Alex Dalton - Partner

Alex began her career in Marketing and PR, before abandoning a perfectly good job at the Institute of Contemporary Arts to pursue her dream of getting paid to watch football. 

10 years with BBC Sport followed, where her responsibilities ranged from producing at the Sydney Olympics to travelling to Vegas with James Nesbitt to film American beauty queens and rodeo cowboys.

Alex left the BBC to launch Leading Ideas eight years ago and has since led innovation and training projects for brands such as Channel 4, Amnesty International, Bauer Media, Chivas Brothers, IMG and Comedy Central.

Alex has retained her connection with the BBC and, as an associate of the BBC Academy, she has trained staff in creative leadership, business storytelling, creative facilitation, change management, digital media and production. 

Linda Cockburn - Partner

Linda is a creative facilitator, trainer and coach with a background in digital media, and a love of the unexpected. 

For 5 years she led the BBC’s Creative Network, working across the organisation to promote and facilitate innovation. Linda built the expertise and reputation of the network and provided coaching and support to over 100 facilitators.  She created the definitive take-away toolkit for facilitators and teams looking for fresh ways of working.  This has become the portable bible for many creative leaders. Linda continues to design and facilitate creative events for a range of clients, including BBC Connected Studio and Kings Cultural Institute.  

Her consultancy includes working with leaders and teams in media, arts and academic sectors, from Hit TV to Welsh National Opera, offering them clear processes to generate new and better ways of working.  She holds an MSc in training and development for adults, is a Henley certified facilitator and an accredited coach.

Simon Mann - Consultant

Simon Mann is best known for his cricket commentary on BBC Radio's iconic Test Match Special. He has worked for the BBC for over 20 years as a presenter, commentator and reporter and also broadcasts globally with IMG.  

Simon has also been coaching communication skills for over a decade.  He is an accredited coach with Civil Service Learning, providing communications training across the entire Civil Service.  He is a regular speaker on communications at The Law Society and has coached representatives from a range of organisations - from UNICEF and the United Nations to the Financial Services Authority.  

Simon uses the skills and knowledge gained as a broadcaster to help people in any business get their message across clearly and concisely.