Many people are fond of saying “Creativity is thinking outside the box.” Reactively, this means that someone is trapped “inside the box” and needs to get out. Proactively, “Genera-tivity means thinking to avoid getting trapped inside the box.”

From a more operational perspective, generative thinking creates new responses. In learning theory terms, generativity creates responses that the stimulus conditions were not calculated to elicit. In other words, generativity elicits no responses that are conditioned, linear, or based upon the limitations of the Binary Code.

In the current global financial crisis, for example, the assumptions and implications are unclear. The finance people assume that they are dealing with 100% of the variance—Financial Capital.

The generative thinkers, in turn, define the New Capital Development ingredients as follows (see Figure 4):

• Marketplace Capital or Marketplace Positioning
• Organizational Capital or Organizational Alignment
• Human Capital or Human Processing
• Information Capital or Information Modeling
• Mechanical Capital or Mechanical Tooling
• Financial Capital or Financial Investments

These effective ingredients account for Economic Productivity Growth or EPG which is the major part of all Economic Growth.

In short, the financial people say, “It takes money to make money.”

The generative thinkers propose, “It takes ideas to generate wealth.”

The former extends The Industrial Age into overtime.

The latter introduces “The Age of Ideation.”

Figure 4. The Sources of Economic Productivity Growth (EPG)

As may be viewed, Financial Capital Investments account for 15% of the variance in Economic Productivity Growth or EPG. In turn, the remaining New Capital Development Systems account for 85% of EPG. Finally, Marketplace Capital accounts for the totality of EPG—100%.

What does this mean for resolving the Global Financial Crisis? It means that our limited perspective on Financial Capital is compounded by our Binary Code Thinking which allows us only “Go” or “No-Go” choices: Either we let the Free Market operate in an “unfettered fashion” or we regulate it in a “controlling fashion.”

Only when we view the crisis in the totality of its sources can we make a long-term resolution. Indeed, we can only affect a long-term economic growth resolution when we adopt “The Generativity Solution.”

Having prematurely chosen to drive our economy by Financial Services instead of Manufacturing, we erected Financial Information Systems with “Faux Interdependence.” Lacking a “Common DNA/RNA-like Interdependent Data Base,” these Financial Services operated independently and excluded human processing. The net of their data-centric operations assumed themselves to be “Sources of Wealth” rather than “Products of Wealth” or “Measurements of Wealth.”

In perspective the solution to our economic crisis is the solution to all human crises: a “Common Integrated and Interdependent Data Base” which demands “Human-Centric Interdependent Organizational Processing Systems.” This is “The Generativity Solution.” This is “The New Capitalism.”

There has been an extraordinary confusion of finances and economics by academic economists, Wall Street marketers, and government bureaucrats. Before we proceed, let us see if we can clear up this confusion with simple illustrations of basic economic systems.

Basic Systems

All systems have similar operations (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Basic Systems Operations

As may be viewed, systems are operations that convert inputs into outputs as follows:

Resource inputs are converted into results outputs by transforming processes at measurable levels of performance feedback in order to meet the requirements of the conditions within which they exist.

These systems are present under all conditions of both survival and growth.

Changing Systems

For example, the changing conditions of the 21st century marketplace require continuously changing systems operations, as may be seen in Figure 2:

• Continuous repositioning in the marketplace;
• Continuously improving products to meet changing consumer needs;
• Continuously realigning organizations to meet repositioning requirements;
• Continuously elevating resources to meet product requirements;
• Continuously improving profitability to support all other operations.

Whether or not we meet these requirements determines whether or not we are engaged in economic survival or growth operations.

Figure 2. Changing Economic Systems Operation

The New Capital Development System

The economic growth operations may be viewed in sharp relief in Figure 3. As may be viewed, our success in meeting changing marketplace requirements is found in the development of “New Capital Development” or NCD, defining “capital” as what is “most important:”

• MCD—Marketplace Capital Development or continuous positioning to meet changing marketplace requirements.
• OCD—Organizational Capital Development or organizational realignment to implement the positioning;
• HCD—Human Capital Development or human processing to implement the realignment;
• ICD—Information Capital Development or information modeling to implement human processing;
• mCD—Mechanical Capital Development or mechanical tooling to implement information modeling.

