I kick off my latest book with the story about Cassandra.
I feel like being an evaluator or researcher or data analyst puts you in this position where you learn things. It then becomes your responsibility to share what you’ve learned with others. But if we fail to share it effectively, what’s the difference between us and Cassandra.
Here’s the intro.
Girl meets a god who gives her a divine power to see the future. The girl then turns down the god’s romantic advances. The god, who is clearly a creepy jerk, feels scorned and curses the girl. The girl can still see the future (her gift) but nobody will believe her prophecies (her curse).
We researchers and evaluators also have a gift. We can’t see the future, but through our methods we can measure the past and monitor the present. Then we can use that knowledge to project the future.
And like Cassandra we also have a curse. There is no guarantee that anyone will hear our words or believe what we share.
But unlike Cassandra, our curse is at least partially self-inflicted. We use the web to share our work in much the same way as we did in the late 90s. And we write reports almost as if the last 20 years never happened.
I believe we need a change, a monumental change. Not necessarily in our tools but in our mindsets.
Because the status quo is a path towards irrelevance.
The beginning pages of The Reporting Revolution.
The book is only $5 on Kindle ($10 in print), it’s a quick read and is packed with a lot of my best ideas around reporting. It also has a bunch of cartoons and reads more like a blog than a textbook. I’m proud of it and want to share it as widely as possible.
Buying the book also gets you an invite to a free webinar next month. Check out my post from the other day to learn more.
