responsible for the training and rehabilitation of 100 Civil War veterans.
He was an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for 2 years. Lance also has a degree from Sheffield University in English and Film, and is a licensed practitioner of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Index, and MBTI qualified.
Laurent Corneille
In partnership with the board of directors, Laurent is responsible for the execution of IDG’s global growth strategy.
This includes oversight of IDG’s digital capabilities, new market penetration and innovative content strategies.
He also manages IDG’s Technology team, which specialises in the collection, analysis and reporting of behavioural big data used by clients to support key “people strategy” initiatives with evidence.
Laurent joined IDG in 2011. He was previously European Head for an international headhunting firm dedicated to serving blue-chip organisations.
He is well versed in Lean and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt.
Fluent in both French and Italian, he is a certified Myers-Briggs and SDI practitioner and can occasionally be seen on IDG programmes, sharing his commercial and leadership experiences.
Jake Meyer
Jake is IDG's Chief of Staff and RMAS Project Director. He is also a consultant who specialises in design and delivery of multi-modular business and individual performance improvement programmes, offsite events at Sandhurst and graduate development programmes.
He joined IDG in 2010 and has worked across a broad range of clients and industries, including: International Financial Institutions around the world, The Oil and Gas industry in the Middle East, Engineering and Construction, Fire and Rescue Services, Sports teams, and a range of Professional Services in the UK.
Jake is a serving commissioned Officer in the Army Reserve, and has served in Afghanistan in 2012. He was a professional mountaineer, adventurer and public speaker, having broken a number of records around the world (including in 2005 becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mt Everest, and the youngest man in the world to complete the 7 Summits). He is a qualified MBTI, Strengthscope, DiSC and Skills Deployment Inventory practitioner.
Clients appreciate Jake’s openness and honesty when it comes to giving individual and team feedback, and his enthusiasm and passion for bringing development alive and making it relevant.