In this context, Financial Capital Development ($) never accounted for more than 15 percent of Economic Productivity Growth or EPG, the primary component of all Economic Growth. The remaining 85 percent of the variance in EPG is attributed to the prepotent ingredients of NCD.

Figure 3. The New Capital Development System

In summary, the Financial Crisis must be separated from the Economic Crisis:

1. We are in an Economic Crisis because we have not met the requirements of a Continuously Changing Marketplace.
2. We are in a Financial Crisis because we have tried to meet humankind’s most unsavory anti-social expression—greed!

Financial Capital was never more than a catalyst to Economic Growth—a “necessary but not sufficient” resource input that helped to start the operations of the Economic System.

Other than this catalytic effect, Financial Capital is a measurement of productivity and profitability which occurs in feedback:

In other words, it is a way of “keeping score.”

In the desperation of Information Technology’s promoters to generate economic substance and operations outside of ICD, the financial people found the obvious source:

“It’s in your pocket!”

“Now if we can only get at it!”

The Global Financial Crisis is not at all a financial crisis. It is a psychological “avoidance mechanism” to disguise the stupidity of so-called thinkers who neglected the basic ingredients of economic growth:

• Invention by not supporting the generative research of the R&D function;
• Innovation by narrowing the developmental effort to things like the power and speed of IT components;
• Investment by conspiring to redefine the function of finance from support to “the generation of wealth.”

Yes, the financial crisis is a “Crisis in Thinking.” Those who indulged in these degenerative activities would simply rather be “bailed out” than be exposed as stupid.

Indeed, these “overdetermined crises” took away all of our pride in the rights and responsibilities of enlightened citizenship, entrepreneurial enterprise, and collaborative cultural relating.

To be sure, all perpetrators converged to become what science labels “depressor variables” in “The Equation for Prosperity, Participation, and Peace:”

• The neutralization of Entrepreneurial Capitalism;
• The nullification of Enlightened Governance;
• The excavation of Cultural Relating.

Dear Grandchildren:

Your future prospects leave my life in turmoil. My heroes are gone. My peers are retired. The “Boomers,” are preparing for what they believe to be their “well-deserved retirement from plotting and scheming to avoid the margins of consensus.” The “X’ers” are floundering, awaiting their turns at “the executive trough.” Where does that leave you, the “Y’s” and “Z’s?”

While we believe we have a good handle on where we have been, we do not know where you are going!!!

We are disappointed because we have not been accurately responsive to your experience. And, consequently, you have created a world of your own—”A Virtual World.” As it grows exponentially in size and holding power, you no longer welcome us in your world and we are saddened because we have so much to learn from one another.

We are most disappointed in ourselves because we have not managed to empower you for your future.

From your perspective, we have things “upside down” as is reflected in your daily experiences of so-called “leadership:”

• Jocks” and “Cheerleaders” who you believe now run the country like they ran the schools and now engage in wars like they conducted football games (think our “cheerleaders”—presidents Bush and Clinton and candidate Obama!)
• “Brainiacs” who now design systems like they did in class without regard to the people who live there (think of the “Incompetents” who designed “Every Child Left Behind!”).
• “The Popular Crew” who always do whatever they want to do (think “Boomer-parents” in their own “Wannabe Virtual Worlds!”).
• “Dorks” and “Nerds” who find their niches in technical specialties without regard to functionality (think “X’ers” as models of functionally autonomous gimmicks and gadgets!).
• The “Regulars” who try out different idiosyncratic personalities and relationships in and out of cyber-space, such as “Emos,” “Drama Queens and Kings,” “Mean Girls,” “Goths,” and “Loners” (think “Y’s” and “Z’s”).

For you, the world we have built is worthless. The cyber-world is the only thing you kids feel you can control. That is precisely why you have built your own “Cyber-Insulated World.”

For us, your world is strange and we worry constantly about how you will integrate your “on-line life” with our “on-life-line.”

In our experience, this is “the greatest generation gap” in American history—exponentially greater than the “yawning void” created by our “Rock-and-Roll Generation” which birthed “Our Teenage Generation.”

