Four Roles of Generativity
We express and experience generativity through the enactment of four different, though interrelated, roles. First, there is the generativity that we experience as parents. We care deeply about the welfare of our children even when they are grown, and we are no longer their primary caretakers. Generativity is not time limited, but it often changes in character. While caring about our children does not fade away as we grow older, it does take on a new form and is accompanied by the delight that comes with seeing our children succeed in their own lives and finding their own distinctive identity. The expression of this first mode of generativity need not be limited to the care for children we have raised from birth. We all know of extraordinary men and women who have taken care of children via foster-care, adoption, or serving as a nurturing uncle or grandparent. One of my dear friends joined with his gay partner to raise a boy from a broken home—a dramatic example of this first type of generativity. This first generativity role can also be engaged when we are tending carefully to a special project or the welfare of a specific organization or community. This form of generativity can also transform over time, as the project, organization or community itself “grows up”.
Second, there is the generativity that comes with caring about young men and women who are not part of our immediate or extended family. They might be associated with our special project, organization or community; however, our caring for these people moves well beyond concern for the success of this project, organization or community. This second generativity role is often engaged when we are older and in a position of some power or influence in an organization. We care for the next generation of leaders or the next generation of craftsmen and artisans in our field.
We often are generative in this second way through our role as mentors. We run interference for younger people or for those who look up to us. We collaborate with them on projects, such as writing a book together or working alongside one another in designing a new training program. We serve as role models that new people in our company emulate through job performance, personal values, and even lifestyle. We serve as mentors when we listen carefully to younger people talk about both their problems and accomplishments. We serve as mentors when we encourage our protégés to take risks or push beyond initial achievements. We sponsor younger people by inviting them into our world, our exclusive club or our virtual network.
There are innovative ways in which this second way of generativity is expressed. For example, we know several insightful leaders in American higher education who make effective use of senior level executives who are on a leave-of-absence from their corporations. They teach for a term or two in the college’s business school or liberal arts program. Many of these executives are in late midlife—and it is during this developmental period when all four generativity roles are often most attractive (Bergquist, 2012). They thrive in educational and training settings that allow them to teach and reflect on learning they have accumulated over the years. (Bland and Bergquist, 1998) In a way, they are “saved” by the college or university. Their students are serving as counterparts to Tom of Warwick (King Arthur’s young boy).
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