In essence, the work of generative men and women involves moving inward as well as outward. We must return home to our family and our own inner life. We must cross the border into new worlds and new experiences. We must ultimately bridge the chasm between soul and spirit.

In preparing a history of professional coaching, to be presented in Curated 2021, William Bergquist interviews Dr. Jeannine Sandstrom, one of the founders of contemporary professional coaching practices and a leading figure in the creation of systemic leadership development programs. Along with Dr. Lee Smith, Jeannine established the first global public coach training program for professional leadership coaches.   Several …

Generativity of the Soul concerns connection and communion. It concerns discovery of that about which we truly and deeply care. If Kotre is correct in suggesting that the primary motive behind the generative impulse is a desire to live beyond ourselves, then is the search for soul essentially a quest for some form of immortality?

Generativity is ultimately about more than child-rearing, organizational leadership, mentoring, preservation of traditions, and civic engagement. At the heart of the matter are two forms of Generativity that women and men often experience during the middle years of their life: Generativity of Spirit and Generativity of Soul.

William Bergquist and Gary Quehl [Note: The complete book (Caring Deeply: Engaging the Four Roles of Life-Fulfilling Generativity) is available for purchase. Use the following link:  Caring Deeply.] In their assessment of generativity as related to social structure, Keyes and Ryff (1998, p. 253) observe that: [S]ociety contours generativity. Midlife and often older adults, adults with more education, and women …

William Bergquist and Gary Quehl [Note: The complete book (Caring Deeply: Engaging the Four Roles of Life-Fulfilling Generativity) is available for purchase. Use the following link:  Caring Deeply.] It is important to explore and seek the origins of generativity inside an individual’s psyche and inside the spirited and soulful processes engaged by generative people. And it is also critical to …

We turn once again to the fundamental choice that Erik Erikson first identified when describing the stages of adult development: generativity or stagnation?

William Bergquist, Ph.D. and Brigitte Lewis, B.S. Neuroscience Welcome to the Pathways to Sleep project. As part of this project, we have identified four components of an individualized strategy for you to achieve successful sleep for yourself or for your clients (with you serving as a sleep coach). We know that this is a big order and that many other …

Generativity can be a source of inspiration and motivation for those of us serving as professional coaches who wish to engage in work on behalf of the Greater Good in their local community, their nation, their environment –and ultimately their world.

As we look down from our high bluff at the world in which we are now working and living, we see (and are challenged by) volatility, uncertainty, complexity and certainly ambiguity (the ingredients to be found in VUCA) as well as our own addition of turbulence and contradiction to this list (what we are calling VUCA-Plus). Those of us standing …