The Seventh Generation Principle

I was looking at the beautiful Irish Sea when I wrote this blog. The horizon view reminds me of a piece of advice my grandmother once told me. She believed a person should look at the horizon for at least 15 minutes daily. According to her, this practice helped us lift our gaze from our daily focus and see how our present might unfold into our future. As I looked out at the sea it reinforced a vital aspect of a regenerative mindset. A regenerative mindset requires a “Seventh Generational “point of view.

The Seventh Generation Principle is based on the Iroquois philosophy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. It is said that a leader needs to make decisions that serve the needs of the unborn voices seven generations into the future and help people in the present live with the tensions and conflicts that sometimes arise when the needs of future generations are not considered in the present. Leaders in this framework are responsible for keeping future needs firmly in focus and allowing those needs to shape our choices in the present.

The Seventh Generation Principle comes from the Iroquois Confederacy Constitution, written somewhere between 1142 to 1500 AD. The Iroquois Confederacy is considered the oldest participative democracy on Earth. It planted many of the seeds that led to the formation of the United States.  (There’s a terrific PBS documentary on the Iroquois Great Law of Peace here.)

Today the Seventh Generation Principle generally refers to decisions about our energy, water, and natural resources. Remembering this important tenet reminds us that our decisions must be sustainable for many generations to come. It also can be applied to relationships. Imagine what it would be like if every decision would result in sustainable relationships seven generations in the future!

Past lessons and present reflections

The right questions and a regenerative mindset help us focus on how our decisions will impact the future.

• Will the decision create possibilities or constraints?
• Will the decision help future generations to thrive?

These questions help leaders, organizations, and individuals learn how to look ahead. They help us imagine the long-term impact of decisions made in the present.

The ability to look ahead requires building the capacity to anticipate how a decision will unfold over time. The best way I’ve found to strengthen this ability is to shift where I stand in the seven-generation lineup. If I put myself in the fourth generation, I can better reflect on decisions made up to three generations before. From there, I can learn from those decisions and reflect on how they helped (or hindered) the organization in the present.

This reflection gives me an opportunity to recognize patterns of impact and assumptions that didn’t hold. It provides insight into the current problems we are dealing with and how we got here.

I make it a regular practice to look at the challenges we face today and reflect on what got us here. If you choose to do the same, you could reflect on these specific questions:

• What was ignored?
• What was assumed?
• Were there blind spots that shaped our choices?
• What decisions are being made right now that will help us become more vital and regenerative?

With the reflection comes a new perspective on the lessons that can be applied in the present to shape a more regenerative future. It also helps us aspire to make decisions to enhance the lives of future generations and our planet – and avoid causing more problems.

Nature is a great coach

Nature is designed to create conditions conducive to the life of future generations. We can use the Seventh Generation Principles as a mandatory criterion for making decisions in the present.  This could impact a host of issues, from dealing with single-use plastics and other products we’re using for manufacturing to considering the conditions our business models and stakeholders are creating within our organizations.  It also helps us understand how be may be helping or hindering the livability of our planet for future generations.

These questions will start us on a journey to make choices far beyond our own time horizon for our grandchildren and their grandchildren – and for seven or more generations to come.