The Spiral, Not the Ladder
Opening Scene: A CEO and I are chatting briefly after the, signing their company’s Series B. Their metrics scream success: ARR doubled, headcount tripled, a coveted VC round closed in record time. Yet, their voice trembles: “I feel like I’m falling off a cliff in slow motion.”
This is the silent paradox of hyper-growth: the faster leaders climb, the thinner the air becomes. The "ladder" — a linear model of progress, promises ascent, but rarely integration. Each rung is achieved by force, not flow.
Why ladders fail in complexity
Organizations today operate in complex adaptive systems:
Every growth spurt introduces non-linear strain: talent dilution, culture drift, decision overload
Neuroscience confirms: sustained stress impairs prefrontal coherence, reducing the brain’s ability to regulate complexity
Yet most CEOs are taught to “climb faster”:
Push harder, hire faster, raise more
Solve new problems with old operating models
The spiral alternative
In Systems of Grace, growth isn’t vertical but spiralic: looping back, integrating, expanding.
Three loops define the Spiral:
Inner Loop (Leader coherence): Nervous system regulation, self-awareness practices, emotional granularity
Team Loop (Cultural feedback): Rituals of learning, safe dissent, shared meaning-making
Organizational Loop (Adaptive strategy): Continuous sensing, iterative strategy, systemic diagnostics
Each loop feeds the next: A regulated CEO leads better rooms. Better rooms make smarter teams. Smarter teams run adaptive organizations.
Case-in-point (Anonymized)
One founder I worked with shifted from weekly “firefighting standups” to “learning spirals”:
Every Friday: 30-min What We Learned session (no decks, no judgment).
Integrated nervous system tools (walking meetings focused on forward momentum and breathing before hard calls).
Built a cultural dashboard tracking energy and alignment as rigorously as revenue.
Result?
Employee engagement jumped 21%
Decision cycle time dropped 30%
Fundraising (vision, mission, value creation) pitch landed cleaner: board noticed sharper, calmer leadership presence, team was strongly aligned, new hiring hit the ground running
Boardroom translation
Boards care about multipliers:
Spiral leadership = compounding resilience.
Reduces cognitive drag costs (delayed decisions, talent churn, rework).
This isn’t soft. It’s strategic hygiene for complex systems.
Reflection prompt
What part of your leadership is still operating on a ladder?
Where do you need to loop back, integrate, and spiral forward?
"The next economy won’t be built by ladder climbers. It will be built by spiral architects—leaders who integrate as they expand."
