leapST O NE

Introducing leapSTONE

leapSTONE is a specialist business working internationally with organisations from the commercial, public and charity sectors.

leapSTONE uses design to scrutinise and solve problems. We create sustainable change and value through an impartial tailored approach.

Neal Stone

Neal is the former Head of Design for British Airways. He led the design of the world’s first flat beds in business class. Neal founded leapSTONE in 2009. He teaches design and innovation at the Royal College of Art and at some of the world’s most prestigious business schools.

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Clients and work

leapSTONE has worked with commercial, public and NGO organisations. Projects range from hospitality to healthcare and from direction-setting to delivery.

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“We have made fantastic progress since we started our project work and Neal has been great to work with. Neal has been instrumental in making this happen, and we would hope to work with him and his team again in the future.”

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Design leadership & strategy

We explore and set the tone, direction and strategy for the type of design to be used.

Experience-led transformation

Inspiring transformation through co-creating desirable new user experiences with internal teams.

Design & creative management

Hands on, detailed, day-to-day management of creative teams and processes from brief writing to creative stewardship.

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“leapSTONE has supported our Global Innovation & Design team for a number of years. leapSTONE has helped craft focused design briefs from complex project needs; assisted in identifying design teams to partner with; and provided design management support on a wide range of projects.”

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Explore

We explore problems outside and inside the organisation.

Identify

We identify opportunity areas and what we can do.

Create

We create a plan and align the best team to deliver that plan.

Deliver

We help clients deliver by working together from research to rollout. We shape the right team.

Change

We understand the desired user experience and seed the organisational changes to realise it.

“Neal’s experience has been invaluable, taking time to understand what we do and what we want to achieve. Without Neal’s help I think we would have spent a lot more time and money with less results.”

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Asking the right questions

Best practice design helps reduce the chance of finding a really good answer to the wrong question.

Design. The unfair advantage.

Organisations that are design-led have been shown to outperform their peers by 211%.

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Same thinking = Same answers

Many projects fail since they employ business-as-usual techniques that are simply reacting to symptoms. Properly exploring causes leads to better potential solutions and reduces the risk of failed knee-jerk projects.

Top table

leapSTONE believes in the power of good design but it is often poorly understood or not considered by senior leaders. We work with the C-suite to listen and understand where and how design might best add value.

“Really good design is about exploring problems thoroughly. It reduces the chance of getting a great answer to the wrong question.” 

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