No. Cynefin flow is always along one axis at a time. You wouldn't invert both at the same time. As for why it is a part of my definition of what makes such a d

No. Cynefin flow is always along one axis at a time. You wouldn't invert both at the same time. As for why it is a part of my definition of what makes such a diagram "correct" (as opposed to 4 random labels applied to irrelevant axes), it's kind of because that's the only interesting story that can be told in those 2 dimensions? So suppose you had an hourglass shape of flow; then if you conditionally invert one of the axes (invert y when x is negative) you get a conventional cynefin flow. So if you were faced with a case where intense idealists were turning into coasting pragmatists, it suggests that you would want to just choose a different axis for one of the sides. Say you wanted to keep idealism-vs-pragmatism, but now you have to describe something that's "intense work if you're an idealist, but coasting if you're a pragmatist." And you might call that "mission work" or "evangelism" or something, acting out your most fundamental values. If you choose that as your axis, the one side inverts and the hourglass becomes a conventional fourbox (or 2x2 as a comment above calls it).