The opinion

A person is what he is because he has both divine and contingent roots; the divine root, the one of the spirit and the soul, yields a sense that is beyond earthly reality, energy and meaningfulness, while the divine root relates to the history and experiences that the person develops and embodies during his lifetime. This, in short, is one of the possible ways of reading the relation between talent and orderliness, i.e. the two complementary, archetypal tendencies that coexist in the human soul: the Puer and the Senex (*). I am fond of this explanation for it helps me to understand many daily life and corporate situations. In particular, it has helped me to realise that the so-called “stroke of genius” is not a false myth; in order for originality to develop it needs method, experience and orderliness.
It needs on one hand the energy and enthusiasm of the Puer – which is boundless -, while on the other it needs the sense of reality, the wisdom and the method of the Senex – which in order to gain experience needs to limit, correct, control  and must therefore find its right place in time. Depending on how the two models are integrated into one another and into our lives, or into the life of a company, we will obtain fertility or sterility, virtuous or vicious circles, evolution or stillness, flexibility or rigidity. The precious lesson that I draw from this integration of models is that the Puer is strongly linked to every initial situation, thus playing a fundamental role in launching new experiences; his enthusiasm and energy allow to overcome situations of initial inertia, novelties are always matched by chances to develop. What follows immediately is the constancy and realism that are typical of the Senex, so that experience may be gained, developed and continued. The Senex is also excellent at pruning every useless aspect, at organising and finalising. Good synergy between these two aspects, in other words between lightness and concreteness, allows to realise numerous and significant projects; the metaphor which I believe best explains this synergy is the one of maturity, the metaphor of the regained childhood, where our initial ideals and even our dreams have been integrated into real life; thus, the Senex and his orderliness enable the Puer to make his dreams come true.

“In the eyes of the young I want to see the flame, in the eyes of the elder, the light”.

(*)
Puer = child
Senex = adult, elder