Welcome to the Vertical Development Institute's (VDI) Substack!

I'm very excited to open up a new space to explore vertical development research and practice here, on Substack and invite you into dialogue on this important topic!

In founding the Vertical Development Institute, my biggest aspiration has been (and continues to be) to make the fascinating research on adult development more widely known and accessible and to open up more conversations about how we can turn the theory into practice and foster the more mature, wiser humans our world so badly needs.

The idea that human beings continue growing up on the inside way after they stopped growing up on the outside is not new and yet, it has been relegated to a few isolated pockets of academia for a very long time. In recent years, the concept of ‘vertical development’ - which describes the psychological growth of adults throughout their life, through a series of increasingly complex/mature stages of development - is gaining traction and garnering attention in organisations. There is an immense need for leaders who are able to thrive in disruption, make wise decisions under pressure, and collaborate effectively for the good of all and there is an increasing awareness that such conscious leadership cannot be taught in a two-day course.

There is no manual for wisdom! And yet, we do have a blueprint of human growth, which adult development researchers have been exploring for decades. In my own work and our collective efforts at VDI, we strive to democratise existing knowledge on what this blueprint is, making the various schools of thought in the field more widely known. We also bring our own contribution by initiating new studies and translating existing theories into practices that leaders, coaches, facilitators or educators can implement in their work day-to-day.

This space on Substack is both one to share new perspectives on vertical development and one to invite you to contribute, ask questions, inquire and learn together.

So join our mailing list and let’s start nerding out on how wisdom and maturity are built and how all of us, grown-ups can continue growing up!