Vertical Development Institute

Over the past few months I've been lucky to again accompany an amazing group of people on their journey of becoming developmental coaches. As a new cohort of our ICF Level 1 Foundation Diploma is nearing graduation I find myself, again, in awe at the beauty of the transformative learning process.

This kind of learning is not just about knowledge and skill, but about walking the talk of embodying the learning - looking inwards, facing our shadows, being coached over and over again, taking our insights and turning them into action, letting our minds and hearts be stretched in myriad ways. And doing and living all of that together with others - in community - holding space with kindness, honesty and unconditional positive regard for each-other and the whole messy thing: tears, laughter, confusion, discoveries, dark nights of the soul, life challenges that throw us off track, stubborn patterns we challenge, experiments we undertake, fears we face.

Every time we start this journey I remind people of Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces - the mythical journey into the abyss and back, a journey through which the hero, unavoidably, transforms. I also share the parallel journey of the caterpillar turning into butterfly - the poetry of its imaginal cells taking over, forcing it to die so a new being can be born, the vulnerability of being inside the cocoon - no longer caterpiller and not yet butterfly - the patience required to wait for the butterfly to then break out of its shell, rest its new wings, letting them dry before it can fly. These metaphors capture the process of initiation and they capture the trials and tribulations of any profound learning journey. THAT is the kind of learning we're aiming for in this program.

It's not for everyone. It is intense, uncomfortable, requires discipline, practice and a genuine willingness to look inwards. It also requires a generosity to embrace others, meet them where they are, challenge them with kindness and hold them with compassion.

In February 2025 we are opening, for the first time, two groups - one for the APAC/Americas regions and one for Europe/Middle East regions. I have started having admissions interviews and am amazed at the quality of people I discover and very excited to see who synchonicity will bring together this time - as I have seen, over and over, how the right people come together at the right time to learn the very lessons they need in this program. We have a maximum of 12 places in each group and an early bird offer (-500 USD) running until 30th of November.

If you are keen to learn more, do check out the program page (link in the comments or scan the QR code in the image) and reach out to schedule an admissions chat.

"What Does It Feel Like to Be a Grown-up?"

This is a question my eight-year-old asked recently. It gave me pause. I asked her in turn: "What does it feel like to be eight?". She said "I'm still Me". I answered, "So am I".

“Perhaps time will make my memories fade, perhaps when I grow up I’ll perceive my teenage years very differently than I do now. I hope that this journal, which I start today, will help me understand my children much better when they reach my age now. I hope this journal will help me bridge that ‘generational gap’ that everybody seems to be talking about.”

So starts the first entry in my very first journal. February 1999. I was 15 years old.

I have been trying to figure out what being a 'grown-up' means for over 26 years now and I'm just a few steps closer to the answer than when I started.

The story of that journey and some of the lessons I learnt - in the article in the comments.