Chapter 4 · Tool
Inner Development Goals
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals describe where the world needs to go. The Inner Development Goals describe the human capacities we need to actually get there. Five dimensions — Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating, Acting — built around a single driving sentence: move what matters.
How to use it
Step 01
Being — relationship to self
Inner compass, integrity, authenticity, openness, learning mindset, self-awareness, presence. Cultivate your inner life so you can be intentional and non-reactive when complexity hits.
Step 02
Thinking — cognitive skills
Critical thinking, complexity awareness, perspective-taking, sense-making, long-term orientation and visioning. Make sense of an interconnected world.
Step 03
Relating — caring for others and the world
Appreciation, connectedness, humility, empathy and compassion. Care for neighbours, future generations, the biosphere — the foundation for fairer systems.
Step 04
Collaborating — social skills
Communication, co-creation, inclusive mindset, intercultural competence, trust, mobilisation. Hold space for difference and turn it into innovative outcomes.
Step 05
Acting — driving change
Courage, creativity, optimism, perseverance. Break old patterns, act with persistence in uncertain times, and make a positive impact in the world around you.
Reflection
Sit with these questions.
- →Which IDG dimension is my organisation starving for right now?
- →Which dimension am I personally avoiding — and what is the cost?
- →Where do I confuse 'busy doing' with 'inner growth'?
- →What would a leadership team trained on the IDGs decide differently this quarter?
Inside TOP Academy
Inside the Academy the IDGs become your roadmap: a personal diagnostic across all five dimensions, one growth edge per quarter, and tiny weekly experiments tied to a real challenge in your team. That's how 'inner work' stops being decorative and starts moving outer numbers.
The Leadership Essentials programme has run with 350+ leaders across Europe and Asia — blending the book's models with peer coaching, real-life cases, and follow-through that sticks.
See the programmeWant to work this through with us?
Explore it together in a free online session with Sonja.