Roxanne Darling argues that aging trades rapid fact-gathering for something deeper: intuition and presence that guide better decisions. She cites Jim's contrast of leadership versus eldership, noting that when facts get manipulated or suppressed, the elder's gut knowing becomes the more trustworthy guide.
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You know, as I was preparing for this discussion, I landed on an idea that hadn't really been clarified in my own mind, and something Jim posted on Twitter this morning sort of adds supporting evidence, which is that I think the strength of being a young person is that the brain is so fertile. And actively seeking information, and thereby a younger person is a great acquirer of facts and detail and data. And as we get older, I find that that shifts into where— this is all predicated by if you're a reasonably conscious person, I should say that— as you get older, your experience becomes very important. And I actually wrote something on my personal blog about 7 years ago that despite my having a college degree in science and being a huge fan of science, I'm relying more and more on my intuition and personal experience to make decisions and to offer business advice, even because the facts can be, like statistics, manipulated and used to support a point of view, whereas the energy and experience are much more powerful in my own life. And so, Jim, that screenshot you posted of the list, the two lists side by side of the traditional characteristics of leadership and the characteristics of eldership, in my mind, there were very positive things in both columns. So maybe you can talk— and what I saw on there on the leadership side where some of these things that relate more to the mechanics of being an aware person in your world, and especially in your profession if you're a consultant or, you know, working in a job situation, versus what an older person can acquire. I point to it like you can walk into a room and feel that something is off, and we all have this ability, and you can poll the room, and if everyone says, oh, it's okay, everything's fine, everything's fine, that causes one to distrust one's own intuition. But as I get older, I realize, no, people just don't want those facts said out loud. And so this transition from youthfulness to eldership is the ability, I think, to trust that sense. Okay, something doesn't feel right. No one wants to talk about it yet. I'm just going to keep that in mind as I participate in this meeting or whatever the situation might be. But
