tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20276443.post-85404339793567267022007-10-03T01:00:00.001-05:002007-10-03T01:18:28.428-05:00I propose the formation of a National Mint for the production of a new kind of currency: the Cassandra Coin. Don't misunderstand: this is not a new kind of dollar. In fact, the Cassandra Coin has no monetary value. Its value lies in its ability to grant power to individuals who know what's best but nobody listens to them. Here's how it works.<br /><br /><img class="inset-right" style="width: 300px" alt="Cassandra Coin" src="http://www.jeffwofford.com/images/cassandra_coin.jpg" />Let's say you make an insightful prediction—for instance, that your company's investment in rubber tree tea will eventually prove unprofitable, or that your CFO with the gambling habit will be indicted for embezzlement in the next six months. Of course, everyone around you ignores your prediction, and in the old days you would have no recourse but to watch your organization pirouette into flames.<br /><br />In the new system I am proposing, you have another option. First, you write down your prediction and send a copy to the Prophecy Copyright Bureau. The Bureau registers your signature, notes the date of submission, and safeguards your prophetic document. Then, when your prediction comes true, you present the registered prophecy to the organization to which it applied. That organization is bound by law to immediately and publicly present you with a framed (but easily accessible) Cassandra Coin.<br /><br />What good is it? Initially, its chief value is bragging rights. Perhaps it hangs on your cubical wall for a month or two, mute testimony to your smug (though empty) self-satisfaction. Yet it does not remain there, because the Cassandra Coin is far more than a mere symbol. The glory of the Cassandra Coin lies in the power it grants you, its bearer.<br /><br />Legally, throughout the nation, the Cassandra Coin gives you the right to exchange it for immediate—albeit temporary—dictatorial authority. That's right. Any company, any organization must honor this rule, that wherever you are, whenever you choose, you may exchange the Cassandra Coin for the right to make a single high-level decision. The organization is bound to carry out your wish no matter how outlandish it may seem. Your invocation of the Cassandra Coin buys the right to enact a single, crucial decision: by fiat, without consultation, no questions asked.<br /><br />And what could be more sensible? After all, your ownership of the Coin certifies that at least one of your prior insights went unheeded. You expressed your concerns for the good of the group, as a responsible employee, as a conscientious citizen. Yet they laughed at you, called you a naysayer, marginalized you, and beat you down. Then you watched helplessly as those in power sent your organization careening into the ground. What could be more equitable or fair than that you would be granted the opportunity to prevent a similar disaster?<br /><br />The Cassandra Coin embodies that idea and makes it a concrete reality. It grants you the authority to do what you were denied in the past: to steer your leaders away from horrific blunders.<br /><br />Note that a crucial feature of the Cassandra Coin is its transferability from place to place. When predictions go unheeded, destruction often follows. This means that the prophet who foresaw destruction often ends up in a new organization. When the new organization heads down a dangerous path, the prophet has even less power than before, with even less seniority and reputation. The Cassandra Coin counteracts this effect by empowering its bearer nationwide. The death of your former company no longer means the death of the respect you deserve for predicting it.<br /><br />The Cassandra Coin I'm proposing offers many benefits. The benefit to you is that it frees you from the torture of endlessly foreseeing catastrophes you are helpless to prevent. The benefit to your organization is that they receive a timely, wise intervention from a person who has—with certifiable accuracy—foretold doom in the past. The benefit to our nation is healthier, more successful, less error-prone businesses, administrations, and institutions. Overbearing, overpaid, hubris-filled leaders everywhere will now be subject to immediate—if momentary—correction at their most critical moments, by exactly those people most qualified to accurately adjust the course.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05211148794725209479noreply@blogger.com