We will initiate our American experience by emphasizing our “Cultural Relating Skills,” gifts from our parents’ generation. We will attempt to respond empathically to “Get” your images of your experience. We will attempt to initiate operationally to “Give” our images of our mutual experiences. We will attempt to negotiate “Merged” images of “The Evolving American Experience” through which you might then go. This is the essence of “Cultural Relating” and it requires you as “The Interdependent Relator.”

We will transition our American experience by emphasizing our “Participative Governance Skills.” Understanding that there are no unilateral “Solutions to Anything—Let Alone Everything,” we will bring together all peoples affected by and all peoples affecting any vision, mission, goals, objectives, or tasks. This is the essence of “Participative Governance” and it requires you as “The Enlightened Citizen.”

We will culminate our American experience by emphasizing our “Free Enterprise Skills.” Understanding that we cannot distribute wealth that we have not first generated, we will provide entrepreneurial experiences in all areas of your lives: First, working with you to generate “ideas” for your initiative; second, innovating the “risks” to be taken in the market; third, implementing the “management systems” required to accomplish your goals. This is the essence of “Free Enterprise” and it requires you as a “Generative Entrepreneur.”

Above all else, we must build a world upon which you can build. We must be patriots so that you can become patriots.

The most important thing that we must all understand is “Relating.” In relating, your values become our requirements and our values become your requirements. We must “Get, Give, and Merge” to find the paths to “The Pillars of Civilization:”

• Cultural Relating → Peace
• Participative Governance → Participation
• Free Enterprise → Prosperity

At this point in time, we must employ all that we have learned from our ancestors in this “Great American Experience.” As each new generation emerges, we must relate to discern the smallest glimmers of human potential, in all their diversity, in all their idiosyncracy, in all their potency! And we must facilitate and empower each new generation with the generative thinking skills to create their own new freedoms in their own time!

Together, we must once again deliver America “from its darkest hour!”

Your Grandparents,

Bob and Bernice

Dear Girls and Boys:

Today as I took you to school, I asked about the two worlds that you live in: Our world, the “World of Our Reality;” Your world, the “World of Your Virtuality.”

You spoke of your attraction to Cyber-space and Cyber-families. You really feel secure in defining your own environment.

What you’re really saying is that you are looking for new ways of doing things. It’s not so much that you reject our ways. It’s just that you are pursuing yours. And the new ways take you places we have never been. You need our support for this experimental voyage, but fear our judgment may “sink your ship.” You’re asking for “time and unconditionality” and viewing us as reluctant to give it.

What this adds up to for me is this: We’re the ones who are fearful—fearful of losing you—fearful that you may not be able to make it in a world not of your making.

The most helpful thing that I have found in resolving crises in life has been what we call “The Values–Requirements Matrix.” Here we compare similarities and contrast differences in values and requirements. Our goal is to maximize meeting the highest levels of our values and the system’s requirements. This takes a little effort.

I guess what I’m saying is that there are ways to resolve these conflicts. They involve communications in which we share values and then attempt to merge them in new and elevated courses of action.

In my experience, I have found that the greatest “breakthroughs” in my thinking have come through this process. I have lived my life with great anticipation and excitement because I have ventured outside of my known pathways. I am doing so right now with you.

I call this my “Voyage of Discovery.” I hope that you can have your own.

The great test of the continuation of this “Great Experiment labeled America” will be substance: of your Relating, Enlightenment, and Entrepreneurism of your civilization’s Peace, Participation, and Prosperity.

I am eager to go part of the way with you—or simply stand aside as the case may be: “Those also serve who only stand and wait.”

With all my love,

“Pop-Pop”

With attribution to David Riesman, perhaps the best that can be said for our generational profiles may be summarized by the new members of “The Lonely Crowd:”

• “The G.I.s” were “tradition-bound visionaries” by the great American traditions—cultural relating, participative governance, free enterprise.
• “The Competents” were “inner-directed implementers” in following through on the great missions of the “G.I.s.”
• “The Boomers” were “other-directed generalists” based on the peer influences of their great numbers.
• “The X’ers” are “gadget-directed specialists” based on their limited introduction to fragments of The American Experience.
• “The Y’s and Z’s” are “cyber-driven adherents of naturalism” based on their deprivation from The American Experience.

