Understanding What Your Ego Is Can Help You Rise Above It
![When the ego dies, the soul awakes.](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/When-the-ego-dies-the-soul-awakes.jpg)
I feel like ego is talked about a lot. Here are some quotes about our ego: I don’t know about you, but I feel like 10 different people can talk about our ego, and they all seem to define it or think about it differently. In other words, I am not sure I have had […]
Getting In Touch with the Quality and Altitude of Your BEING Side
![](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/man-in-office-1024x688.jpg)
We have two different sides to ourselves. Our DOING Side We have a DOING Side, which represents our level of talent, knowledge, skills, and abilities. This represents how many apps you have downloaded on your computer. The more specialized your apps, the better you will be at accomplishing specific tasks. Most people are quite “in […]
How Past Trauma Affects Leadership Quality
![woman with a psychologist for therapy, trauma and mental health support](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/woman-with-a-psychologist-for-therapy-trauma-and-mental-health-support-1024x683.jpg)
We want better leaders and we want to become better leaders. Unfortunately, commonly referenced statistics suggest that the majority of leaders are falling significantly below expectations. Improving our leadership and that of others should be a priority. In this series I am going to make a bold claim that I believe is key to transformationally […]
Why Leadership Development Needs to Focus on the Brain
![stressed female at work](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/stressed-female-at-work-1024x684.jpg)
Over the last week, I have had two very similar percentages rolling around my head: In my blog post last week, I reported a finding that people with ADHD generally operate at 30% reduced ability across self-awareness, self-restraint, hindsight/foresight, time management, emotional self-control, self-motivation, and planning and problem-solving. In one of my most favorite TED […]
The Connection Between Leadership, ADHD, and Vertical Development
![brain pathways](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/8308502_brain-pathways-1024x768.jpg)
If you haven’t followed my writings, here are some key things to understand: We have an internal operating system that dictates nearly all of our perceiving, thinking, and operation. Vertical development is a form of development that focuses on upgrading our internal operating system. The quality of our leadership is dictated by the quality and […]
Most Common Executive Struggles – Part 2
![doors](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/doors-1024x546.png)
This week, I start identifying the most common executive struggles that I have observed working with executive teams.
The Foundation of Most Executives’ Struggles – Part 1
![Group 4052](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Group-4052.png)
In this article, I want to explore what I believe to be the foundation of all four things that executives struggle with.
Recommendations for Bottom-Up Vertical Development Efforts
![woman doing yoga on a pier](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/woman-doing-yoga-on-a-pier-1024x687.jpg)
While we can engage in bottom-up efforts on our own, we will generally not get the full healing value from it without guidance and facilitation of a trained therapist.
Elevating Your Center of Gravity – How to Widen Your Window of Tolerance and Re-Center Yourself
![stacked stones](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/stacked-stones-1024x463.jpg)
Vertical development is a form of development that is focused on improving our internal operating such that we make meaning of our world in more cognitively and emotionally sophisticated ways.
Stepping into Mind 3.0
![steps](https://ryangottfredson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/steps-1024x683.jpg)
Over the last several weeks, I have been sharing examples of people I have worked or interacted with that are at different stages of their personal vertical development journeys.
The purpose of doing this is to help you:
Better see what vertical development looks and feels like
See the value of focusing on your vertical development
Be inspired, as I have been, by the courage of others who are letting go of who they have been and embracing an elevated version of themselves