G’s Law of Effective Concern: The Maximum Range of Effective Concern is Two Generations

Most people that I know, barring any wacky emotional or psychological issues, love their kids so much that just about everything they do, their kids are part of the consideration. In terms of people in our lives who we have the most impact on, our kids are the top of the list.

The same goes for their parents. Oh, yeah, they may get on our nerves at times as they always have, but we know that we would always be there for them no matter what. Parents who have worked hard all their lives, who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of growing up, who have sacrificed for our wellbeing; there is little we wouldn’t do to help them.

Grandparents are a little different. If we were fortunate enough to know our grandparents, most of us love them. They were the fun side for us. They took care of us sometimes, and made sure we had fun when we were together. Maybe they spoiled us just a little bit. We’ll do the same with our grandchildren. We’ll give them extra cookies just to make them smile, and let them stay up just a little later than their parents would. But usually, the grandparents aren’t making the big decisions for or with us, nor will we for our grand-kids. The impact between these generations is sweet and warm and loving, but not nearly as practical as parents and kids.

When it comes to our great-grandparents or our great-grandchildren, we will be lucky if we even meet them, and they will probably have little to know impact on us in any way, other than being a brief memory of having met, if that.

I have great concern for my son’s future. I also worry about my parents as they get older. I don’t really think much about my son’s kids as they are years away, and really won’t be my main concern. My grandparents are all deceased except for one who is elderly. I doubt I’ll ever meet my great-grand kids, and only met one great-grandparent early in my life. I really never think about how my actions today will effect my great-grandchildren, and never think about my great-grand parents unless we are discussing the family tree. The range of my concern is only two generations: from my parents to my children. And even if I was so insightful as to be concerned further, the ability of my actions to have an impact on my children’s children is pretty limited if it exists at all.

Organizations work much in the same manner. A teacher may have great concern for one of their students, and may be concerned about how they are perceived by their colleagues. At the same time, they may have they ability to directly effect these relationships. To a lesser degree, he or she may be concerned about how a principal or supervisor perceives them.

To the director of education or the superintendent, there is no effective level of concern. There is likely no more existing relationship between a teacher and a superintendent than there is between a great-grandparent and a great-grandchild. In fact, many teachers have probably never met or spoken with the superintendent of their school district.

Decisions are based on this limited range of effective concern. Before I decide to take a job half way across the country, I will seriously consider the impact it will have on my children. If I have grandchildren, they may factor into my decision to relocate based on more limited factors, such as my not being as available to them. What impact this may have on my great-grandchildren probably doesn’t even cross my mind.

In my example with the teacher, the superintendent makes decisions based on her two closest generations of concern; the teacher is not within this range. Consequently, decisions made by the superintendent may not benefit the teacher and his or her situation, and may in fact seem counter to the teachers efforts. Likewise, the decisions a teacher makes on a daily basis in working with needy children will not bring the superintendents views in to factor; the superintendent may demand x amount of time spent on math, but when the lesson is interrupted because a child becomes ill, any good teacher will put the well-being of the child above the superintendents expectations for a particular subject. The superintendent is not within range of the teachers concern and therefore can not factor into the teachers decision making process.

So, when you see the bureaucracy of your choice making policies that leave you scratching your head remember that the decisions were made more than two generations above the person you are currently speaking with, and how the decision would effect this person and yourself was beyond the range of effective concern of the person who made it.


Hence, the Law of Effective Concern: The Maximum Range of Effective Concern is Two Generations.