By any measure, the leadership scale ranges from the heights of productivity (“G.I.s” and “Competents”) to its depths (“Y’s” and “Z’s”). These are the principal reasons that the U.S. is in economic and international crises: the increasing distance and isolation from “Greatness of Vision” and “Commitment to Mission.”

The “X’ers,” in turn, are represented by one of the candidates: attempting to redefine the wealth generated by productivity as the wealth redistributed by consumption. Witness the proposals for stimulating the economy based on printing inflationary dollars! “Paying expensive debts with cheap dollars,” is the music behind their words as we follow the path of all the “Tin Horn Dictators” of history.

In transition, we must physically embrace, emotionally relate, and intellectually empower each other for both the contributions we have made and those we are about to make.

Then—like the Good Bishop—we can embrace each other as members of “This Great American Family” and be “spiritually full again.”

Then we will all be “Remembering Americans!”

When I was in Venezuela, more than 20 years ago, I had dinner with the imposing Arch Bishop of Caracas. In the course of a delightful evening, this priestly man shared the regret of his life:

“My greatest regret is that I never got to know my parents—they were killed in the Spanish Civil War.”

My response was deliberate, though intuitive:

“How fortunate you are father! You may embrace every older person you meet as if he or she were your parents.”

The bishop was astounded, but thoughtful before he answered:

“You have just lifted my life’s burden from my shoulders. I am so grateful to you for I am truly born again into the hands of the many parents that God has given me.”

Over the years, I heard from the Good Bishop and he was “spiritually full again.” So it is for America if we wish to be “spiritually full again!”

One of the principles of progress is this: can assets become our deficits? The greatest asset of “The Greatest Generation” was their confidence in addressing the goals and problems of American Civilization. The greatest deficit of “The Greatest Generation” was their confidence in addressing the goals and problems of American Civilization.

The G.I.s coming back from victories over the greatest military powers in history were brimming over with confidence. However, when they got themselves educated with business and other degrees, they required a competent generation to implement their grand ideas: executives to generate the architecture, managers to design the systems, supervisors to define the objectives, production and delivery personnel to perform the tasks and deliver the products. These people constituted “The Competent Generation.” They were only to be labeled “The Silent Generation” because they lived in the shadow of “The Greatest” and were passed over politically.

When George H. W. Bush designated the junior senator, Dan Quayle, his running mate for president. he broke the model for all advanced civilization: where the leadership of one generation passed on the mantle to the leaders of the next generation, thus enabling future progress to be built upon past progress.

As a consequence, “The Competent Generation” is the first generation in American history so far not to have a president drawn from its ranks. Moreover, the more fatal consequence for America was passing on the leadership role to the ill-prepared “Boomers:” Clinton and Bush simply did not have the maturity to be fathers of The Great American Family. We see the consequences now!

The greatest implication for American Civilization is this: while breaking the moral succession of leadership, the “G.I.s” fatally disrupted the relations between and among all generations:

• The “G.I.s” are now lost to us as a source of leadership, their only legacy being their anointment of their “Boomer” children as “apparent leaders.”
• The fading “Competents” are increasingly dismissed as sources of authority, political and moral.
• The inflated “Boomers” who never truly lead nor adopt others have not paid the price for moral authority.
• The bi-polar “X’ers” have been abandoned to their own false sense of security through specialized competitiveness.
• The orphaned “Y’s” and “Z’s” are left to their own schizoid cycles.

The only real potential source of effect is dormant. Can “The Silent Generation” awaken from its slumber and reassert its moral authority along with its competence? Can “The Silent Ones” redirect organizations such as AARP to missions beyond self-centered “cashing-in” for a lifetime of comfort?

If not, then it is too late for America! For “The Boomers”—in their great numbers—are aversively conditioned to adopting anyone else, even their own children!

In this context, the most-forgotten of all Americans is “The Thinking American.” As these different generational cultures establish their mores, they marginalize the thinkers. Indeed, the “Boomers” have institutionalized the process: in consensus-building, they eliminate the “best” as well as the worst. For example, they build a consensus on “Best Practices” while eliminating those who generated the “Best Ideas” as well as those who cannot perform the practices.

