NEWS: Our new guide 'The Exceptional Scale-Up CEO' is now available.  Click here for more information and to download.

We can help...

Whether it's developing the leadership in your organisation, 1:1 developmental support, or development to help other's grow.  Book a complementary discovery call with us now.

Who are the IAD?

Leadership Development

Unlock the potential of exceptional leadership

Button

Facilitation

Conduct exceptional strategy sessions

Button

Hello!

We are Sean Ellis and Darren Stevens

As a business leader, you want to make the most favourable choices for your business - the choices that promote agility, resilience, and sustainability, the choices that give your business the competitive edge, the choices that inspire.


As a Coach, this is what you want for your clients.


But it’s difficult to do this confidently in the uncertain, demanding environment of modern enterprise - What if conditions changed? What if I’ve misunderstood the situation? What if I make the wrong choice?


There is one easy answer to reducing the frequency, intensity and impact of the anxiety of uncertainty that we all feel from time to time.


Our evidence based approach develops the quality of your thinking, making you more at ease with uncertainty and change, enabling you to more confidently make the choices required to grow your, or your client's business sustainably.

Why work with the IAD?

Here's what some of our clients think about us

"A great few sessions with Sean, who helped structure my thought process and put me on a better path towards clarity.” 

Luke Farran - Co-Founder

“Personally I would choose only coaches who passes this training successfully.”

H. Arne Maus - Author/Entrepreneur

"You [Dr Stevens] are creating a revolution in leadership understanding and practice"

Brian Cunningham - CEO & Leadership Author

“Working with Sean has changed my perception of what coaching can be. It felt really good and not what I expected.” 

Jim Bulmer - Founder

Blog

Vertical or Bust: The 3 Conditions Every Leadership Programme Needs and Most Miss

by Sean Ellis • 2 June 2025
Discover why most leadership programmes fail to deliver transformation in today’s complex world, and what to do instead. This article introduces FRAME (Fluid, Responsive, Ambiguous, Multi-perspectival, Emergent) as the new leadership context and outlines how the Dynamic Intelligence Development System (DIDS) helps OD and transformation leaders engineer vertical development. Learn how to build leaders who can think differently under pressure, shift their cognitive frameworks, and construct meaning in real time. If your leadership strategy still focuses on skills over structure, it’s time to go: vertical or bust.

Beyond Engagement: How to expose hidden leadership complexity gaps before they hit your bottom line

by Sean Ellis • 18 May 2025
Discover why engagement surveys keep failing to fix leadership challenges, and what to do instead. This article introduces Organisational Development and Transformation professionals to the hidden cost of unmeasured complexity gaps in leadership. Learn how to diagnose thinking mismatches, implement vertical development, and align role demands with real cognitive capability. Featuring insights from Gartner’s 2025 HR priorities and a real-world case study, this guide shows how tools like the Complexity Gap Diagnostic™ can transform how you develop leaders. Don’t just manage engagement, solve what’s driving disengagement.

Getting Change Really Right: Rethinking Evidence-Based Change

by Sean Ellis • 4 May 2025
Discover a bold new take on organisational change with Getting Change Really Right: Rethinking Evidence-Based Change. This article critiques the widely accepted ten-step change management framework through the lens of Constructed Development Theory (CDT) and the Dynamic Intelligence Development System (DIDS). It explores how traditional models often overlook the developmental readiness of individuals and systems, and argues that successful, sustainable transformation depends not just on better strategies—but on more complex thinking. Ideal for change leaders seeking to move beyond surface-level compliance to deeper cognitive engagement, the piece offers a thought-provoking shift from behaviour-focused interventions to growth-oriented change leadership.