Frameworks That Change the Way We See: The Power of Nested Thinking in a Fragmented World
The Power of Nested Thinking in a Fragmented World
There are moments when a single sketch rewires the way you see the world.
For me, it was when my incredibly talented design team sketched a framework to show how customer journeys linked together — not in a flat funnel or tidy loop, but in layers:
Global → Macro → Micro → Nano.
What began as a practical map for experience design suddenly became something more:
A new way to understand power, influence, healing, and wholeness.
It reflected a deeper truth I’d been circling for years:
Everything is connected. And it’s connected in layers.
In that moment, the dots joined between systems thinking, human design, healing, and hope. And it turns out — this concept of nested frameworks? It’s not new. It’s ancient, scientific, and urgently needed.
What Are Nested Frameworks?
Nested frameworks are models that help us understand how systems exist within systems — like Russian dolls, or ecosystems, or even atoms. They teach us that nothing exists in isolation.
When we think in nested layers, we stop asking:
“What’s wrong with this person?”
And start asking:
“What is this a response to, within a larger system?”
They give us context — a compass for locating problems, possibilities, and leverage points. They stop us from over-simplifying or blaming the individual for structural breakdowns.
My Favourite Nested Lens: The Nested Clarity Compass™
World → Frame → People → Person
Or if you like cosmic metaphors:
Galaxy → Continents → Cultures → Players
This is the one I now return to, daily:
Big Picture (The Field): Collective consciousness, culture, ideology, planetary forces
Example: Climate anxiety or global cultural shifts like the rise of digital nomadism.
The Continents (The Frame): Institutions, systems, governments, education, tech, economy
Example: Healthcare policies or corporate hierarchies shaping access to resources.
The Cultures (The Fabric): Communities, relationships, families, teams
Example: A strained team dynamic or a supportive friend group.
The Players (The Spark): Personal regulation, identity, story, nervous system, belief
Example: Your stress response or core beliefs about self-worth.
Whether I’m mapping burnout, influence, family dynamics, or organizational change — this framework reminds me to zoom in and out with compassion.
For instance, a founder’s burnout (The Spark) might stem from team misalignment (The Fabric), driven by industry pressures (The Frame), amplified by societal hustle culture (The Field).
And guess what? It has roots in history.
📜 A Brief History of Nested Thinking
This isn’t just a new tool. It’s part of a much older conversation.
Nested frameworks have been around for decades — and in many cultures, centuries — quietly helping us make sense of complexity.
Long before funnels, blueprints, or AI dashboards, we knew:
Life unfolds in layers.
Systems sit within systems.
The personal is nested in the political, the ancestral, the planetary.
Here are some of the foundational frameworks that paved the way:
1. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1970s)
A landmark model in developmental psychology, it showed how a child’s development is shaped by nested systems:
Microsystem – family, school
Mesosystem – interactions between microsystems
Exosystem – indirect influences (e.g. a parent’s workplace)
Macrosystem – culture, economy, societal norms
Chronosystem – change over time
🌀 Why it matters: This model was a major breakthrough in shifting the focus from individual behaviour to systemic context.
2. The Social Ecological Model (1970s–2000s)
Used in public health to guide interventions for issues like obesity, mental health, and violence:
Individual → Interpersonal → Organizational → Community → Policy
🌀 Why it matters: It proved that we can’t change outcomes without addressing the systems people live inside.
3. The Nine Windows Tool (TRIZ Innovation Thinking)
A grid for problem-solving that explores:
Time: Past / Present / Future
Perspective: Super-System / System / Sub-System
🌀 Why it matters: It trains innovators to shift scale and time — a superpower for systems design.
4. Permaculture Zones (1970s–Present)
Used in sustainable agriculture and life design:
Zone 0: Self / Home
...through toZone 5: Untouched wild ecosystems
🌀 Why it matters: It reminds us that regeneration starts close to home — and radiates outward.
5. The THRIVE Framework (Contemporary)
A systems model used in regenerative leadership, sustainability, and global innovation work. It emphasizes:
Feedback loops
Nested interdependence
Leverage points for transformation
🌀 Why it matters: It treats thriving as a systemic state — not a personal goal.
🌺 And Long Before That...
Nested cosmologies have existed in:
Indigenous frameworks: where spirit, land, body, and ancestry are always intertwined
Vedic and Taoist philosophies: which teach that energy moves through nested layers of self and cosmos
Sacred geometry and mythology: where patterns like spirals, fractals, and the Tree of Life appear across traditions
🌀 Why it matters: Nested thinking isn’t just scientific — it’s spiritual. It helps us live in right relationship with ourselves, each other, and the earth.
👣 Standing on Their Shoulders
The Nested Clarity Compass™ is a contemporary remix of this wisdom.
It's not a replacement.
It’s a continuation — made to be practical, accessible, and soul-aligned for modern leadership, coaching, and life design.
It builds on what came before and invites us to see now —
with nuance, compassion, and the courage to design differently.
Why This Matters Now
In an age of urgency and isolation, nested thinking helps us:
See our place in the whole
Make more compassionate decisions
Design better systems for real people
Avoid oversimplified “just manifest it” or “just fix policy” thinking
It helps us understand:
Your nervous system is not separate from your job.
Your business mode is shaped by economic systems.
Your healing is influenced by ancestry, culture, and collective patterns.
Nested frameworks let us design with context, compassion, and clarity.
💡 Why This Compass Exists
Because I needed a framework that could hold:
the complexity of the system
the truth of the body
the mess of the middle
and the possibility of the future
I needed something that wasn’t reductionist or oversimplified —
but wasn’t so abstract that it became unusable.
This compass gives you enough shape to hold complexity —
without pretending to fix it.
🌱 Where I Use It
In UNFOLLOWED, I explore how modern influence operates across all four layers
In The She OS™, we design life systems that move from Spark to Field
In Lead to Gold™, we locate fear in the Frame or Fabric — and transmute it at the Spark
In Evolve X, we use it to map burnout, leadership breakdowns, family overwhelm, and organizational redesign
Whether I’m helping a founder recalibrate, a mother reclaim her rhythm, or a team reimagine their culture — this is the lens I come back to.
🛠 How You Can Use It
Next time something feels off, try running it through the compass:
Ask Yourself…
The Field
What collective story or mood is in play here?
The Frame
What system or structure might be enabling or blocking this?
The Fabric
Who or what is reinforcing this dynamic with me?
The Spark
What am I feeling, believing, or sensing within me right now?
You don’t have to solve all four.
Just locate where the truth lives — and start there.
🌊 Final Thought: Every Spark Touches the Field
You don’t need to fix the world to shift it.
You don’t need to have a plan to be powerful.
Sometimes the most radical thing you can do
is listen to your Spark.
Follow it through the Fabric.
Challenge the Frame.
And trust that, in doing so —
you’re whispering something new into the Field.
Nested. Human. Whole.
That’s how we evolve.
