This account tells the story of the development of an action learning culture in the BBC between 2002 and 2007. From its early beginnings as a sporadic, unsystematic intervention with a small number of leaders scattered throughout the organisation, action learning has now become embedded in our approach to the way we develop our leaders. In this paper we look at the organisational context in which we were developing action learning, the way it became an integral part of a systemic change intervention, the barriers we had to overcome on the way, how we built an internal resource capability and how action learning evolved. We evaluate the impact it has had on the organisation and on our practice, exploring lessons learned during this time and offering ideas for the way ahead. (Contains 1 figure.)