What the heck is generational intelligence?

There are many forms of intelligence, right? You may have heard of people who have —

• Musical intelligence,
• Logical-mathematical intelligence, 
• Interpersonal intelligence, 
• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and/or
• Spatial intelligence

There is, of course, business intelligence, which often includes — 

• Dashboards
• Reporting
• Predictive analytics, and
• Data mining.

Businesses also use —

• • Market intelligence and
  • Competitive intelligence.

You most likely have been hearing people talking more about emotional intelligence, which includes aspects such as —

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social skills

But have you heard of generational intelligence? Probably not. Let’s take a quick look at what it is and how it can help you and your organization.

What is generational intelligence?

Generational intelligence (GiQ) is the ability to understand a generation: past, present and future. Using the Strauss & Howe model of generational theory, you can —

1. Travel back in time to understand —
   1. A generation’s origin
   2. The midlife generation that primarily raised them
   3. Large, outerworld events that shaped them
   4. How their worldview got formed
   5. The “base code” that got layered into them in their 0-6 years 
2. Be spot on with your analysis today so that you can understand —
   1. Their psychology and motivations at play
   2. Their relationship to their own generation …. And to those younger and older than them
   3. Their superpowers and natural strengths, as well as their “kryptonite” and weaknesses 
   4. How to serve them, support them and adjust your own prejudices and stereotypes about them
   5. Why and how larger culture and societal changes are happening
3. Project into the future with prescient understanding of —
   1. Their likely life path as they move through their next phases of life
   2. The likely changes in cultural mood and  “coming times” to affect the nation
   3. Changing market conditions likely to come about (and how you might want to start to prepare)

Why is GiQ helpful?

1. GiQ helps you solve current and near-term problems today.
2. It gives you a framework to see how a generation’s view of the world got formed. 
3. It gives you a lens into the future and a surprisingly accurate way to prepare for probable, and sometimes drastically swift, culture change that’s coming.

Where can you use GiQ?

All of this expanded intelligence you can apply to —

1. Yourself
2. Your personal relationships (family, work, friends and activities)
3. Your company (strategy and planning for near- and longer-term horizons)

How does GiQ make you “smarter”?

GiQ uplevels your intelligence

1. Personally
2. Organizationally
3. Long-term

Where does GiQ come from?

William Strauss and Neil Howe–two university professors whose combined expertise covers demography, economics, politics, history and culture–observed an alternating pattern in U.S. history wherein the social mood of the nation changes in a specific pattern over the course of roughly 80-90 years. 

They co-authored their first of many generations-focused books in 1991 and went on to win the praise of Tony Robbins, Al Gore and Newt Gingrich (all powerhouses in the day), as they said  the theory was one of the one of the most important and influential books they’d ever read at the time.

Today you can hear Neil Howe talking (mostly on the Hedgeye podcast) about demographics, economic forecasts and how the news of the day impacts the subjects. Videos on YouTube from decades past can be informative to hear their explanations of generations as well as their predictions of likely cultural changes. 

Bill Strauss, co-creator of The Capitol Steps performance group, died in 2007.

A ground-breaking insight into seeing “The Future”

What’s significantly different about Strauss and Howe’s work is that it’s a model. It allows predictions based on the data put into it, and it shows —

• How and why generations are formed by societal and biological factors;
• How each generation will likely act and influence Society as it moves through the four phases of life;
• How each generation relates to the other generations alive at the same time.
• And how (and when!) specific and drastic cultural-mood changes are likely to occur. (So far, they’ve been spot on!)

Benefits from using Generational Intelligence

When you understand the generational intelligence model, your own intelligence can expand, primarily in three ways–

Personally 

• Deeper self understanding
• Increased empathy
• Expanded emotional intelligence
• Better, more collegial relationships
• Greater capacity as a leader

Organizationally

• Better communications and messaging (internal and external)

Improved recruiting and retention

• More insights into product development (both new needs that will arise and others that will fall out of favor)
• Shifts in the customer service relationship
• Insights as to whether you may want to be investing or disinvesting in real estate
• Understanding a generation’s relationship with technology and innovation
• And much more

Long-term

• Understanding changing market conditions
• Preparing for drastic culture changes ahead
• Long-term planning for staffing, product development, real estate investment/disinvestment, technology investments and more

So, that’s a quick overview of generational intelligence and its many benefits to you as an individual and to the organization where you work.