For CEOs, founders and top leaders with real accountability for results

ALTITUDE · English cohort, spring 2027 · waitlist open

Coaching installs a new app.
This is the operating system.

Win back a day a week.
And halve your stress. In eight weeks.

Back in good contact with yourself, and you lead the transformation instead of it dragging you. With 5 % of your waking time, alongside your job.

Trained with more than 1,600 leaders in over 16 countries · Roche, BioNTech, DATEV, Breuninger, tonies, Fressnapf
Apply
A few questions, then I get back to you. If it does not fit, I will tell you. Prefer to talk first? Book a 30 minute call with Achim.
24 places, in groups of five to eight. The autumn 2026 cohort runs in German. The English cohort starts in spring 2027, and your application puts you on the list.
Measured, not claimed5B Pentagon and self-authorship index in week 1 and week 8. You do not have to believe anything.
Alongside the jobThree hours a week are the core: 90 minutes live with Achim, 60 minutes with your Triad, 30 minutes of reflection. Up to five with everything optional.
Golden CutUp to day 14 you get the full amount back, no discussion. And those who really train win back at least a day a week.
Many who come to us know this

Outside, everything works. Inside, you run under high pressure.

Someone asks where the company will be in five years, and you hear yourself give an answer you do not believe.

You announced the change. Four months later everything runs as before, only with new slides.

You have a question you cannot ask anyone without consequences. Not the board, not the bank, not at home.

You carry a bad conscience, towards yourself and towards your family, because too little time and attention is left for either.

A quarter past four in the morning, and before the first thought arrives, your back is already there.

You want to reach the next level yourself, and for that you wish for more than coaching: a real support system with substance.

If you find yourself in one of these lines, do read on. And the good news is: exactly this can be trained, alongside your job and measured in your own data.

Who leads this
“I am not a coach. I am a guide. I walk beside you, not ahead of you.”

Achim Feige was a competitive athlete, then a brand strategist for fifteen years. On the outside everything worked, on the inside he was running under high pressure. Eleven years of his own inner work later, he trains what he was missing back then: a system that holds under real pressure. Kegan, Porges and Kotler supply the science, the cohort supplies the room.

1,600+
leaders
16+
countries
4.7
out of 5, across five bootcamps
The full career, as a PDF (German)The whole story, as a personal invitation
Achim FeigeAchim Feige · Founder of VERTICAL Development
A real team at your side

Who works with you in the cohort.

Achim Feige

Achim Feige

Head Coach · Co-Founder

Leads every Altitude Session and every Deep Dive in person. 25 years of transformation work, more than 1,600 leaders in over 16 countries. Competitive athlete, then brand strategist, then eleven years of his own inner work.

Sebastian Baier

Sebastian Baier

BOAT Teams · Co-Founder

Leads the BOAT Teams in ALTITUDE. Specialist in transformation processes, group flow and team development. Guides teams and leaders through deep change, with a focus on collective intelligence and group dynamics that last.

Melis Ünver

Melis Ünver

1:1 Coaching · Executive Coach

Works with you in 1:1 coaching. Executive coach with a focus on inner work and organisational development. Brings systemic depth and a female perspective into C-level coaching and accompanies leaders through personal transformation.

Raphael Ungar

Raphael Ungar

1:1 Coaching · The Human Capacity Builder

Works with you in 1:1 coaching. Flow performance trainer and former professional hockey player. Transfers principles from elite sport and neuroscience to leadership and helps leaders regulate stress, sharpen focus and reach a flow state they can reproduce.

Daniel Pålsson

Daniel Pålsson

Breathing and Flow Protocols

Leads the breathing sessions and executive flow protocols in the programme: breath, sleep, heart coherence, live in the cohort.

The seven dimensions

The Leadership OS Upgrade.

ALTITUDE is the Leadership OS Upgrade for leaders in transformation. One level deeper than any app, any seminar, any book.

Everything we train runs in seven dimensions. First we measure, then BE, BECOME, BELONG, BOUNDLESS, BEYOND, and at the end your Masterpiece. Your Deep Dive settles which dimension makes the difference for you right now.

Dimension 01

DIAGNOSIS · Position

Know where you really stand. Measured, not estimated.

Bottleneck Diagnostic5B PentagonCEO archetype3-person feedbackRe-measurement week 8
Dimension 02

BE · Presence

Lead calm and present, instead of chasing the day.

Morning alignmentBreath protocol 6-6State check during the daySleep protocolBreathing session
Dimension 03

BECOME · Self-author

Lead instead of react. From your best version.

