This episode we're bringing the "theory" of adult development and applying it to a real-world circumstance. Dell's SVP of Public Policy & Marketing wrote an article about a recommendation made by a member of their Customer Advisory Board, Bob Leek — CIO of Clark County, NV. Bob stated, "“State, local, and tribal governments are mission-based organizations. We shouldn’t be measuring return on investment — we should be measuring return on mission.”

While Bob is correct, and the ROM metric that resulted from that conversation is arguably orders of magnitude better than ROI for this context, the article missed a number of paradoxes and ironies. It offers a perfect opportunity to look a little deeper. At the end, I offer 3 questions you can use the next time you are asked to absorb a strategic brief, a strategy plan or an explanation from leadership that sounds clear at first, but perhaps misses some important realities.

I'd love to hear your thoughts or questions, so please post them below, or reach out via my website: https://www.aliceanneschmidt.com

We have arrived at the place where we can finally start to give some meaningful answers to the "Why?!" questions I've been asking the previous episodes. The decisions made around AI in the business world leave many scratching their heads, but it's hard to put into words exactly why these decisions are so obviously short-sighted or incomplete.

We will spend the future episodes unpacking this stage of development we've landed in with much more detail, as we've barely scratched the surface.

I'd love to hear if it helped you connect any dots, or left you with unanswered questions. Please leave a comment below, or reach out on my website: https://www.aliceanneschmidt.com

True maturity and wisdom—whether as an executive, a parent, or a teammate—isn't about knowing more. Wisdom is about understanding how you know anything at all, while mastering the high-stakes art of unlearning.

Right now, workers at every level are drowning in an explosion of AI-driven complexity. Our default reflex is to cling to our certainty. We fall in love with our abstract creations—our strategy maps, our restructuring plans, our KPI dashboards—and we start treating them as if they are immutable laws of nature. Psychologists call this cognitive illusion reification.

In this edition of Vertical Intelligence, drawing on the breakthrough adult development models of Dr. Tom Murray and Dr. John Vervaeke, we step under the hood of the corporate mind.

We explore the double-edged sword of abstraction, look at what happens when human loyalty is automated out of the equation, and layout a roadmap for entering the 4th Person Perspective. I've also included a 3-part metacognitive audit to help you pull back the curtain on the invisible habits of your own mind this week.

Find me on LinkedIn and Substack

This episode we are diving deep into the "operating system" of the human mind to understand how we can thrive in a corporate landscape increasingly dominated by AI.

While most of our education has been horizontal—adding new data and facts onto our existing mental framework—vertical intelligence is about upgrading the complexity of the mind itself. To explore this, we break down the Four P’s of Intelligence from cognitive science:

• Propositional Knowledge: The facts and data that large language models excel at, yet remain "truth in a vacuum".

• Procedural Knowledge: The actions and "know-how" gained only through trial and error—something AI lacks without a physical body.

• Perspectival Knowing: The ability to occupy different angles, like seeing a merger through the eyes of an intern and a shareholder simultaneously—something AI can simulate, but cannot actually occupy.

• Participatory Knowledge: The deepest layer of lived experience and "skin in the game" where AI, effectively a "ghost," cannot go.

We also begin our journey through the stages of vertical development, starting with the First-Person Perspective. We’ll look at how the impulsive stage of our infancy sets the foundation for basic trust through presence, consistency, and sustained attention. We then move into the "sandbox" of individual power, where we learn the vital lessons of autonomy, initiative, and celebration.

In a world of unprecedented horizontal information, AI can give us the "how," but it cannot give us the initiative to pick up the shovel. Join me as we learn why understanding our own inner world is the most significant competitive advantage a leader can have.

Vertical development cannot be a purely academic, “smart” endeavor. It is hard-won in our most difficult moments of life. So, here’s a peek into my personal experiences of what this journey looks like.

This also lives on my Substack: https://innerlifeofwork.substack.com

Hi, I'm Aliceanne Schmidt. For the last 20 years, I've worked as an organizational psychologist helping leaders and companies grapple with the crisis of the time. In 2008, we experienced a crisis of capital; 2020 was a crisis of logistics, and living in lockdown.

AI is a different kind of crisis. Its complexity challenges even the world's leading experts to provide answers about what's happening and how to best respond. But perhaps we can find answers in an unexpected place.

Join me as we explore a framework developed over the last 100 years that helps to arm us with the kind of complexity needed to meet this moment. In this first episode, we lay the groundwork needed to traverse this huge landscape.

Our traveling companions on this journey will be teachings from Buddhist psychology and Western practices that aim to undermine our most stubborn ways of thinking and solving problems.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe to my Substack or connect with me on LinkedIn. I welcome your questions, comments, and ideas.

Thanks for listening!