The emotional process that generates triangles is the product of multi-generational systems dynamics. Research has shown that emotional process is passed on from one generation to the next in ways that establish certain patterns of automatic functioning that are characteristic of a given family system. The past is always present to us in our family systems. For example, one family might have a tendency to express its emotional fusion by cutoffs while another tends to become excessively close under stressful conditions. These patterns get deeply embedded in the emotional process of the family system and keep replicating in the behaviors of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so forth. The presence of the past is evident in more aspects of our functioning than we realize! Bowen Theory has shown that of all the relationship networks that we belong to, it is our multi-generational family of origin that plays a primary role in shaping who we are and how we function in other systems. This truth has important implications for a leader who wishes to enhance his or her functioning in a work setting.

Another valuable aspect of thinking about the multi-generational transmission of emotional process is its relevance on an organizational level. Just as families pass on certain patterns of automatic functioning from generation to generation, so do organizations. The past is as present in organizations as it is in families. Leaders can develop a more sophisticated understanding of their organizations by looking back over a period of years and searching for themes, patterns and recurring issues which are indicative of how emotional process has operated in the organization over a number of generations. For example, by recognizing how periods of heightened anxiety gave rise to typical patterns of reactive behavior in the organization, leaders can think systems at a more complex level. The more leaders can understand the history of the organization with an eye to systems dynamics, the better they will understand the impact that emotional process is currently having on them and on others in the organization.