Welcome to the Blog

Impact's adventure began from my kitchen table over 31 years ago when I was 23 years old.

Our first, tentative steps into business were heavily fuelled with raw enthusiasm, a shared passion for adventure and an absolute belief that learning from experience could help people to develop, far more effectively than classroom based teaching. We called our approach "Adventure with a purpose".

With no finance to call upon, we made, borrowed and acquired the basic equipment we needed to start out on our journey. A dodgy typewriter for producing mail shots, an answerphone so we could be in when we were out and printed postcards with postage stamps on them so that our prospective clients could reply to us, free of charge. A second hand minibus and a motley collection of outdoor equipment completed the start up kit.

My inspiration came from my time as a student and then as an instructor at Outward Bound and three years spent at Charlotte Mason College where I trained as a teacher in adventure education. Impact pioneered bespoke personal development experiences and leadership programmes in the beautiful English Lake District, creating powerful, memorable and highly engaging learning experiences that were the catalyst for meaningful behavioural change.

Our expertise was in a process of facilitated learning that focused on the growth and development of the individual, the group and the organisation. We cut our teeth working with young offenders from the North West of England, apprentices from the Nuclear Fuels industry, deputies from the National Coal Board and graduates from the Post Office, but soon found ourselves working with senior managers from organisations as diverse as Marks and Spencer, Haden, BT and Apple.

It was (and still is) a very steep learning curve for all of us and not without its challenges and mistakes (of which there have been many - so many in fact that we celebrate them at the end of every year - but that's another story).

We now have 18 offices around the world and employ nearly 200 people full time, working with over 400 amazing companies, governments and social enterprises. At times it has been a real roller coaster of a ride but I wouldn't change any of it.

So here I am about to start the first Impact Blog!

My purpose is to reach out to our colleagues, clients, contacts and anyone who is genuinely interested in helping people and organisations to achieve their full potential.

The Impact Blog will be about:

• Connecting with like minded people
• Exchanging ideas and points of view on a variety of topics
• Collaborating on the creation of new methodologies
• Helping people to work more effectively together
• Comparing experiences
• Sharing inspirational stories, quotes, images and links
• Learning from Impact and our clients' experiences and approach

I also hope it will be a place where friends, old and new, can interact, where we can remember some of the stories from the past and where we can share ideas for the future.

I'm really looking forward to connecting with you. Together we can create a community of practice and grow our collective expertise and knowledge in this fascinating arena of people development. And, as it's coming straight from the kitchen table, I may just share with you my fantastic recipe for spicy apple chutney as well.

Let's get talking.

David Williams