The Number One Priority of the Most Elevated Leaders

Knowing about the concept of vertical development, I have come to learn that leaders can operate from three different levels of cognitive and emotional sophistication: Recognizing that only 8% of leaders operate at the highest level of leadership, I have been on a mission to identify: Exemplars of Mind 3.0 leaders What Mind 3.0 leaders […]
How Mind 3.0 Leaders Actualize Transformational Change

There are three modern business leaders that I have studied that: Are great examples of being Mind 3.0 (i.e., highly vertically developed) leaders that… Have actualized transformational change in the organizations they led. These leaders are: Alan Mulally (Ford) – see American Icon Ed Catmull (Disney Animation) – see Creativity, Inc. Satya Nadella (Microsoft) – […]
Vertical Development & Life Fulfillment

Do people at higher vertical development altitudes experience greater life fulfillment? That is a question that I partnered with Maurice Thibodeau to answer. Maurice is a the creator of a fantastic self-assessment called the Life Inventory Assessment, which is designed to help people gauge the degree to which they are fulfilled in their life across […]
How Elevated Leaders Think About Culture

As I study Elevated Leaders (8% of leaders who operate from a Mind 3.0 vertical altitude) and compare them to Most Leaders (85% of leaders who operate from a Mind 2.0 vertical altitude), one the primary differences is their relationship with and focus on culture. Let me explain. The Two Curves Whether we acknowledge them […]
The Four Most Common Differences Between Mind 2.0 Leaders and Mind 3.0 Leaders

If you are unfamiliar with my material, I pull from adult development research, which has found that: Adults can develop in adulthood There are three different adult developmental stages (I call them Mind 1.0, Mind 2.0, & Mind 3.0). The higher the stage, the more effective one operates Most adults (64%) never develop in adulthood […]
The Impact of Vertical Development on Individual Leaders

A few weeks ago, I surveyed my newsletter subscribers and asked them what they would like to see me write about. A common theme from the responses was that they wanted to learn more about my business and the impact that it is having on the leaders and organizations that I work with. So, over […]
The Biggest Issue with Traditional Leadership: The Dark Side of Mind 2.0

Adult development research indicates that there is a dominant type of leadership today. Specifically, this research reveals that 85% of leaders operate from a Mind 2.0 vertical altitude. When leaders operate from a Mind 2.0 vertical altitude, their bodies are internally wired to advance, stand out, and get ahead. Their primary motive is to hit […]
Leader: You Think You Are Right, But You Are Probably Not as Right as You Think

There was a study of crew coaches (the rowing sport you have probably seen in the Olympics) that confirms several fundamental premises of vertical development: A leader’s vertical altitude dictates what they focus on and prioritize What feels right at one vertical altitude will feel wrong when we operate at a different vertical altitude Specifically, […]
Vertical Development is Like Improving Our Eating Skills

Vertical development is about upgrading our internal operating system such that we elevate how we make meaning of our world in more cognitively and emotionally sophisticated ways.
The Most Common Executive Struggles – Part 4

Let’s look at vulnerability through the lens of vertical development and how we “make meaning” of vulnerability.