About Us
IDG is a human performance consultancy specialising in leadership and team development.
We are a diverse and eclectic mix of motivated people, located around the world, dedicated to inspiring positive change in individuals and organisations.
IDG have been designing and delivering award-winning bespoke programmes for over 20 years.
Our programmes are tailor-made to deliver measurable, relevant results.
Our consultants are practiced leaders from business, the military, sport and education. We have offices in the UK, Africa, Middle East and India and operate around the world.
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.
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.
Iain Robertson
Iain works across all of IDG’s major clients bringing a real commercial focus to any programme he delivers. He is responsible for managing one of IDG’s largest financial services accounts, using a global team to deliver workshops in 20 countries across three continents. Iain is also part of the team who design and deliver IDG’s bespoke business simulations.
He joined IDG in 2003 after spending seven years in practice in a Big Four accountancy firm where he was also responsible for the training of the 600-strong graduate intake. During his time at IDG he has worked primarily within financial services, leading long-term leadership programmes both at first line manager and middle management levels. Early in his IDG career Iain led a large-scale assessment and development project in Bahrain which has subsequently been used in both Abu Dhabi and Jordan and he remains engaged in IDG’s work in the Middle East.
Iain is a qualified chartered accountant with a degree in Philosophy and Psychology from Wadham College, Oxford. Since joining IDG he has passed the Securities Institute Islamic Finance Qualification as well as being accredited to Level B with the BPS.
Clients value Iain’s ability to challenge them individually and collectively and his willingness to push them to deliver more. They also appreciate his global experience and intellectual rigour!
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.
Ed Smith
Ed is the Managing Director for IDG Middle East. He leads the regional team and is responsible for client relationships, service delivery and local offices.
Based in the UAE since 2013, Ed was previously a partner at one of the world’s leading risk management consultancies where he managed clients, delivered projects, ran offices and regional delivery teams, growing the business across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan and Qatar.
Ed was trained in leadership and management at the UK Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was then commissioned as an infantry officer where he spent the next seven years serving in a multitude of roles and hostile environments across the world. He holds a Master’s in Applied Economics from the University of St Andrews where he also studied Management, International Relations, Philosophy and French and is a Member of the Institute of Leadership & Management. In his spare time he likes to keep fit and enjoys scuba-diving, skiing, golf, tennis, classic cars, cinema, live concerts, astrophysics and occasionally still plays the drums.
Ryan Parker
PgDip, (Org Change), B.A (Comms & Ind Psych), LDP, Assessor & Moderator (SA NQF), Dip TTT
A creative, resourceful and seasoned educator and programme manager with some 20 years exceptionally varied experience in the field, Ryan has served IDG since 2018 as a valued Senior Associate and has in that time become a trusted advisor to a number of our clients.
Currently serving IDG as Head of Faculty for Leadership Growth at MiSK Schools in Riyadh, where he is helping to build a ground-breaking experiential curriculum and new department which will develop Saudi Arabia’s future leaders.
Ryan is consequently, a strong proponent of a Learner-Centered approach and the promotion of Universal Design Learning principles in every engagement.
A South African national, who transfers from his home in Ireland, Ryan counts himself among the fortunate few to live out their true vocation which is in turn, reflected in his entrepreneurial success in the field.
Nigel Girling
A very experienced leader, mentor, writer and conference speaker, Nigel has operated as a CEO, Chair, Director, Professional Adviser and Consultant to a large number of organisations over more than 35 years. He is regularly asked to deliver keynote speeches on a range of conference stages and virtual platforms and has contributed hundreds of articles and papers to professional bodies, magazines and journals.
In the last 12 years, as CEO and Director of The National Centre for Strategic Leadership, he has been instrumental in developing virtual and online leadership programmes, filming more than 200 tutorial videos and creating thousands of pages of content – much of it designed to support leaders through professional qualifications up to post-graduate and doctoral levels.
Since joining Inspirational Development Group in 2019, Nigel has been at the centre of the IDG transition to the blended and virtual world, creating and editing content for our many major and corporate clients across the world.
He is also Head of Centre for the IDG professional qualifications unit, creating and editing the content for the IDG/CMI suite of qualifications which range from youth, first-line and new to management levels right up to executive and board level.