And yet history is, in large part, a function of the generative thinking of individuals. The heart of The American Experience is the very freedom that it allows, supports, endorses, and practices that transforms “The Big Ideas” into “Huge Realities.” That is the story of America: “Big Ideas” from the little people!

In truth, we are “All Forgotten Americans.” What made us “Functional Americans” was Cultural Relating when we each embraced the others across cultures and classes. To remove ourselves from this “Boiling Cauldron of Isolation,” we must abandon our notion of “the linear succession of leadership.” Instead, we must adopt an interactive model where all generations relate interdependently to all other generations (see Figure 8-1). It is this interactive model that culminates the power of all processing: the continuous interdependent processing of unequal partners. It is this interactive model that defines the pre-potent processing potential of “The Thinking American.”

Figure 8-1. The Relating Future of American Civilization

What gives us a great advantage in analyzing the levels of participation in The American Experience is our personal experiences with these generations:

• Our families come from homes with many “G.I.” stars in the windows.
• We ourselves were front-line warriors of the “Silent Generation.”
• We were mentors to thousands of “Boomers.”
• We have adopted many of the abandoned “X’ers.”
• We are parenting the neglected “Y’s” and “Z’s.”

The truth is that we have first-hand experience with each generation. The hypotheses that we generate are partly due to these experiences, but mostly due to research. The table that we have summarized is validated (see Table 7-1).

Table 7-1. Level of Participation in the American Experience

“The Greatest”

“The Greatest” or “G.I. Generation” rates highest on all the conditions of The American Experience:

This is largely because these people were at the “genesis” of the 20th century American Experience. In other words, they defined the experience by overcoming “The Greatest Depression” and conquering “The Great Malignancy.” In so doing, they learned to relate interdependently, participate in an enlightened manner, and enterprise entrepreneurially.

“The Silent Ones”

“The Silent Generation” was not far-removed from the “genesis” of The American Experience in the 20th century:

This is largely due to their “modeling” of the genesis experience. They had the “G.I.s” as models for courage and hope for change. By filling in the empty spaces left behind by the more-than-grand “G.I.s,” they contributed their competencies to the welfare of all. In the face of the threat of the Nuclear Holocaust, they established themselves as “helpers” in the Judaic-Christian tradition of healing.

“Boomers”

“The Baby Boomer Generation” was removed from the genesis of The American Experience yet tutored “experientially” by “The Competent Generation:”

The resultant independency gave the “Boomers” the tools of survival: in consensus-building, they could cooperate or compete; in governance, they could be representative or authoritarian; in enterprise, they could be enterprising or controlling. They have proven to be so. Like chameleons, they can be any color they choose to be out of their own self-interests.

“X’ers”

“Generation X” was isolated from the entire American Experience:

“Generation X” is a lost generation. “Didactically” abandoned by “The Boomers,” they lived or died with the apparent randomness of the marketplace. Basically competitive for the “bonus baby” rewards of “Boomers,” they tried to fill “places in the spaces” left unattended by the consensus system. When in command, they are authoritarian, if not totalitarian, in an attempt to control the competition. Mainly, though, they create “spaces” by undermining authority and denying fiduciary responsibilities. At best, they are not integrated in the marketplace.

“Y’s and Z’s”

These generations may be stalked by the “reinforcing” mechanisms of the marketers and fund-raisers of cyber-space, but they have little if anything to contribute to our communities because they do not know anything of value, they do not want to meet any requirements; they have only “Virtual Values.” Period!

Their dependent reactivity to the “Real World” is simply summarized: “Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll decide whether I want to do it!”

Summary and Transition

We may obtain consensual validation from our 20th century experiences. “The Greatest Generation” was entrenched in leadership roles for more than 50 years. Witness, ten straight presidents from 1941 to 1992! After skipping “The Silent Generation,” the “Boomer-children” of the “G.I.s” were immediately ensconced.

During the “G.I.’s Reign of Power,” they initiated most of the grand visions of the 20th century: the G.I. Bill and Civil Rights domestically; Free Trade and Human Rights internationally. The “Competent or Silent Generation” managed only to implement these missions.

In turn, “The Boomers” served only to sully these great missions with rights for multinational corporations and their lobbyists and trillions of dollars of debts for America in non-reciprocating trade relationships.

