Harvard researcher Robert Kegan has been a pioneer of adult development for more than 35 years. He's often asked for his #1 big idea that's not obvious.
This clip is his answer...
My Breakdown
Over the last 200 years, there have been three key trends:
Explosion of human population
People living longer
Extinction risk problems (ability to destroy civilization)
These trends are important on a few levels...
From an evolutionary perspective, it's odd that we live so far beyond our reproduction age
We shouldn't just ignore this huge oddity as a fluke
To solve these "wicked" problems may require a higher level of collective development that typically comes with age
In other words, living longer may provide us with the wisdom we need to solve the hugely consequential problems we collectively face
Put differently, one of Kegan's big ideas is that individuals grow developmentally when faced with optimal conflict:
“The persistent experience of some frustration, dilemma, life puzzle, quandary, or personal pr…
