The Four Practices Necessary for Vertical Development
What is Vertical Development? Vertical development is the process of upgrading our own internal operating system so that we operate in more cognitively and emotionally sophisticated ways. It is the process by which we become better. Vertical development is necessary for the improvement of the following characteristics, which I believe we should all aspire to: […]
Heat Experience: A Necessary Prerequisite to Vertical Development
Heat experiences are events or situations that cause one to question their current mental models and ways of thinking.
Trauma & Leadership – Part 5 – Understanding Trauma Healing
Thus far in this series, I have made the case that leadership ineffectiveness is rooted in leaders’ trauma. In Part 1, I described trauma, not as events that occur to us, but on the effect that stressful situations have on the wiring in our brain. We have all experienced trauma, and it is the effects […]
How to Enhance Our Psychological Flexibility
I have a six-year-old son who is in speech therapy. I listened in to one of his sessions this week, where he worked on his “th” sound. He tends to do an “s” sound when the “th” sound is needed. So, instead of “tooth,” often it comes out as “toose.” The whole point of speech […]
How Psychologically Flexible Are You?
In my last article, I introduced a construct that is fairly new to psychology that is just now being ushered into the organizational space: psychological flexibility. After learning about psychological flexibility, I have come to believe that the following rather dismal leadership statistics are largely a result of leaders not being very psychologically flexible: 75% […]
Can a Psychologically Unhealthy Leader Be an Effective Leader?
Can a psychologically unhealthy leader lead effectively? The answer is “no.” At least not on a consistent and long-term basis. If we understand this, then it becomes paramount to (1) understand what psychological health is, and (2) be able to measure psychological health in a useful way for both development and evaluation purposes. Psychological Health […]
