In the middle of all the debates on Brexit, economic shifts, business changes, office politics and technology changes the art of making useful forecasts and managing discussions about major uncertainties about the future of a business can sometimes feel like a rather thankless task.During the summer of 2016, while working in a previous role, I was modelling the impact that market shifts and the likely changes in the Pound Dollar exchange rate would have on the staffing models and business goals for the organisation in the next financial year. During one intense week, I accidently discovered a new word which at first seemed an amusing piece of wordplay: "Cassandrafreude”, defined as the bitter pleasure of things going wrong in exactly the way you predicted, but no one believed you when it could have made a difference.This portmanteau word was constructed from Cassandra, the mythological Trojan princess, and schadenfreude, a German word meaning deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others. The two components fitted well into the febrile atmosphere within the business at the time and I suspect my enjoyment of the dark humour implied by the new word was something of a defence mechanism given my concern the forecasts would indeed be proved correct and impact negatively on friends and colleagues.In the middle of the wry smiles and nervous laughter generated when sharing the word with colleagues there was however a feeling of unease - what right would we have to feel any joy even if our rational worldview had been proven correct? The unease may well have helped to sustain the laughter ... but left me with some questions. What might the Cassandra myth mean beyond just the ignored warnings of imminent doom? Where do the emotions described by schadenfreude originate from and what does it say about our attitude to other people troubles?We can start with looking at what the Cassandra myth might represent in today’s worldview for those seeking to forecast or predict the future for a business? The basics of the myth are introduced in the extracts below from pp. 198-201 in David Whyte's highly recommended book, "The Heart Aroused". There he discusses Cassandra's fate in the context of a struggle to reconcile the intuitive and rational sides of our nature. ""Throughout the ancient ten-year conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans, Cassandra, daughter of Priam, is the only one within the city of Troy who clearly sees the calamity ahead for her fellow citizens. She has the gift of second sight, given to her by Apollo, but her voice is ignored completely.In the myth of Apollo's gift-giving, Cassandra had promised to make love with the god if only he would grant her the sight. He duly gave her the precious gift she had requested, but as soon as she had received it, Cassandra refused to give herself to Apollo. Slighted by this injustice, Apollo ordained that though she now indeed had the gift of second sight, none should ever believe her prophecies. Neither character's actions are ethical by our lights, but this was not the point of the story; the myth depicts the split that occurs between the rational and intuitive powers in the internal psyche of an individual.After the city is sacked, the Greek king, Agamemnon, takes Cassandra back to Mycenae as booty. He takes her as a prisoner, but he ignores her intuitive warnings of a disastrous homecoming, taking her dire emotional prophecies as the ravings of a hysterical woman.Agamemnon also has a body hidden in his past, that of daughter sacrificed ten years before to propitiate the gods as the Greek fleet was about to set sail for Troy. This returning duo offer a heart-rending image of a total split in the internal soul life of a person. The masculine and feminine have turned their backs on one another and marched to their prospective corners in an unconscious sulk, even as they both go to their death.On their arrival, Agamemnon is welcomed by his wife, Clytemnestra, who, unknown to him, has taken a lover in his absence, a man called Aegisthus. She has never forgotten the sacrifice of her daughter and has nursed her hatred for Agamemnon until his return. The returning king is taken for a sumptuous bath to be cleansed after the long journey home. While he is bathing, Clytemnestra and her lover throw a fishing net over the king and murder him in the bath. Simultaneously, Cassandra is killed on the steps of the palace by the guards.The Greek poet Ritsos gives the story an ironic twist. The blindness to our intuitive capacities, he says is nearer to home.The Real Reason (Translation by Edmund Keeley)No, it isn't that Apollo reneged on his promiseand took the conviction out of Cassandra's words by spitting in her faceto nullify the gift he'd granted her, thereby making her prophesiesuseless both for her and for others - no. It's just thatnobody wants to believe the truth. And when you see the net in your bath, you think they've gotten it out for your fishing trip tomorrow. And neither inside you nor outside do you hear, on the palace's marble stairs,the dark intimation coming up with hapless Cassandra's wailing. "A powerful interpretation of the story - both for individuals and wider groups when dealing with giving and taking guidance in difficult situations. The warning from Ritsos, that sometimes people just don’t want to know the truth, itself forms an important message for those looking to make organisational change happen. Without a balanced set of drivers - rational, emotional, intuitive together with the right environment for the message to be received the poet suggests that people will simply ignore "doom-sayers". This has become quite a common theme in modern political and business life where the phrase "Cassandra” is used a general insult to opponents who foresee dire consequences for a particular path. Perhaps if the myth was better understood those hurling the name as an insult might think twice - Cassandra was, after all, right!Now we have explored some of the complexities wrapped into the Cassandra myth for those guiding an organisation, we can now look at the deeper issues from the second half of our new portmanteau word.Schadenfreude has become quite a common phrase in popular culture over the past decade. It famously appeared in the Simpsons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O74hxLjy1L8, where Lisa Simpson talks of "shameful joy". Scott Adams has also used it in his cartoons http://dilbert.com/strip/2006-08-07. The concept has also been discussed in the mainstream media; for example, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/arts/sorrow-so-sweet-a-guilty-pleasure-in-another-s-woe.htmlWikipedia's entry on the word illustrates the ubiquity of concept across the European languages and also has some startling references to the brain science behind the feeling of joy associated with problems faced by other people. Those sections will probably leave the reader with uncertain feelings about the ways in which modern neuro-science is letting us know what is going on in our heads when we think thoughts for which we later feel guilt and shame.The complex intertwining of "self" and how we see "the other" is further illustrated in the research pointing towards a tendency for people with low self-esteem to be more susceptible to schadenfreude than those whose self-regard is high.Even without the insights provided by modern technology, the moral reaction to feelings of joy associated with others misfortune has been analysed by philosophers and social commentators over many centuries. A striking example is from the early 1800s the philosopher Schopenhauer mentioned Schadenfreude as the most evil sin of human feeling:" ... a mischievous delight in the misfortunes of others, remains the worst trait in human nature. It is a feeling which is closely akin to cruelty, and differs from it, to say the truth, only as theory from practice."Having now looked at both parts of the new word, its seems clearer than ever that the bitter pleasure of things going wrong in exactly the way you predicted, but no one believed you when it could have made a difference is simply not a useful emotion and something of a moral failure as well! The key challenge we always face in giving advice on possiblefutures is finding ways to get our expertise and insight used to make the desired change happen. It is pointless feeling self-righteous about being right but watching from the side-lines unable to make a difference.So, do I still find the word as amusing today a few months after first discovering it? No is the simple answer. The role of a forecaster is to make predictions that can be implemented leading to changes that solve real problems. The predictions of possible futures must be well formed, the limitations understood and presented in a way that enables change to happen. Being a Cassandra figure is simply a tragedy.