Find a thinking move to make, or a mental model to understand a situation.
Cross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Communal land stewardship is the widespread practice across African, Indigenous American, and Pacific Island societies where land is held collectively by a community, clan, or lineage rather than by individuals
African & Indigenous FrameworksCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Kaizen is the Japanese philosophy that sustained excellence comes not from dramatic breakthroughs but from relentless, incremental improvements made by everyone in an organization, every day
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Ikigai (literally 'life worth living' or 'reason for being') is a Japanese concept for finding sustained meaning and motivation through the intersection of four dimensions: what you love (passion), what you are good at (…
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Ma is the Japanese aesthetic and philosophical concept of meaningful emptiness -- the pause between notes in music, the blank space in a painting, the silence in conversation, the void in architecture
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Mono no aware ('the pathos of things' or 'an empathy toward things') is the Japanese aesthetic sensibility of bittersweet awareness that all things are transient
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Nemawashi (literally 'going around the roots' -- from the practice of preparing tree roots before transplanting) is the Japanese organizational practice of building informal consensus before any formal decision is made
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Hansei is the Japanese practice of sincere, sometimes painful self-reflection that acknowledges mistakes and shortcomings as the necessary foundation for genuine improvement
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Kata (literally 'form') originated in Japanese martial arts as choreographed sequences of movements practiced until they become automatic, freeing the mind for higher-level strategic thinking
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum, making the cracks visible and beautiful rather than disguising them
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Shokunin kishitsu ('craftsman spirit') is the Japanese ethic of total dedication to one's craft, where the pursuit of mastery becomes both a social obligation and a spiritual practice
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Omotenashi is the Japanese philosophy of wholehearted, anticipatory hospitality where the host attends to the guest's needs before they are expressed, without expectation of reciprocation or even acknowledgment
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Gaman is the Japanese virtue of enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity, maintaining composure and self-restraint in the face of hardship without complaint
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Shu-Ha-Ri describes three stages of mastery in Japanese martial arts that apply universally to skill development
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Genchi genbutsu ('go to the actual place, see the actual thing') is the Toyota management principle that decisions must be based on direct, firsthand observation rather than reports, data summaries, or secondhand account…
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Mottainai is a Japanese term expressing a sense of regret and moral discomfort at wastefulness, encompassing concepts of reduce, reuse, recycle, and respect in a single word
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
The ringi system is the formal Japanese organizational decision-making process where proposals (ringisho) circulate from bottom to top, collecting seals of approval (hanko) from each level of management
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Honne (true feelings, genuine thoughts) and tatemae (public facade, socially expected behavior) represent the Japanese recognition that humans always operate with two distinct layers of expression
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Bushido ('the way of the warrior') is the ethical code of the samurai class, synthesized from Confucian duty, Zen Buddhist discipline, and Shinto reverence for ancestors
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Hoshin kanri ('compass management' or 'policy deployment') is the Japanese strategic planning methodology that aligns an entire organization around a few critical breakthrough objectives while maintaining daily operation…
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Amae ('sweet dependency' or 'presuming upon another's indulgence') is psychoanalyst Takeo Doi's concept describing the Japanese relational dynamic of passively expecting and receiving nurturing care from others
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Distinct from hoshin kanri (the planning methodology), hoshin as a standalone concept means 'compass needle' or 'true north' -- the unwavering directional purpose that guides all organizational and personal decisions
Japanese & East Asian ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Personalismo is the Latin American cultural principle that personal relationships, trust, and character are the primary basis for all social, business, and political transactions
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Simpatia is the Latin American and Iberian cultural script that prioritizes social harmony, warmth, and interpersonal pleasantness above directness, efficiency, or uncomfortable truth-telling
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Convivencia ('living together' or 'coexistence') refers both to the historical period of relative interfaith cooperation in medieval Iberia (when Muslims, Christians, and Jews coexisted productively) and to the broader L…
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Dependency theory, developed by Raul Prebisch and Andre Gunder Frank, argues that global poverty is not a stage on the road to development but a structural condition actively produced by the international economic system
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Liberation theology, originating in 1960s-70s Latin America through Gustavo Gutierrez and Leonardo Boff, reinterprets ethics, economics, and social structure from the perspective of the poor ('the preferential option for…
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Testimonio is a Latin American literary and political genre where an individual narrates their lived experience of oppression, struggle, or marginalization as representative of a larger community's experience
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Buen vivir (Quechua: sumak kawsay) is the Andean indigenous philosophy of 'good living' or 'living well' that rejects GDP-based development in favor of a harmonious relationship among humans, communities, and nature (Pac…
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Mestizaje (from 'mestizo' -- mixed) is the Latin American framework for understanding cultural, racial, and intellectual hybridity as a source of creative strength rather than contamination or dilution
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
The Mediterranean approach to time treats temporal experience as something to be savored rather than optimized, rejecting the Northern European/American equation of busyness with virtue
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Sobremesa (literally 'over the table') is the Spanish and Latin American practice of lingering at the table after a meal for extended conversation, digestion, and social bonding -- sometimes for hours
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Familismo is the Latin American cultural value system placing the extended family -- not the individual or nuclear family -- at the center of social, economic, and emotional life
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Respeto is the Latin American value system of deference and consideration structured along clear hierarchical lines -- age, gender, social position, professional status, and family role
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Compadrazgo is the Latin American institution of ritual co-parentage (godparenthood) that extends kinship bonds beyond biological family to create networks of mutual obligation
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Tertulia is the Spanish and Latin American tradition of regular, informal intellectual gatherings where a consistent group discusses literature, politics, philosophy, and current events
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
The hacendado-campesino dynamic describes the persistent Latin American power structure where large landowners (hacendados) control entire social, economic, and political ecosystems, while laborers (campesinos) depend on…
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Hacerse el loco ('playing crazy' or 'playing dumb') is the Latin American social strategy of feigning ignorance, incomprehension, or obliviousness to navigate power differentials, avoid unwanted obligations, or resist au…
Latin American & MediterraneanCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Geert Hofstede's framework identifies six dimensions along which national cultures systematically vary: Power Distance (acceptance of unequal power), Individualism vs
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project extends Hofstede by measuring nine cultural dimensions across 62 societies, crucially distinguishing between cultural values ('should be') a…
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Edward T
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
The most researched dimension in cross-cultural psychology describes whether a culture's primary social unit is the autonomous self or the embedded group
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Power Distance measures the degree to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect unequal power distribution
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Uncertainty Avoidance measures a culture's tolerance for ambiguity and unstructured situations -- not risk avoidance, but discomfort with the unknown
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Developed by Christopher Earley and Soon Ang, Cultural Intelligence measures an individual's ability to function effectively across cultural contexts through four capabilities
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Cross-cultural negotiation theory identifies systematic differences in deal-making approaches
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Edward Hall identified two orientations toward time
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Shalom Schwartz identifies ten motivationally distinct value types recognized across all cultures: Self-Direction, Stimulation, Hedonism, Achievement, Power, Security, Conformity, Tradition, Benevolence, and Universalism
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsCross-Cultural & Global Thinking
Cultural translation addresses making concepts and practices legible across cultural boundaries
Comparative & Synthesis ModelsPage 41 of 50 · 1921–1968 of 2,375 models