Vertical & Adult Development
Think Like a Leader
An Advanced Program for Advancing Leaders
This is a mental mastery program for those enlightened leaders who are in on the secret that your brain can develop in recognizable ways after adulthood – but doesn’t always (unless you help it). Join me in discovering a whole new level of thinking.
What is Vertical Development?
Vertical development, is a subset of Adult Development. Vertical development refers to the progression through increasingly complex ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to the world, crucial for handling the complexities of contemporary life and leadership.
This type of development focuses on transforming one’s mental frameworks to embrace broader perspectives, integrate complex information, and solve multifaceted problems. For executives, vertical development is not just about acquiring more skills or knowledge (horizontal development) but fundamentally enhancing how they conceptualize their environment and their role within it, which is critical for effective decision-making and strategic leadership.
What is Adult Development?
Adult development extends vertical development to include a wider scope of cognitive, emotional, social, and moral dimensions, addressing how adults may evolve through measurable stages to face increasingly complex challenges and transitions.
Key aspects for leaders include emotional maturation, where individuals learn to better manage their emotions and relationships, and the development of a self-authored identity, enabling them to set boundaries, define personal values, and operate with greater autonomy and responsibility.
These elements are essential for executives looking to lead effectively and maintain resilience in both personal and professional arenas.
What you will Learn
You’ve marveled at those people who consistently see things beyond your own mental borders. Now it’s time to be one of them.
Adult Development & Complexity
Using processes and practices to think at the highest levels of adult development. Uncovering unconscious biases, appreciating polarities & dialectics, thinking from multiple perspectives, and coordinating competing commitments. Differentiate yourself from others and be the adult in the room.
Mindfulness & Thinking
Individual coaching for awareness and attention training to master “the master competency” in leadership agility. The key to adult development of any kind and leadership development in particular is the ability to be present, deliberate and conscious. To be able to “reflect in the moment” so that we are not so much at the mercy of our unconscious beliefs, thoughts, emotions, or habits.
Thinking Processes
Matching the right process to the right problem at the right time: strategic thinking, critical thinking, design thinking, systems thinking, complex thinking, innovative thinking, and decision-making.
Paradox Thinking
Sometimes called polarity thinking can be used as a model for managing polarities in thinking that can block win/win solutions, collaboration, and higher-order thinking. What’s your pole?
How it Works
Individualized and customized to whatever balance of coaching and training works best for you.
Coaching
Over the course of 15 private sessions (over 9-12 months), I will personally walk you through your transition from whatever stage of adult development you are in, to the next level. We use your real-world challenges and context as our sandbox for learning and application. No cookie-cutter coaching. We will stretch and adjust our sessions to the demands of your unique state, situation, habits, personality, etc. as we go.
Training
You will understand exactly what the next level of development looks like, sounds, like, and feels like. You will learn where you are, and how to think, act, and talk your way into the next level. You will learn strategies to accelerate your development that you can take with you after our engagement. Learn how to use compensatory job-aids, tools and thinking processes to mimic higher-level thinking while you grow.
Self-awareness, openness, EQ.
Bonus
Subject-Object Interview (SOI) – The original gold standard for measuring your level adult development created by the father of adult Constructive-Development Theory himself, Robert Kegan and associates.
Harrison Paradox Assessment – A self-assessment that becomes a job-aid for thinking at the next level even before you live there. A way of understanding the highest levels of complexity.
Training resources – Access to or copies of handbooks, additional assessments, articles, and other resources curated from almost 15 years in this field.
Questions?
Learn more to see if we are a match for your needs