Extraction
Take value while pushing cost, risk, or dependency onto others.
01 / Values
Value is the compass — set inside, proven outside.
A compass is set before the voyage and trusted mid-storm. Values weight what deserves to matter and must not be traded away. Beliefs chart the route toward a better state. Control turns the helm, directing finite energy into creating or transforming value and distributing it to a beneficiary. The return begins when that beneficiary can appreciate what changed and their evidence resets the needle for the next belief and action.
Timeless questions
Answer these to build your value system
- 01
What matters here, and to whom?
- 02
What do you believe is true about how that value can change?
- 03
Which lever can you control without crossing another person’s authority?
- 04
How will value be created or transformed and carried to its beneficiary?
- 05
What would the beneficiary appreciate, and what evidence would change your mind?
From inner weighting to appreciated value
Move outward in order. Return inward with evidence. When a later observation conflicts with the route, update belief and control first. Changing protected values remains a human decision.
01
Values
Weight what matters, for whom, and within which protected limits.
02
Belief
Model present reality, possible change, confidence, and falsifiers.
03
Control
Direct finite energy through an authorised lever, gauge, and stop rule.
04
Create or transform
Bring value into being or make existing potential more useful.
05
Distribute
Carry value to the intended beneficiary without exporting hidden costs.
06
Appreciate
Let the beneficiary recognise, use, and judge what became better.
07
Learn
Return observed consequences to the next belief, control choice, or setpoint review.
Four relationships around value
Value capture
Retain a fair share of value already created so contribution can continue.
Enablement
Increase another actor’s capacity to create, choose, contribute, or adapt.
Coagency
Coordinate so each participant’s agency strengthens the agency of the others.
Free instrument
Inside-Out Value Trace
Copy this before choosing metrics, tools, or tactics. Trace one value from inner weighting to beneficiary appreciation and learning.
- Values
- What matters, to whom, and what must not be traded away?
- Belief
- What is true now, how could the valued state change, and what would falsify that model?
- Control
- Which authorised lever deserves finite attention, and when will you review or stop?
- Create or transform
- What value will be brought into being or made more useful?
- Distribute
- How will that value reach its beneficiary without exporting hidden cost or dependency?
- Appreciate
- What will the beneficiary be able to perceive, use, choose, or do that they could not before?
- Learn
- What evidence will update the next belief, control decision, or human-owned setpoint?
Proof condition
The beneficiary can recognise and use the changed value, observed consequences support that appreciation, and the wider system is no worse off.
Failure condition
The actor declares value from activity, output, price, or reward without showing that value reached and was appreciated by its beneficiary.
Go deeper in the Playbook
Value SystemThe canonical method for choosing and protecting a value setpoint.Value LedgerTrace value from inner weighting through creation, transformation, distribution, appreciation, and learning.Purpose and IntentTurn the protected value into an intention that can screen problems and govern strategy.Shared Navigation LoopCarry value through problem, question, strategy, decision, capability, proof, and learning.FlowCheck whether intention, strategy, capability, and attention stay aligned in action.
Carry this decision forward
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Test the beliefTurn the protected value into a claim reality can correct.
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Inspect Purpose know-howTranslate what matters into a bounded intention.
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