Did Dr. Graves come up with the name, “Spiral Dynamics?
No. The term was coined several years after Dr. Graves’ death in 1986. Before we began using “Spiral Dynamics,” we called it Value Systems Theory and Coping Systems. The trademark was registered in 1999. The motivation for the name change was both the need for a title for the book, and a recognition that the earlier labels did not resonate as well as we’d hoped. There had always been confusion between values and value systems and, despite its accuracy, coping systems suggests just getting by.
