Volume 4 · The Ledger and the Loom · Essay 127
Idiot Index
A good test is a lamp, not a verdict. Idiot Index lights the corner you forgot to sweep.
No single score defines a person, a team, or a year. But a score honestly taken is a mirror, and mirrors, however unkind, are cheaper than self-deception.
The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.
Watch two shopkeepers in the same lane during a lean month. One cuts quality, the other cuts margin. In a year, one has customers and the other has stock.
Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. The idea has done its job if, the next time it happens to you, you smile before you react.