About YUYAY
A framework rooted in indigenous wisdom, systems thinking, and the conviction that intelligence must serve life.
The Name
YUYAY comes from the Quechua language, the living tongue of the Andean peoples, where it carries the meaning of thought, knowledge, and wisdom held in relation to community and the natural world.
Quechua was spoken across the Inca Empire, one of the most sophisticated civilisations in recorded history, one built on collective intelligence, reciprocity, and ecological stewardship. In naming this framework YUYAY, Mitchell Gold acknowledges that the intelligence the world needs is not new. It is ancient.
This choice of name also honours the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which YUYAY explicitly integrates as one of its foundational governance standards.
Mitchell Gold
Mitchell Gold is a systems thinker, educator, and designer of frameworks for collective intelligence. His work sits at the intersection of organisational development, social innovation, and planetary governance, drawing on decades of direct engagement with communities, institutions, and decision-makers across five continents.
The YUYAY framework emerged from a recognition that existing decision-making tools, however sophisticated, tend to optimise for efficiency rather than alignment. Mitchell set out to create something different: an evaluative lens that holds the full complexity of human potential, and asks whether any given decision honours it.
His work is undertaken in collaboration with the UN Office of the Future, an initiative dedicated to long-range thinking, civilisational resilience, and the design of institutions adequate to the challenges of the coming century.
UN Office of the Future
The UN Office of the Future operates as a strategic foresight and design initiative within the United Nations system. Its mandate is to develop frameworks, tools, and governance innovations capable of addressing the long-term challenges that current international institutions were not designed to handle.
YUYAY represents one of its flagship framework contributions , a practical instrument for evaluating whether decisions made by organisations, governments, and individuals are coherent with humanity's highest stated values and international commitments.
Theoretical Foundations
Edward de Bono , PO
The PO provocation operator , a tool for lateral thinking that suspends binary judgement and creates space for creative alternatives. PO is the third response in the YUYAY questionnaire: neither yes nor no, but a mark of movement.
SDG 17 , Partnerships for the Goals
The 17th Sustainable Development Goal calls for the global partnerships, coherent policy frameworks, and multi-stakeholder engagement necessary to achieve the remaining 16. YUYAY embeds SDG 17 as a structural commitment to relational and systemic thinking.
ISO 26000 , Social Responsibility
The international standard for organisational social responsibility defines core subjects including human rights, labour practices, environmental care, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement. YUYAY uses ISO 26000 as a benchmark for the Shadow dimensions of each archetype.
UNDRIP , Indigenous Rights
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples enshrines the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, cultures, identities, and knowledge systems. YUYAY recognises indigenous epistemology , including Quechua concepts of reciprocity and relational knowledge , as foundational.