Bill Torbert, a thought leader in the field of leadership development, recently died. Jennifer Garvey Berger wrote a beautiful piece about her last get together with him. Both were fully aware that it would most likely be their last physical encounter with each other and that their good-byes would be “for good.”

What most moved me from her words, was her retelling of Bill’s explanation about the value of friendship, most of which I am quoting here:

“I always figured that at the end of my life, my friendships would be a kind of celebration, a kind of comfortable blanket. What I’m discovering is that even here at the end, there are so many unsaid things left to say, so much left to clear. Old resentments, small difficulties we’ve been holding all these years. I didn’t imagine this.” …
… “It has been beautiful beyond my expectations. I didn’t know there was so much left to deepen, even now.” …
… “I wish I could go back and annotate all my books from this vantage point,” …
… “I would like to say that there’s more than I thought, more kinds of friendship, more kinds of love, more than I could have imagined earlier. I would like to write a note next to each place I spoke of love to explain that the limitations I saw were not the limitations of love, but the limitations of my ability to understand love at that time.”

This last statement gives me goosebumps every time I read the lines. How could we capture the true depth and breadth of those close connections without the more complex flavors of life, the contrasts and the many times we felt hurt, angered, or frustrated?
Ideally, it doesn’t have to wait until the end of our lives. Yet, aren’t our journeys into every corner of our emotions and long(er) periods of confusion, feeling lost and also alone what nurtures the breeding ground for those deep-felt friendships and relationships?

Then, how do these sentiments and questions apply to coaching and Bill Torbert’s legacy for us practitioners?

In the landscape of leadership development and executive coaching, few thinkers have shaped our understanding of human transformation as profoundly as Bill Torbert. He spent over four decades researching, teaching, and developing what would become one of the most influential frameworks for understanding how leaders actually develop – not just in term of skills, but in the very way they make sense of the world.

Especially, his pioneering work around the concept of “action logics” has fundamentally influenced how coaches approach deep, transformative work with their clients. This legacy continues to offer guidance for the kind of profound inner development our complex world requires, from us and our clients.

Here is a quick overview of the seven action logics:

• Opportunist (pre-conventional): Focused on mastering external reality, often exploiting situations for personal gain
• Diplomat: Prioritizing group loyalty and conformity, seeking safety in following established rules
• Expert: Bringing skepticism and rational judgment, valuing mastery of knowledge over conformity
• Achiever: Oriented toward goals and effectiveness, able to manage complex systems
• Individualist/Redefining: Recognizing that different people view reality through unique frames
• Strategist/Transforming: Capable of honoring the evolving nature of individuals and creating shared visions across different worldviews
• Alchemist: The rarest stage, characterized by the ability to reinvent oneself and organizations in historically significant ways

I had lots of opportunity to apply and share this concept of action logics or “Seven Transformations of Leadersip” with leaders at different levels of growth and ranks and it has always been an eye-opener, which spurred new insights and inspiration for my clients as well as myself.
And I’d be lying, if I didn’t admit there were times when I felt a bit ambitious, as to “where I currently thought to sit” in the line of seven and whether I could ever near the alchemist stage. How much I missed the point in those moments!

Quoting from his and David Rooke’s famous hbr article, they state the following: “What differentiates leaders is not so much their philosophy of leadership, their personality, or their style of management. Rather, it’s their internal “action logic”—how they interpret their surroundings and react when their power or safety is challenged. Relatively few leaders, however, try to understand their own action logic, and fewer still have explored the possibility of changing it.”

So, in the end, it is not that critical whether we operate as an opportunist or closer to the most evolved state of the alchemist action logic. What is critical is whether we are willing to take an honest look at where we are today, what our operating model is and which place we feel ready to grow towards. That includes, identifying what might have been holding us back in the past, what might be getting in the way in the future, how our values could align or clash and whether we are willing to take the road less traveled to start taking action towards showing up differently. Even more, at a time when classic leadership capabilities alone will no longer suffice, but Vertical Leadership Skillfulness is needed. It is the latter that enables our clients to expand their range of response and grows organizational culture to allow for experimentation, psychological safety, and mindful action. These capabilities directly address what organizations need most today: The capacity to deal with ambiguous and complex challenges, the ability to tap diversity in perspectives, and showing resilience under stress.

For us coaches, this offers both a challenge and a gift: The challenge to engage in our own developmental journey with honesty and commitment, and the gift of frameworks that can guide profound transformation in those we serve. As our world grows more complex and interconnected, the need for leaders and coaches operating from later action logics becomes not just desirable but essential. Therefore, it also makes a lot of sense that Bill Torbert challenges us to recognize that as a coaches we cannot effectively facilitate development beyond our own action logic. Whatever our blind spots, unacknowledged patterns, and projections may be, they directly impact our efficacy as a coach.

This principle once again highlights the importance of our own ongoing personal and professional development. It’s not enough to know the theory of adult development – as coaches, we must actively engage in our own vertical development to serve clients most effectively.
So, his question to us basically is: Are we willing to do the deep, often uncomfortable work of our own development in service of facilitating genuine transformation in others?

Here is my response: A clear ‘yes!’ Because that is exactly what makes coaching amazing and offers an opportunity for ongoing growth and development on all sides. The depth we can access in coaching others is ultimately limited only by the depth we’re willing to explore within ourselves.
And, to close the loop to Bill’s earlier cited sentiment at the end of his life, some of it we could just as well apply to the way we view our friendships and other close relationships as well.