Leading Vertically and Horizontally

As professionals grow in their careers, especially in higher education, their path is often perceived as a vertical climb. You might move from assistant director to associate director, director, and beyond. These titles reflect increasing responsibility within a particular area of expertise and technical strength within a specific domain—their vertical. You know your area. You manage your people. You get things done.

But there comes a point in one’s career where vertical expertise alone won’t take you further. To rise to senior roles, such as Vice President, it’s no longer just about what leaders know in one area (vertically), but about their capacity to lead across the organization horizontally.

Through our executive coaching and Integrated Advisory work, we help leaders build the awareness and ability to lead beyond their function and operate more fully at the institutional level. Horizontal leadership requires the ability to collaborate, influence peers, lead teams you don’t directly supervise, and build relationships beyond your immediate purview. It calls for leaders to become institutional thinkers and act from a broader vantage point.

In practice, verticals represent the deep roots of expertise. Horizontals, the broad reach of influence. A career built only on verticals can become narrow. One built only on horizontals can lack grounding. The most effective leaders identify, develop, and integrate their verticals and horizontals to create a woven fabric of leadership that guides their practice.

We see this balance of vertical depth and horizontal reach in the people we work with, and supporting those leaders as they build that foundation is at the core of what we do.

Where are you being called to lead differently?