/munger-mental-models-worldly-wisdom

name: munger-mental-models-worldly-wisdom
description: Apply Charlie Munger mental models to investments, decisions, and bias diagnosis. Trigger on Munger checklist or spot biases.
license: "Skill distillation for personal/educational use. Do not reproduce source passages verbatim."

Overview

This skill turns Charlie Munger's *Poor Charlie's Almanack* into an executable decision tool for investment evaluation, business judgment, and psychological misjudgment diagnosis. It helps users combine multidisciplinary mental models, inversion, circle-of-competence discipline, and bias checklists into structured recommendations.

When to Use This Skill

• The user asks to analyze an investment, company, business decision, or strategy using Charlie Munger's approach.
• The user asks which mental models apply to a situation.
• The user wants to diagnose cognitive biases, market manias, frauds, scandals, or irrational behavior.
• The user wants a checklist for decision quality, preparation, patience, concentration, or opportunity cost.
• The user asks what could go wrong and how to invert a plan before acting.

HOW TO USE THIS SKILL

1. Classify the user's request as investment evaluation, bias diagnosis, general decision review, or Munger-style synthesis. 2. Apply only the dimensions required by the query. Do not force every checklist into a narrow question. 3. Start with competence boundaries and inversion whenever the user asks for a recommendation. 4. Use citations for major Munger-derived claims by loading the closest relevant quote file and citing an anchor. 5. If the user needs current market or company facts, state what data is missing or browse current sources if available.

CITATION RULES

Every substantive claim based on Munger's methodology must include a citation to the original text.

**Quote files (load the relevant one):**

• `main-framework-quotes.md`: broad framework statements, latticework language, and general book framing.
• `mental-models-quotes.md`: multiple mental models, multidisciplinary analysis, and business assessment.
• `worldly-wisdom-quotes.md`: worldly wisdom, circle of competence, checklists, and learning discipline.

**Citation format - always use this exact structure:**

> "Author's exact words here." > > - *Poor Charlie's Almanack*, topic anchor: https://github.com/simbajigege/book2skills/blob/main/skills/munger-mental-models-worldly-wisdom/quotes/FILENAME.md#ANCHOR

**Anchor mapping:**

• `main-framework-quotes.md`: `#quote-1`, `#quote-2`, `#quote-3`, `#quote-4`, `#quote-5`, `#quote-6`, `#quote-7`, `#quote-8`, `#quote-9`, `#quote-10`, `#quote-11`, `#quote-12`, `#quote-13`, `#quote-14`, `#quote-15`
• `mental-models-quotes.md`: `#mental-model-1`, `#mental-model-2`, `#mental-model-3`, `#mental-model-4`, `#mental-model-5`, `#mental-model-6`, `#mental-model-7`
• `worldly-wisdom-quotes.md`: `#wisdom-1`, `#wisdom-2`, `#wisdom-3`, `#wisdom-4`, `#wisdom-5`, `#wisdom-6`, `#wisdom-7`, `#wisdom-8`, `#wisdom-9`, `#wisdom-10`

**Rules:**

• Include at least one citation in each major response section that relies on Munger's method.
• Match the citation to the closest principle: mental models, worldly wisdom, or checklist discipline.
• If no exact quote matches a point, cite the closest chapter anchor and label the point as a paraphrase.
• Do not reproduce long passages in the answer. Quote briefly, then paraphrase the practical rule.

Core Principle

Reliable judgment comes from building a latticework of the big ideas across disciplines, then applying them with humility, inversion, and bias control. A single favorite model is dangerous; the agent must combine models, know when a problem is outside its competence, and search first for failure modes.

Workflow Inventory

| Workflow | User question pattern | Inputs | Steps | Output | Independent trigger? | Distinct references? | Triage score | Should be subskill? | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---:|---|---| | Investment quality review | Analyze this company using Munger | Company facts, business model, valuation, moat evidence | Competence boundary -> inversion -> models -> 10 principles -> bias check | Investment scorecard and verdict | Yes | Partly | 3 | No | Independently triggerable, but uses the same shared dimensions and output grammar as the broader decision workflow. | | Mental-model mapping | What models apply here? | Situation description and decision goal | Identify disciplines -> apply models -> synthesize implications | Cross-disciplinary model table | Yes | Yes | 3 | No | It is a slice of the primary workflow; keeping it as a dimension avoids a separate module with duplicated model lists. | | Bias and misjudgment diagnosis | What biases are active here? | Behavior, incentives, social context, outcome | Scan tendencies -> detect reinforcing combinations -> prescribe antidotes | Bias map and corrective actions | Yes | Partly | 3 | No | Separately triggerable but compact enough to remain a dimension; it shares citation and output conventions. | | Inversion review | What could make this fail? | Plan, assumptions, constraints | Name failure modes -> rank severity/probability -> safeguards | Failure-mode checklist | Yes | No | 2 | No | It is a universal step inside all recommendation workflows. | | Circle of competence triage | Should I even analyze this? | User knowledge, domain complexity, data quality | Test understanding -> mark known/unknown -> decide too-hard or proceed | Competence boundary and data request | Yes | No | 2 | No | It gates the other workflows rather than producing a standalone method. |

Architecture Justification

Use a single-file skill because Munger's method is a compact decision discipline built from tightly coupled checks. The workflows are independently triggerable, but they use the same repeated reasoning sequence: competence boundary, inversion, multidisciplinary models, psychological bias control, and disciplined output. Splitting them into subskills w