Best-version profileFuture signature5-minute visualisationWeekly experimentMirror exercise
Dimension 04

BELONG · Resonance

Lead connected, instead of alone at the top.

BOAT Team, 5 to 8Your TriadTeam mapResonance radiusHeart coherence practice
Dimension 05

BOUNDLESS · Flow

Performance without pressure. Flow instead of the hamster wheel.

Flow week35+5 containerTime Jedi Matrix90-minute rhythmMeeting audit
Dimension 06

BEYOND · Meaning

Meaning that carries you, instead of ego at the wheel.

North star statementLegacy briefSeventh generationBig Mind process5-phase map
Dimension 07

MASTERPIECE · Your body of work

Your work. Your plan. Instead of working off projects.

Masterpiece definitionFlow trigger stackIntegration planPlateau trainingAltitude Circle
All seven

One system. Not seven courses.

Each dimension builds on the one before. That is why ALTITUDE only exists as a whole, and that is why it works.

Your number in one minute
Your path through ALTITUDE

What exactly happens.

Before the kickoff

Diagnostic and Deep Dive

You take the CEO Bottleneck Diagnostic, five to eight minutes, twenty statements. The first ten registrations also get 90 minutes one to one with Achim: your 5B Pentagon, your focus for the eight weeks.

Day one

Kickoff

Your cohort is set: 24 people with real accountability for results, in BOAT Teams of five to eight and Triads that stay together to the end.

Week 1

Calibration

Baseline check, 5B Pentagon, self-authorship index. Where you stand in your own data, not in self-assessment.

Weeks 2 to 7

The seven dimensions

One dimension each week: a 90 minute Altitude Session with Achim, 60 minutes with your Triad and 30 minutes of reflection at the weekend. Optionally you add the BOAT Team, Alignment Practice, breathwork and your morning routine, plus one leadership experiment in your real calendar.

Week 8

Re-measurement

Week 1 and week 8, side by side. What has moved is in the index, not in the feeling.

Afterwards

90 days of integration

Altitude Circle with your cohort, 5B Team Lens for your leadership team, and the weekly Alignment Practice. New wiring takes around 67 days, which is why it does not stop after week 8.

Your diagnosis

32 pages, all about you.

In week one you receive your personal report. It shows how much of your FÜHRUNGS-KRAFT arrives today, where you stand in twenty qualities and where the most can move for you. FÜHRUNGS-KRAFT is a German word, and I keep it on purpose: Führung is direction, Kraft is force, and the number says how much of it arrives. The report then becomes your journal for the eight weeks, with room for everything you discover along the way.

20 qualitiesFÜHRUNGS-KRAFTGrowth MapThree leversThe view from outsideReflection every weekRe-measurement in week 8
Sample pages of the ALTITUDE report: cover, Transformation Code star, At a glance, Growth Map, FÜHRUNGS-KRAFT and plan

Sample report with invented data. All values are a model built from your own answers, not a measurement.

The engine

5 % of your waking time.
100 % development and FÜHRUNGS-KRAFT.

Three hours a week are the essentials. Everything else is an offer if you want more, and with it you reach about five. That is why it fits a real CEO calendar.

The essentials3 hours a week
90 minutes · live

Altitude Session

Once a week, live with Achim. Eight sessions across the eight weeks. This is where the core of the work happens.

60 minutes

Your Triad

Your resonance group: two people who know your path and ask about it. Together to the end, and usually beyond.

30 minutes · at the weekend

Reflection

Half an hour in peace. You look at your week and settle what you take into the next one.

Optionalif you want more, up to 5 hours a week
90 minutes

BOAT Team

Five to eight people who carry the same load. The room where you do not have to perform.

Wednesdays, 6:30 to 7:00 CET

Alignment Practice

Live, no replay. Coherence, heart, vertical alignment, your day. Currently held in German, and it keeps running after the programme.

Live in the cohort

Breathwork

Breathing sessions with Daniel Pålsson: breath, sleep, heart coherence.

Daily

Morning routine

Morning alignment, breath protocol, state check. Each piece takes under two minutes, so it survives the first full calendar.

Achim FeigeMelis ÜnverRaphael Ungar
Optional · on request

1:1 coaching with Achim and the executive coaches

Tailored to you, and in deep resonance. Together we go to the places you do not look at alone. With Achim, Melis Ünver or Raphael Ungar, alongside the cohort.

Simply mention it in your application
Included, during and afterpart of the programme
Support

Altitude Circle

A monthly live session with your cohort for six months after the programme ends. Integration does not hold by itself.

