{"id":51668,"date":"2019-09-09T15:24:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T19:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=51668"},"modified":"2025-05-08T06:23:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:23:14","slug":"vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Vertical Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Organizations today operate in a fast-moving global environment where market dynamics and competitive landscapes constantly change. Shifting threats and emerging opportunities are compounded by rapid advances in technology. To survive, businesses need solid strategy \u2014 and they need vertical leadership development to drive the mindsets and organizational culture needed to support strategy implementation.<\/p>\n<p>A strategic initiative can succeed only when an organization\u2019s leadership culture supports it. Yet too many companies waste time dreaming up strategies that their culture lacks the mindset to actually implement. The level of complex thinking must match the level of complexity required for the strategic change \u2014 and we call that vertical leadership development. To put it more plainly, vertical leadership development is the science of evolving the perspectives of individuals and groups to become progressively more elevated, complex, and integrated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"quotesContainer\">\n<div class=\"quoteMark\">\n<div class=\"quoteBlock\">\n<p>\u201cIf you want best practices, you need best beliefs. Beliefs drive practices. Beliefs are embedded in cultures. And culture always wins.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>To develop these more complex ways of thinking, we recommend that leaders do 2 things:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Examine their cultural beliefs and practices, and<\/li>\n<li>Develop more sophisticated leader logics.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>The Vertical Leadership Development Framework<\/h2>\n<p>Our groundbreaking vertical leadership development framework starts with developing executive teams and scales to help entire organizations initiate and sustain true cultural transformation by fostering the interdependent, complex thinking that ensures strategic initiatives succeed. This is accomplished in a tight learning process that starts with the senior team and increasingly moves into the broader organization, helping to shift the cultural beliefs and practices of leadership in order to implement the desired transformation.<\/p>\n<p>Our white paper discusses a model for successful leadership culture transformation based on our organizational leadership development work with dozens of clients around the globe. A key component of this model is the vertical development of leadership mindsets, which requires 3 categories of development work, shared between members of the senior leadership team:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The expansion of awareness and increased perspective;<\/li>\n<li>The sharing of power to collaborate, learn, and lead; and<\/li>\n<li>The persistent pursuit of critical thinking in a \u201cview from the balcony.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Enhancing vertical development of leadership culture can result in increased collective capabilities, with beliefs and practices held between all of this in leadership, creating the foundation needed to spark real organizational transformation. In particular, there are 5 clear outcomes that vertical leadership development helps to create:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Silo-busting<\/li>\n<li>Agile decisions<\/li>\n<li>Enterprise ownership<\/li>\n<li>Dilemma-readiness<\/li>\n<li>Strategic complexity\/disruptive capability<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Overall, vertical leadership development is critical because your organization&#8217;s leadership culture can make or break any change effort or business transformation \u2014 and culture <em>always<\/em> wins over strategy. That\u2019s why intentional focus on leadership culture is the key to strategic success.<\/p>\n<p>Download our white paper to get a full look at the importance of culture over strategy and how vertical leadership development can help your organization build the leaders and culture you need for the strategy you want.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"d-none\">Download White Paper<\/h2>\n<div class=\"callOut\">\n<div class=\"h2Display\">Download White Paper<\/div>\n<p>Download this white paper to learn more about how vertical development of executive teams can improve an organization\u2019s culture and the effectiveness of its strategy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"buttonPosition\"><a class=\"buttons button1\" href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-for-executive-teams-culture-wins-over-strategy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"Download the Vertical Leadership Development white paper now.\" data-material-type=\"white paper\" data-element-type=\"action button\" data-element-cta=\"Download File\" data-element-position=\"1\">Download Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our groundbreaking vertical development framework starts with developing executive teams and scales to help entire organizations initiate and sustain true leadership culture transformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":43173,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51668","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-leadership-culture","categories-organizational-leadership","categories-strategic-leadership","audience-executives","audience-hr-consultants","impact-level-senior-leaders","region-global","article-type-white-papers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Vs. Strategy | CCL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Download this white paper to learn how vertical leadership development of executive teams can improve effectiveness for an organization\u2019s culture and strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Intentional focus on leadership culture is the key to strategic success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CCL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T10:23:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Intentional focus on leadership culture is the key to strategic success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CCLdotORG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Vs. Strategy | CCL","description":"Download this white paper to learn how vertical leadership development of executive teams can improve effectiveness for an organization\u2019s culture and strategy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy","og_description":"Intentional focus on leadership culture is the key to strategic success.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/","og_site_name":"CCL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","article_modified_time":"2025-05-08T10:23:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy","twitter_description":"Intentional focus on leadership culture is the key to strategic success.","twitter_site":"@CCLdotORG","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Helton","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec"},"headline":"Vertical Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy","datePublished":"2019-09-09T19:24:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T10:23:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/"},"wordCount":513,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/","name":"Vertical Leadership Development: Culture Vs. Strategy | CCL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-09T19:24:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T10:23:14+00:00","description":"Download this white paper to learn how vertical leadership development of executive teams can improve effectiveness for an organization\u2019s culture and strategy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vertical-leadership-development-how-culture-affects-strategy-success-center-for-creative-leadership-ccl.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"Vertical Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/white-papers\/vertical-development-culture-beats-strategy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"White Papers","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/article-type\/white-papers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Vertical Development: Culture Still Wins Over Strategy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","name":"CCL","description":"Leadership Development Drives Results. We Can Prove It.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization","name":"Center for Creative Leadership","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"Center for Creative Leadership"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CCLdotORG","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ccldotorg\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/center-for-creative-leadership\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec","name":"Carrie Helton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Carrie Helton"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/author\/carrie-helton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/51668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/51668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}