Today, the “X, Y, Zs” are simply forgotten “cannon-fodder” in these domestic and foreign machinations and manipulations.

In short, there were no generative new ideas contributed by the later generations. Even the “Boomer” candidates for president have proposals only for redistributing wealth—and none for generating wealth!

In summary, the levels of participation in The American Experience are directly a function of their distance from the genesis of the experience:

• The Citizen Soldiers” of World War II understood interdependency, enlightenment, and entrepreneurialism.
• “The Competent Helpers” of the Post-War Enlightenment modeled collaboration, representation, and capitalism.
• “The Incompetent Boomers” engineered personal independence in every consensus-building situation in order to derail the requirements.
• “The Abandoned X’ers” defaulted on all responsibilities by competing and commanding in select niches in order to survive the requirements.
• The “Y’s” and “Z’s” engage in dependent reactivity in order to guard their retreat into “The Virtual World.”

In transition, American Civilization, like any civilization, historically moves by the leadership of one generation empowering the leadership of the next generation. American leadership has failed to do so. American Civilization is failing as a consequence.

Think about it!

The “G.I.’s” handed off to the “Boomers”—their own children! G.H.W. Bush chose Dan Quayle, a “Boomer” as his running mate, passing-over the leading “Competent” candidates such as Richard Lugar. As a consequence, he broke the string of hand-offs and we have now to suffer through the classism of the Ivy League debates every four years (ten of the last 12 candidates were ‘vetted” by the Harvard and Yale dynasties).

The “X’ers” were never adopted. Unless their parents, the “Competent Ones” made commitments to rear yet another generation, they are lost and forlorn and demanding—a generation of pseudo-specialists!

As for the “Y’s” and “Z’s,” we must learn about them because we cannot forget about them!

“If we don’t know, they won’t grow!

To sum, we Americans “have rained on our own parade!”

• By replacing socio-centricity with ego-centricity;
• By replacing enlightenment with totalitarianism;
• By replacing entrepreneurism with control.

In short, The American Experience has become “Un-American!”

When I picked up the phone on the conference call, I realized that we had another crisis on our hands. First, there was the crisis at The Village Charter School which we needed to process. Now, there was a second—even greater crisis—of generational experience.

I began by saying “We have to give the children ‘The American Experience’.” I soon realized that some understood what this meant because they had been through it. Others did not know what this meant because they had never been through it.

I adjusted accordingly: “Ed and Harry know what I’m talking about. John and Dale do not fully understand.”

In one room, we had representations of four generations: “G.I.,” “Silent,” “Boomer,” and “X’er.” “The American Experience” had a different meaning for each of them. The burning issue of education was this: “How could we deliver ‘The American Experience’ to the children if we, their mentors, did not understand it?”

This differentiated meaning generated differences—great and small—in our objectives for our school children. This same differentiated meaning is now generating differences—great and small—for our election of a president to save our country!

The Generational Experience

The differential impact of generational experience may be viewed in Table 6-1. As may be noted, each generation has totally different impactful experiences in its formative years.

Table 6-1. Differential Impact of Experience on Formative Years

The impact of experience upon maturity is a function of the power of the experience on the formative years in their development, usually between 15 and 25 years of age. Please note also that generations are defined in 15-year intervals due to the regular emergence of impactful experiences.

It may also be noted that the impactful experiences of the formative years are defined domestically by the economy and internationally by wars that occurred in approximately 15-year intervals.

“The Greatest Generation”

“The Greatest Generation” was a generation born approximately between the years 1915 and 1930. So labeled by Tom Brokaw in his book on the subject, this generation is also known as the “G.I. Generation” due to their successful experiences in World War II. The most powerful experiences during its formative years were the Great Depression of the 1930s and the World War of the 1940s. The impact of these experiences produced the so-called “Greatest Generation.” They had witnessed overcoming the Great Depression. They were instrumental in empowering the Allied Forces to winning the war. It was this victory against the two most formidable military forces in the history of the world that emboldened them in civilian life and entitled them to the adjective “Greatest.”

