This series focusses on The Quest for Legitimacy, an academic research project that I have been working on with Dr Jamie Weiner. It looks at the impact on the rising generation of growing up in prominent families.
Episode 1 – Introduction to The Quest for Legitimacy
In the first episode of the series we meet Jamie and hear about the depth of his experience across all of society, from Cook County Jail to large family enterprises. He shares the experience of growing up as the son of a Rabbi and the impact it had on his own life.
We dive into the research and what motivated it along with an outline for the four phases of The Quest.
Episode 2 – The Four Phases of The Quest
In this episode we delve much deeper into The Quest for Legitimacy and explore the four phases.
In particular we look at examples from the research that highlight how the phases feel and are experienced. We discuss the fact that the phases are not linear and that at any point in your life you can be taken back into an awareness phase that can lead to opportunities for growth.
Episode 3 – Breaking Moments and Liminality
The research uncovered commonalities among the experiences of the people we spoke to irrespective of their background, their gender or where they grew up in the World.
One such commonality was the presence of what we refer to as ‘Breaking Moments’ in their lives. These are events that can seem insignificant or be very significant at the time, but that lead to a period of ‘Liminality’, or a feeling of being betwixt and between.
For one of our participants it was being fired by their father via an email whilst on holiday, for another it was a seemingly throw away comment from their grandfather, for another it was breaking their arm.
We each experience ‘Breaking Moments’ in our lives and what can come from them is fascinating.
Episode 4 – Who is The Quest for Legitimacy For?
When we started the research that has lead to us discovering the phases of The Quest for Legitimacy and the presence and importance of breaking moments, we didn’t envisage it leading to the publication of a book let alone, being published by Wiley.
The feedback we have received from those who we spoke with for the research, has been fantastic. We often heard that they wished this has existed when they were experiencing their breaking moments. It would have helped with alleviating some of the loneliness that was experienced at the time.
Jamie and I are driven and passionate about helping as many people as we can through this research and in this episode we discuss the practical ways in which the research can be applied to people’s lives.