Les Duggan and Dr David Hemery CBE, Olympic Medalist and currently Vice-chair of the British Olympic Association founded Developing Potential in 1997. The company’s intent is to support high performance in individuals, teams and organisations through developing outstanding leadership and coaching capabilities and sharing our experience, knowledge and skills, gained from working with high achievers in business, education and sport. Les remains as one of our two managing partners.
Les Duggan – Managing Partner
Les developed the ’VEGA’ leadership model that aligns Vision, Ethical values, Goals and Action (VEGA) to help organisations deliver exceptional sustainable performance. Along with David Hemery’s ‘Coaching Dance’ and John Whitmore’s ‘GROW’ model, these concepts underpin the success of Developing Potential in thought-leadership.
Les started his career at Cadbury’s in 1979 at the grass roots of the organisation, rising up through the ranks to take on responsibility for all regional, divisional and later national sales.
Les was recognised for his leadership ability when in 1996 he became Sales Operations Director for Cadbury Russia; tasked with sales targets, merchandising and building a new sales-force from scratch. Returning to the UK, Les took on a Sales Director role and later took on responsibility for all Sales Training and Recruitment & Development for the UK business.
It was in this last role at Cadbury’s where Les truly found his calling – developing the business’s talent pipeline and implementing best-in-class talent management processes. It’s this key experience upon which the idea for Developing Potential evolved.
Click on the icon to connect with Les on LinkedIn
Mark Solomons – Managing Partner
Mark is the second Managing Partner at Developing Potential – his background is also in the corporate sphere and specifically from the retail banking sector where his final role was as Retail Director for Sainsbury’s Bank.
Reporting to the CEO, Mark took responsibility for sales and distribution across the 800+ Sainsbury’s stores. Building and leading a large and geographically diverse team he also realised his passion for developing people and experienced first-hand how positive leadership can transform a business.
After completing his MBA at Cranfield University, Mark joined Les and David Hemery and together they established the charity 21st Century Legacy; to promote the philosophy and underlying principles of leadership and coaching for 11 – 14 year old students in British secondary schools.
David moved to head up the charity full time in late 2010, while Les and Mark also continue to focus their efforts on supporting positive change across sectors through Developing Potential.
Our success comes from the pioneering work of our founders and the hands-on knowledge we’ve acquired over the course of our professional lives in FTSE Top 100 businesses. With the wide ranging skills and experience of our facilitators, coaches and Olympians (who work with us on some of our programmes) we deliver consistently outstanding programmes for our clients, enabling them in turn to deliver exceptional and sustainable results for their organisations.
Click on the icon to connect with Mark on LinkedIn
What We Do >>