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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 630597, member: 57463&quot;]<b>Traders and Guardians; Market and Power</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Hopefully, nothing.</p><p><br /></p><p>I recommend highly when you get a chance <i>Systems of Survival</i> by Jane Jacobs.&nbsp; Jacobs says that there are two ways of making a living, as a Guardian or as a Trader.&nbsp; This reflects the same broader theme of Murray Rothbard&#039;s <i>Power and Market</i>.&nbsp; Even though we buy and sell money for fun, we numismatists often fall into thought patterns that are anti-market and contrary to commerce.&nbsp; The idea of Leadership is one of them.</p><p><br /></p><p>The ANA suffered two reverses as a result of seeking new, bold leadership.&nbsp; The fact is that true, innovative change comes from unexpected people and unpredicted (unpredictable) events. No one asked for the television to be invented.&nbsp; No one asked for home computers or telephones with cameras in them.&nbsp; Someone got the idea and then sold it.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, too, with numismatics.&nbsp; No ANA president decided that Errors were Hot or that Phone Cards are Not.&nbsp; The ANA did not launch National Cherrypicking Month.&nbsp; Collectors had been using third party graders for 15 years before the ANA made one company their official grader -- and as well deserved as that might be, collectors still prefer this or that company for this or that coin based on previous experience.&nbsp; In other words, the Market decides differently than Power does. Traders have preferences that Guardians do not.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Boy Scout Merit Badge for Collecting does not include cracking out a coin and resubmitting it, cherrypicking a dealer, artificially retoning a coin and successfully passing it off as natural in an open club auction, or demonstrating to your troop leader why Red Book pricing is always wrong but always important nonetheless.&nbsp; The point is that Boy Scouting is the paradigm of the Leader or Guardian mode of survival.&nbsp; That model applies to the ANA Board, as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>Too often, we confuse that ability to take care of the status quo with the ability to discover new horizons.&nbsp; None of the world&#039;s &quot;great leaders&quot; has done the world much good.&nbsp; Same is true of the ANA.&nbsp; When it comes to leaders, less is more.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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