Verticalizing. A term I’ve always felt was mine. But this past week, observing my son’s school, my university students, the people around me, I understood how fundamental it is. And how misunderstood.
What verticalizing means
Let’s start with the basics, because the concept isn’t immediate.
Horizontal means applying the same approach to everyone. Equal for all. It’s the identical lecture for thirty students. It’s the standard work method for all employees. It’s efficient, scalable. But generic.
Vertical means personalizing the approach for the individual. Adapting. It’s analyzing how that specific person learns, functions, performs. It’s costly in terms of time and energy. But effective.
And here’s the fundamental distinction: they’re not enemies. They’re complementary. Horizontal is the base, the common foundation. Vertical is the personalization that starts from that base. Not one against the other. One with the other.
The misunderstanding of equity
“But if you personalize for one, it’s not fair to the others.”
I hear this objection often. And I understand where it comes from. But it confuses equality with equity.
Imagine three people in front of a tall wall. One tall person, one medium, one short. Giving all three the same box, horizontal approach, seems fair. But it’s not. The tall person sees over the wall without a box. The short one, even with a box, can’t reach.
Giving boxes of different heights, vertical approach, so all three can see over the wall: this is equity.
Verticalizing isn’t privilege. It’s giving each person what they need to reach the same goal. It’s not lowering standards. It’s adapting the path while maintaining the destination.
Verticalizing in education
As a university professor, I learned this through experience. Or rather, through my students’ experience.
Concrete example: a brilliant student, extremely intelligent, but with a diagnosis of AuADHD, autism and ADHD combined. I, by training and passion, use Socratic dialogue extensively. Open questions, shared construction of reasoning, expansion toward Plato, Aristotle, Wittgenstein.
With this student it didn’t work. They froze. Despite evident intelligence, the method crashed against their neurodivergence. Socratic dialogue requires rapid cognitive flexibility, management of ambiguity, ability to navigate uncertainty. All areas where AuADHD creates difficulties.
I studied. I understood. I changed my communication approach. Clearer structure, explicit fixed points, defined path but with space for their contribution. Same didactic goal, developing critical thinking, but adapted path.
Result? The student flourished. They learned. And I learned.
I try strategies, I often fail, I candidly admit it. But when they work, the satisfaction is enormous. Not because “I won.” But because that student discovered how they learn. And they’ll carry that forever.
The cost of verticalization
I won’t lie: verticalizing costs.
It costs time. Analyzing each person requires hours you often don’t have.
It costs energy. Emotional, cognitive. Trying, failing, trying again is exhausting.
It costs effort. Physical, mental. It’s simpler to apply the same method to everyone.
And I think of teachers at all levels, often underpaid, for whom teaching is their main job. I understand the temptation of horizontal. I understand the fatigue.
But I always ask myself: “Why not do it?”
Even if I struggle today, I know that however it goes, I’ll have done something potentially positive. And perhaps, that person will do it with others tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s well-being
Because this is the thesis I want to share: today’s effort to verticalize becomes tomorrow’s well-being for everyone.
That student with AuADHD who learns with a vertical method? Tomorrow they won’t need continuous support. They’ll be autonomous. They’ll have learned how they function. And perhaps, they’ll become an adult who understands other neurodivergent people.
That employee you trained vertically, understanding how they perform best? Tomorrow they’ll be more productive, more motivated, less in need of micromanagement. And perhaps, they’ll become a manager who verticalizes their collaborators.
That child you taught to accept and use their peculiarities? Tomorrow they’ll be a serene, aware, effective adult. And perhaps, they’ll become a parent who verticalizes their own children.
The effort is investment. The well-being is return. Not immediate. But exponential.
The progression: from self to world
And here’s the fundamental principle: verticalization isn’t a goal in itself. It’s something that must be applied, first of all, to ourselves.
First step: verticalize yourself.
How do you function? What are your limits? Your fears? What do you need to perform at your best? If you don’t understand yourself, how can you understand others? Metacognition, observing yourself while thinking, is internal verticalization.
Second step: understand it’s not privilege.
Study. Read. Understand that personalizing isn’t favoring. It’s necessity, not luxury. It’s equity, not injustice.
Third step: apply to children.
Every child is different. Same love, different approaches. It’s not preference. It’s parental intelligence. What works with one may not work with another. And that’s okay.
Fourth step: apply at work.
Students, employees, collaborators. Everyone performs better with a personalized approach. It’s not management weakness. It’s effective leadership. It’s not wasted time. It’s investment in future productivity.
Fifth step: expand to the world.
And if everyone did this? Multiplier effect. That student verticalized today will tomorrow be a parent or teacher who verticalizes. That person understood today will tomorrow understand others. Well-being doesn’t remain individual. It expands. Geometrically.
What world do we want?
Verticalizing costs effort today. I repeat this because it’s true, it shouldn’t be denied.
But the question is: what world do we want to build?
One where everyone must adapt to the same mold, and those who can’t are left behind?
Or one where the mold adapts to people, and everyone can give their best?
I’ve chosen. And every time I see a student, a child, a person flourish with a vertical approach, I know I’ve chosen well.
Today’s effort is tomorrow’s well-being. Not just yours. Everyone’s.