“The Silent Generation”

“The Silent Generation” was a generation born roughly between the years 1930 and 1945. So-labeled by political pundits, this generation is also known as “The Competent Generation” due to their successful implementation of the “grand ideas” of the politically-empowered “G.I.s”. The most powerful experiences during its formative years were the proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the quietly enacted Korean War. The impact of these experiences produced both “Competency” and “Silence.” They had to engineer the Post-War Prosperity. They came to fear the threat of nuclear holocaust.

“The Boomer Generation”

“The Boomer Generation” was a generation born between the years 1945 and 1960. So-labeled by educators and service providers, this generation is known for “Booming Numbers.” With over-crowded classes and social promotions, this generation took on a consensus-driven character of its own. The most powerful experiences during its formative years were unparalleled economic expansion and the controversial Vietnam War. The impact of these experiences produced “Go-Stop” Schizophrenia: the Escalating Prosperity of “The Go-Go Economy” and the Paranoid Fear to “Stop-Stop Communism.” They had to develop “New Trade Paradigms” while implementing “Old Containment Policies”—a confusion of motives that led to a neutralizing disposition to “Consensus-Building.”

“Generation X”

“Generation X” was a generation that was born approximately between the years 1960 and 1975. So-labeled by themselves and others, they are to this day an unknown factor in the equation for life. Dwarfed by undernourishment from their “Boomer” elders, this generation set out to make it on its own, seeking identity in independence of specialty areas and skills.

The most powerful experiences during its formative years were the economic inflation that exploded in the “dot.com bust” and the escalation of the Cold War that foreshadowed its ending.

Together, these manic-depressive experiences produced a bi-polar personality which validates “the X-factor.” Its members learned the basic principles of “The Schizoid Life:” we need to “push” in order to “pull;” we need to “pull” in order to “push.” So “ready—fire—aim!”

“The Y and Z Generations”

“The Y and Z Generations” are those born roughly between 1975 and 2005. They are bundled together because we still do not know who they are. Their formative years are on a continuum flowing from the end of “The Cold War in 1989:”

• An intensifying period of economic instability leading to chaos;
• An intensifying commitment to war in the Middle East leading to quagmire.

The impact of these experiences has been “The Digital Generation:” they live inside of the technologies that previous generations built. In other words, the bi-polar personality of the “X’ers” has been extended into the “Pathological Schizophrenia” of “on-line” and “off-line” life.

For all of these analyses, it is worth noting that the generational view is “actuarial and probabilistic.” There are powerful exceptions that are individualistic and possibilistic: Moreover, the variability within a generation is greater than the variability between generations. However, we proceed with the generational hypotheses because of their testable and heuristic value.

Summary and Transition

The impact of powerful experiences is contingent not only upon the formative years in maturity. It is also contingent upon the maturity of the generations (see again Table 6-1).

“The Greatest Generation” was just that—”the greatest!” Its members were there at the genesis of the 20th century version of “The American Experience.” Many of its members were first-generation Americans who survived “The Great Depression” and grew with “The Great War.” Phenomenally, they could not be stopped from doing anything. All things were possible!

“The Silent Generation” was silent because it lived in the shadow of “The Greatest.” Serving as “hand-maidens” to the grand ideas of their leaders, this generation became “The Competent Generation.” As executives and architects, engineers and managers, builders and salesmen, they transformed “The Possibilities of The Greatest” into “The Probabilities of The Latest!”

“The Boomers,” in turn, were the children of “The Greatest,” not of “The Latest.” Because “The Greatest” held office for more than 50 years after the war, they felt obligated to pass-over “The Silent Ones” and crown their “Boomer-children” with the cloak of leadership. They had not trained them, for they relied upon “The Competent Ones” to do so. Unfortunately, one-by-one, “The Boomers” capitulated because they had not been prepared for effort, only for rewards. And as a country, we moved farther and farther from the leadership qualities that made us great!

“The X’ers” were a pale image of “The Boomers.” This is because “The Boomers” were adopted by “The Competent Ones” who, in turn, refused to adopt “The X’ers” for fear of competition. Unless “The Competent Ones” did double-duty and reared yet another generation, “The X’ers” were abandoned. Indeed, abandonment was the theme of their neurosis. In their bi-polar pathology, the only thing that they feared more than being abandoned was being freed!

