Vertical Development is a game changer that few people know about. Traditional leadership development is broken because it is focused almost exclusively on skill acquisition. Skills and competencies (horizontal development) are limited as leadership interventions in fast-changing and complex environments.
Instead, vertical development is growing capacity for systems thinking, seeing multiple perspectives, and observing and adjusting one’s own thinking and behavior. Applying the fundamentals of vertical development to today’s business challenges is a cutting-edge approach that encourages leaders to evolve conscious thought and leadership capacity.
If you want to know a little bit more about Vertical Development, this is a great introduction video by Ryan Gottfredson that is only 6 minutes.
Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a cutting-edge leadership development author, researcher, and consultant. He helps organizations vertically develop their leaders primarily through a focus on mindsets. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of “Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership.” He is also a leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton.