The Validated Mind®, Decision Intelligence Research
Self-report · 61 questions · ~10–15 min

Everyone thinks they decide on the evidence. Almost nobody does.

A decision does not close because the evidence is sufficient. It closes when it passes through the channels that particular person trusts. VALID™ maps which ones those are, and which one takes over when the stakes rise and the clock runs out.

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The VALID pentagonA pentagon whose five vertices are the validation channels Verity, Association, Lived Experience, Institutional, and Desire. The five edges between adjacent channels are the integrative zones Values, Identity, Purpose, Trust, and Conviction. Core Beliefs sits at the center where all five converge.COREBELIEFSVALUESIDENTITYPURPOSETRUSTCONVICTIONVALIDVerityAssociationLived ExperienceInstitutionalDesire
Five channels at the points. Five integrative zones on the edges, each one what its two neighbouring channels produce together. Core Beliefs at the center, where the assumptions stop feeling like assumptions.

The model

Five channels, five zones, one center

Most frameworks stop at the five points. The zones are where the instrument earns its keep: adjacent channels combine into something neither produces alone, and it is usually a zone, not a channel, that explains a decision nobody can account for afterwards.

Patent pending, USPTO 63/839,584.

The five validation channels

V

Verity

· Evidence and reason16 items

Tests a claim on its own merits. Asks what would have to be true, and what evidence would change the answer.

At its best
Rigorous, defensible, hard to sell to on charm alone.
Its shadow
Analysis paralysis. Waits for proof that will never arrive.
A

Association

· Social validation and consensus7 items

Reads the room. Whose endorsement matters, what the team or market agrees on, who has already signed off.

At its best
Builds alignment early, so decisions land because people were carried.
Its shadow
Consensus mistaken for correctness. The loudest room wins.
L

Lived Experience

· Pattern and personal history7 items

Draws on what has happened before. Recognizes the shape of a situation from having been inside one like it.

At its best
Fast, pattern-rich judgment where the pattern genuinely repeats.
Its shadow
Last time becomes every time. Yesterday's map, today's terrain.
I

Institutional

· Rules, roles, and precedent7 items

Checks the decision against policy, mandate, precedent, and what the organization permits.

At its best
Decisions survive scrutiny and hand over cleanly to someone else.
Its shadow
Defensible and wrong. Procedure substituted for judgment.
D

Desire

· Wanting the outcome to be true12 items

The pull of the preferred answer: ambition, fear, identity, and what the decision would mean about you.

At its best
Conviction and drive, the energy that makes hard calls happen.
Its shadow
Motivated reasoning. Evidence recruited to a verdict already reached.

The five integrative zones

What each adjacent pair produces together. A client can be strong on two channels and still fail in the zone between them.

V + A

Values

What we can defend, and who we answer to. Evidence meeting consensus.

A + L

Identity

Who we are in this room, shaped by who has vouched for us and what we have lived.

L + I

Purpose

Where experience meets mandate, and what we are actually here to do.

I + D

Trust

What the institution permits meeting what we want. Where integrity is tested.

D + V

Conviction

Wanting it to be true, checked against whether it is. The engine of good and bad calls alike.

Convergence

Core Beliefs

Where all five channels converge. The assumptions a person no longer examines, because they stopped feeling like assumptions.

Decision maturity

The profile is not the score. This is.

A channel profile is descriptive, and there is no better or worse way to be wired. Maturity is developmental, and it is the axis a client can actually move along with you.

  1. 01

    Reactive

    Decides without structured reflection, relying on a single dominant validator.

  2. 02

    Informed

    Identifies patterns and gathers input, with limited multi-channel awareness.

  3. 03

    Structured

    Uses multiple validators deliberately. Documents and reviews key decisions.

  4. 04

    Aligned

    Integrates all five validators contextually, and is aware of zone dynamics.

  5. 05

    Trusted

    Optimizes validator weighting, models organizational patterns, and shapes culture.

Take it before you read anyone else's.

You cannot debrief an instrument you have not sat inside. It is free and takes about fifteen minutes.

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The VALID™ Decision Assessment · Five Validation Channels · The Validated Mind