The “Y’s” and “Z’s,” know so little and expect so much. These “Digital Youth” search for meaning in their lives in “the dysfunctional autonomy” of the I-net. They have become agents of consumption rather than production as they plod toward their inevitable pathological conclusions: isolated, insulated, and perforated.

My God! What have we done to our grandchildren!

Finally, it is easy to understand why our children of The Village Charter School are deprived of the “Entrepreneurial Enterprise Experience.” Major corporations have abandoned the people of Chester. The only viable entrepreneurial opportunities are in the illegal realm: dealing dope, car jacking, pimping, prostitution, and the like. Eighty-five percent of the boys over 16 will engage in these enterprises until imprisoned. A like number of girls will be pregnant and on welfare. And it is difficult to tell the difference between the police who apprehend criminals and the criminals who comprehend them! Has anybody here seen “The Wire?!” Still no fathers!

Once again, my early learning experiences of enterprise came from my extended family. While my parents were not engaged in business enterprise, my closest older friend was. From age 14, Bobby Bosonac had to take over his family business and raise his three younger brothers. I helped and learned about the entrepreneurial nature of business.

The highlight of my early experiences in enterprise was creating my own business in “laying deck” or sub-flooring in housing developments. Eschewing the security of a regular construction job, I “learned and laid” the decks. I also learned the three basic principles of entrepreneurial enterprise:

1. Generate a good idea!
2. Take a risk!
3. Make a plan!

I remember vividly what I said to my mother the night before my introduction to entrepreneurism:

“Don’t bother to get me up at 6 o’clock. I’m in business for myself!”

Then I got up at 8 and worked until 8. I carried these entrepreneurial attitudes about ideas, risks, and plans with me the rest of my life. They are the culminating principle of “The American Experience.” I carried this attitude into my work in the public sector: the goal of every community action program was to empower people for entrepreneurial initiatives in both private and public sector. We are proud to claim three millionaires from the ranks of previously unemployed.

I am most proud of the current businesses where we generate eight figure incomes and our current business launchings project valuations of nine figures.

Basically, in CTSI, we conduct a Research and Development operation in the “Human Factor” market. With a scientific foundation in “Human Processing” or “Generativity,” we explicate the unknown, designing models to fill spaces in the landscape of “Human Endeavor.”

We like to conceive of ourselves as “The National Center for R & D in Human and Informational Sciences.” This is because all other centers of R & D—Bell Labs, Watson, Xerox—have dropped out of “the human processing business.”

Important entrepreneurial enterprises involved “spinning-off” turnkey operations in the marketplace:

• Human Technology, Inc. — Instructional Systems Design, et al
• Human Resource Development Press, Inc. — Training and Development
• HRD Training Solutions, Inc. — On-line Training Solutions

Our most important entrepreneurial enterprises are our current efforts to develop software and support systems for “Human-Centric Organizational Systems:”

• GenStar Global, LLC — “A Holding Company” for Strategic Partnerships in “Human-Centric Continuous Organizational Realignment Systems”

As proud of our original generative R & D operations, I am most proud of the innovative spirits and processing of our diversity of corporate and agency partnerships.

So these are my culminating experiences in “The American Experience:” Wealth Generation. This is the heart and soul of Entrepreneurial Capitalism (capitalism simply means doing what is “most important”). By generating wealth, we generate the Prosperity which makes Participation and Peace possible. Put another way, Peace and Participation are the empowering conditions of Prosperity.

The children in our Village Charter School have a real excuse for their deficits in experiencing Entrepreneurial Enterprise. And we are now paying for it! So, once again, we must empower them.

What about your experiences in Entrepreneurial Enterprise? It is the culminating principles of “The American Experience.” It generates the third leg of The Freedom Mission:

• Cultural Relating → Peace
• Participative Governance → Participation
• Entrepreneurial Enterprise → Prosperity

Here’s the basic question:

“Why are we The Forgotten Americans?”

We are the only ones who understand how and why “The American Experience” has transformed us into invaluable, free, and interdependent Human Capital, capable of generating new ideas, new businesses, new industries, and new markets.

Yet no one listens! No one responds! No one initiates entrepreneurially!

Our school children have excuses! What’s yours?