Support

5B Team Lens

A 60 minute debrief in week 7 or 8: your profile, transferred onto your leadership team.

Three steps. The first one is optional.

How you can get started.

1 Optional

Your test: 1 or 8 minutes

If you like, start with a test. The calculator shows you your number in one minute. The Diagnostic goes deeper and shows you your bottleneck in five to eight minutes.

Calculator · 1 minuteDiagnostic · 5 to 8 minutes
2

Application and call

A short form with a few questions. Then I get back to you, and if it fits we talk, gladly with your test result if you have one. You get an honest answer on whether ALTITUDE is your next step, including no, with a suggestion for what to do instead.

3

Deep Dive and kickoff

Commitment, then the 90 minute Deep Dive for the first ten, then the kickoff. From there the cohort carries you.

Apply
You can apply without a test. Prefer to talk first? Book a 30 minute call with Achim.
Before and after, module by module

Seven modules. Seven shifts.

ModuleBeforeAfter
Week 1DIAGNOSISPosition

A vague feeling, tensions, being stuck. You sense that something has to change and that you want to reach the next level, but not exactly where and how.

Clear data and your bottleneck in black and white. From that come one focus, one plan and the measurement of your follow-through.

Week 2BEPresence

Stressed, drained, empty inside.

Your nervous system regenerates daily, your batteries are charged, and some of your spark is back.

Week 3BECOMESelf-author

Rigid, gruff, reactive. The autopilot leads.

Present and open, in inner alignment. You lead as your own author.

Week 4BELONGResonance

Alone, isolated, too much on your own shoulders.

Good connection and resonance. Your team follows you gladly, the change moves, and you carry it together.

Week 5BOUNDLESSFlow

Hamster wheel, overtime, work into the evening and the weekend.

Time in flow, double the outcome and a clear end to the day. Plus time for family and private life.

Week 6BEYONDMeaning

Distracted and unclear, driven by short-term goals and demands.

Crystal-clear focus and a clear direction, held in a meaningful frame: why and what for you and your company do it.

Week 7MASTERPIECEYour body of work

On your own, with the experience of not being able to make it stick in daily life.

A support system that secures your follow-through in daily life: Triad, BOAT Team and Altitude Circle.

For those who train. The condition is the work.

Measured, not claimed

What happens for those who train.

59%
less stress
75%
more productivity, at shorter working hours
67%
more self-efficacy

Measured among those who trained: sleep, heart rate variability and stress values, before and after. Results vary.

Fifteen out of more than 1,600 leaders trained.
“Self-confidence. Sleep. Body awareness. Time for the important instead of the urgent. Leadership behaviour. The key realisation: that only I can change anything.”
Jens BergerCEO Globus, formerly CHRO Fressnapf
“The circle of influence has become my mantra. Life has been lighter since. It also gives you a clear guideline for leading.”
Alexander RaubalHead of Development E-Commerce, Fressnapf
“Exercise plus nutrition plus sleep equals energy. Physically fit, focused and present because of it.”
Norbert MarschallingerManaging Director Germany, Fressnapf

“I hand out tasks more clearly, I set deadlines, and I say something when one is missed. And I separate the personal from the business level far better.”

Sven WeitzPartner, Campana & Schott

“I used to think high performance meant getting from A to B as fast as possible. Now I know: you do not have to wreck your nervous system to perform at that level.”

Andres GevertPrivate Equity Vice President

“I have found my flow moments during the day. The work on music helped, and all of that awareness around sleep.”

Ann-Kathrin de MoyManaging Director, WelikeU

“What I found here is a room in which I could develop as a person. Not functionally. Inwardly.”

Steffen van GlahnCOO, Crespel & Deiters Group

“A push towards more clarity, and with it the freedom in my life to do what I actually want.”

Fritz PetersManaging Director, Gebrüder Peters

“My defined superpower is with me daily.”

Petra WolleDirector People & Culture, Wünsche Group

“Strengthening the team consciously, and caring for it. The most important practice: rotating one-on-one feedback.”

Martin DautCEO, quirion

“A more conscious way of dealing with myself. Using flow as a source of potential.”

Marc KochManaging Director, Vedder

“Lead the way you are. There is no other way anyhow.”

Michael BetzFounder and Managing Director, EBERTH Bau

“Actively shaping my working day, and not reacting too much to outside impulses.”

CH
Christoph HülsmannVedder

Verbatim from the August 2026 client survey and the closing calls, translated from the original German.

What clients say

Not about themselves. About us.

Most of the 1,600 leaders did not come to us alone. They came with their team. These four CEOs brought VERTICAL in for their entire organisation.

