Most leadership and personal development focuses on what we know, that is skills, knowledge, strategies. But the deeper question is: how do we make meaning of our experiences? This is the territory of adult vertical development theory. Two influential voices, Robert Kegan and Bill Torbert, have given us frameworks that map the inner evolution of adults across life: Kegan through his model of the evolving self, and Torbert through his action logics.
Though their language differs, both describe a journey of expanding capacity for complexity, perspective-taking, and transformation. Together, they offer a powerful lens for leaders who want to nurture vertical development or growth in the very structures of meaning-making.
Kegan’s Evolving Self
Robert Kegan, in The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development (2009) and later In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life (1998), proposed that adults construct reality through progressively more complex orders of consciousness. Each stage reflects a shift in what we are subject to (embedded in, unable to reflect upon) versus what we can take as object (able to reflect on, work with). It is when what we are subject to, which we are not conscious of, becomes conscious to us, and we become able to reflect on and work with as object, that our consciousness develops.
His stages are:
• Imperial (Stage 2): When one is driven by one’s own needs and interests. Others are seen in terms of how they serve those needs.
• Interpersonal (Stage 3): When meaning is made through relationships and the approval of others. Identity is tied to belonging.
• Institutional (Stage 4): When a self-authored system of values and principles emerges. The person can step outside others’ expectations and define who they are.
• Inter-individual (Stage 5): When a recognition of interdependence and the limitations of one’s own system enables one to hold multiple systems and perspectives, and embrace paradox and fluidity.
This progression through the stages can be said to be less about age and more about the deepening complexity of mind.
Torbert’s Action Logics
Bill Torbert, in Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership (2004) and related research, studied how leaders make sense of and act in the world. He identified a series of action logics, each reflecting how people frame reality and respond to feedback.
• Opportunist: When one is focused on control, personal gain, power
• Diplomat: When one seeks to belong, avoids conflict, conforms to norms
• Expert: When one values expertise, rules, and rational analysis
• Achiever: When one is goal-oriented, strategic, able to balance short- and long-term results
• Individualist: When one sees systems, questions assumptions, explores inner and outer contradictions
• Strategist: When one integrates multiple systems, leads change with vision and integrity
• Alchemist: When one embodies transformation, works with deep systemic and spiritual change
Action logics highlight the outer expression of development of how people act in the world, while also pointing to inner shifts.
Seeing Kegan and Torbert Side by Side
Both frameworks describe the move from dependence → independence → interdependence, and from concrete thinking → abstract principles → systemic, fluid integration. Here’s looking at them briefly in parallel.
| Kegan’s Stage | Torbert’s Action Logic | Description |
| Stage 2: Imperial | Opportunist | Self-centered, driven by needs, uses others instrumentally |
| Stage 3: Inter-personal | Diplomat | Seeks approval, Identity is tied to group norms |
| Stage 3-4: Transition | Expert | Still reliant on external validation, but values skill and correctness |
| Stage 4: Institutional | Achiever | Self-authoring, principled, focused on results and effectiveness |
| Stage 4-5: Transition | Individualist | Begins to see multiple perspectives, embraces complexity and contradiction |
| Stage 5: Inter-individual | Strategist/ Alchemist | Integrates systems, transforms self and others, embraces paradox and systemic change |
Implications for Leaders and Organizations
1. Understanding capacity
• These frameworks remind us that not all leaders see the world through the same developmental lens. What looks like resistance may simply be the limit of someone’s current stage of meaning-making.
2. Creating developmental stretch
• Growth happens when the world makes demands that exceed our current structure of mind. Leaders can support growth by inviting reflection, offering safe experiments, and supporting the discomfort of transition. Exposure to stretch assignments, diverse and conflicting perspectives can support growth in one’s vertical development.
3. Embracing humility
• Few people reach the highest stages. One can operate at different stages and Action Logics in different contexts. And different contexts may require one to operate at different stages in response to diverse challenges or situations. Development is lifelong. Recognizing this helps us meet others with understanding, compassion and a developmental perspective rather than judgment.
4. Vertical as well as horizontal learning
• Horizontal learning adds more skills within a stage; vertical learning transforms the stage itself. Leaders who invest in vertical development expand not just what they can do, but how they make meaning and consequently who they can be.
Kegan and Torbert give us two vantage points on the same mystery: the human capacity to grow into deeper freedom, wisdom, and relational maturity. Kegan shows us the inner structures of meaning-making, while Torbert maps the outer expressions in leadership action which is supported by inner vertical development. Together, they remind us that adult development is not automatic. It requires intentional reflection, support, and oftentimes, crisis provides the opportunity for vertical development.
For leaders, the invitation is clear: attend not only to what you are achieving, but to how you are making meaning. Because as your consciousness evolves, so too does your capacity to lead transformation in the world.
