For more than ten years, as corporate strategist for Thales and then senior consultant, I had the privilege to share with David Butler the design and implementation of Thales in-house offerings for the development and advanced training of senior managers and executives of the group. Thanks to David’s creativity and empathy, these programs have become a landmark in Thales culture. Engineered by David, this unique combination of innovative thinking, bold field visits, intense work pressure and unusual cultural insights produced shared adventure memories and deep relationships participants never forgot in their later building-up of leadership excellence.