EMPOWERMENT ALPHABET

GENERATIVITY

Generare, from Latin genus -ĕris ‘birth, lineage, it means to produce or give birth to something.

According to self-empowerment, in order to increase their inner power, people need to fully use their “desiring engine”; in other words, people need to plan and pursue their desires, along with their needs and everyday necessities. The act of generating is the highest expression of such process: generativity is both a driving force as well as the goal of a self-empowerment process.

  • It is a driving force because that which I want to generate (a child, a company, a change, a project, …) urges me to challenge myself, to give my best, to set up alliances with others and face the strains inherent in creating and realizing something that meaningful to me;

  • It is a goal because the development of my full potential (self-empowerment) is intended as an instrument to increase my own generative power: I increase my impact, my influence, my sensitivity, as well as my leadership in order to give birth to something new I deeply care of.

Another thought-provoking concept regarding generativity according to the self-empowerment approach is that, no matter how powerful, skillful, and independent one may be, generativity always implies encountering the other, being open to diversity and to the integration of different points of view, energies, approaches. In this respect, generativity is an ode to alliance, openness, and understanding.

I suggest you do an exercise: it is an experiment, the first step towards generating something new. Try to think at one of your projects, in the professional field it might be an idea, a long-cherished dream, or the solution to a problem. Take ten minutes to organize your idea, give it a name and then answer the following questions:

  • why would it be good or important for you to accomplish it?
  • how could it be useful to others (your company or customers, for example)
  • who would you involve?

Now summarize all these answers into a short presentation and identity the people you would like to give it to. It is not a matter of trying to convince someone, finding a sponsor or other similar things, it is rather taking a first step and, perhaps, collecting some useful comments and…time will tell!

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