“VERTICAL was not a consultant but a real partner to our executive board. The journey was far more than a structural change. It is a cultural evolution that begins with each individual.”
Holger BleckerCEO, E. Breuninger
“VERTICAL developed our top management from cautious, reserved executives into self-effective, purpose-driven personalities.”
Matthias MeyCEO, Mey
“A strong partner who supports every single leader on their individual path, and so enables the whole organisation to perform at its peak.”
Paul HorlacherCEO, The Pioneer
“Not an option, but a necessity in the middle of hypergrowth and extreme pressure. We built real self-leadership and presence, not as a performance, but as an operating system.”
Bastian BehrensFounder & CEO, Blackwave

ALTITUDE is the accessible door into that same system. For one person instead of a whole house.

Two paths

For you. Or for your leadership team.

English cohort · spring 2027

ALTITUDE

Investment on the call
24 places per cohort · autumn 2026 runs in German · English waitlist open
  • 8 Altitude Sessions live with Achim, 90 minutes each
  • A BOAT Team of 5 to 8 and your Triad, together to the end
  • Measurement in week 1 and week 8: 5B Pentagon, self-authorship index
  • Deep Dive, 90 minutes one to one with Achim, for the first ten registrations
  • 90 days of integration: Altitude Circle, 5B Team Lens, Alignment Practice
  • Golden Cut: full amount back up to day 14
Apply
For CEOs, managing directors, founders and top leaders who sense that they are becoming the bottleneck themselves.

Leadership OS Upgrade for Teams

On request
For leadership teams and C-level in organisations
  • The same method, built for your whole leadership team
  • Bootcamps, cohorts and guidance over 6 to 12 months
  • Measurement at team level, trainer team on site
  • References: Roche, BioNTech, DATEV, Breuninger, tonies, Fressnapf, The Pioneer
  • Plus scale-ups like Blackwave and start-up founders from The Delta and TUM Venture Labs
Write to Achim
Only for start-ups, scale-ups, family businesses and corporates that want to lead the change from the front and are willing to start with themselves.
Questions CEOs ask

What you want to know before you apply.

I do not have five hours a week.

You do not need them. The essentials are three hours: a 90 minute Altitude Session, 60 minutes with your Triad, 30 minutes of reflection at the weekend. BOAT Team, Alignment Practice, breathwork and morning routine are optional, and with them you reach about five. That is 5 % of your waking time. If that time for your own calibration does not exist, your calendar is leading you, and that is exactly what we work on.

How is this different from executive coaching?

Coaching works on what you do. ALTITUDE works on what you operate from: new apps on the same OS versus an OS upgrade. And you work in a cohort of peers. Calibration among people who know the same load goes faster.

Is this esoteric?

Fair, the industry has earned that reputation. Which is why we measure: 5B Pentagon and self-authorship index in week 1 and week 8. The foundations are called Kegan, Porges and Kotler. You do not have to believe anything, you can see it in your own data.

Does it hold once the programme is over?

In August we asked our clients what they still use today. Almost all of them still use at least one practice, a third use three or more. The two that stay most often take under two minutes. On top of that come the Altitude Circle and the Alignment Practice after the programme.

Does Achim work with me personally?

Yes. Achim leads all Altitude Sessions. The first ten registrations also get the 90 minute one to one Deep Dive before the kickoff.

What does it cost?

We discuss the investment on the call, because it depends on what is on your table. What is included is on this page, in full. And the Golden Cut applies: up to day 14 you get the full amount back, no discussion.

What happens after the eight weeks?

90 days of integration: Altitude Circle with your cohort, 5B Team Lens for your leadership team, and the weekly Alignment Practice. For alumni who want to go deeper in person, there is the Master Retreat.

Will it run in English?

The autumn 2026 cohort runs in German. The English cohort starts in spring 2027, as soon as enough English-speaking leaders are on the list, and the application is the fastest way onto it. Everything else stays identical: same system, same measurement, same Golden Cut. If your German is good enough to work in, you are welcome in October.

What happens next

You apply in a few minutes. Then you decide in peace.

The decision you are postponing right now is not waiting for more clarity. It is waiting for a system that can hold the feeling behind it.

Apply
We look at it together, calmly. Bring your number along if you already have it.
Not there yet? Start with the Diagnostic, read the personal invitation or stay on the list.

What you are looking for is already there. It is only folded in. Development literally means unfolding.

It’s You.
Just evolved.

ALTITUDE. Leading from the source.

Executive Inner Work. Leadership from the inside out.