| Inventor: The Coin | |
September 4, 2015
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| A man in his mid-fifties came to the inventor's office and started to tell of his concerns: Recently, he had a problem to choose something. He couldn't decide easily. He was the president of a mid-sized company. With the efforts of him and his workers, his company became bigger. But, the more his company became bigger, the more he felt difficulty to decide. "Moreover," he glanced at the inventor, "this is embarrassing, but nowadays, I have a hard time even to decide what to eat for lunch. Actually, I haven't eaten lunch yet." It was around two o'clock. The inventor said, "I can guess how big the pressure is on company executives in this competitive world. Maybe you have a counselor." The president said, "Yes, she is good. But, she said that I had a certain choice in my mind every time, just I only thought I didn't. But, actually, I can't decide; so, I came here." The inventor asked about the tendency of
The inventor told the president that he would try to make something for him, so to come back again one week later. One week later, the president came back to the inventor's office. The inventor showed him a gadget that he had invented. He looked suspicious. It looked just like a coin, although it was a little bigger than the normal size. With a smirk, he said, "I hope you don't want me to simply flip this coin and make a decision by which side comes up." The inventor looked uneasy but started to explain how to use this machine. On his way home from the inventor's office, the president stopped by a ramen restaurant. He opened the menu. There were about 10 ramen bowls with their photos. He took out the coin-shaped machine from his pocket and put it on the menu. He looked around. Nobody was looking at him. He put his finger on the coin. Surprisingly, the coin started to move with his finger following. After moving around for a while, it stopped on one particular ramen bowl. He ordered it. Soon the ramen came, and he ate it. He didn't know whether this bowl of ramen was better than the others (because it was the first time that he had entered this shop), but at least he could chose this ramen without hesitating; and, the taste of the ramen was not bad. He was satisfied with both the coin and the ramen. Next, he stopped by the bookstore where the last time he couldn't decide between two books, one was the mystery written by a bestselling female author; and the other was a promising male author's historical novel. He looked around, and placed the coin onto the middle of the two books which were on the stacked books. Leaving the store, holding the mystery book, he was happy and felt like getting something to drink. He entered a bar. He said to the bartender about the coin and demonstrated it before asking for the cocktail. The bartender was very curious about the coin and tried it himself. He said, "If I had had this coin, I wouldn't have chosen my present wife." "Me, too." They laughed for a while. The president was very satisfied with this night and the coin-shaped machine. It was the first time in years that he felt relaxed from the bottom of his heart. He spent several happy weeks. Every day, after his secretary reported each day's schedule and left, he took out the coin machine from his pocket and put it on the desk. When he read documents, if he needed to decide something, he used the coin. It worked well. He was enjoying his job. But his happy days didn't last long. On this particular day, his secretary announced the day's subject of the regular executives meeting. The agenda was about the merger; they were supposed to choose between two companies to merge with. The meeting lasted for a couple of hours, and at the end it was left to the president to make a final decision. He said he needed a break for a few minutes to refresh. He thought to use the coin in his room. But, when he was about to stand up, one of the executives stood up and said, "We heard a rumor that you decide important decisions of this company by tossing a coin." The president felt tense but said nothing. He continued, "If this is true, we have to say that you have no ability to manage this company." The other executives nodded. "Ok." The president urged the executive to sit down. "Maybe you were told about this." He took out the coin from his pocket and showed it around to the executives. There was a big commotion from the executives. He put the coin on the middle of the two companies' research documents. He put his finger on the coin and closed his eyes. The room became dead silent. The coin started to move and stopped. He opened his eyes and said, "I've decided on XXX company." The room became chaos. One executive shouted it was embarrassing action of the president to make fun of the other executives. Another said that they should fire the president and replace the coin as the new president. The president left the room receiving voices of abuse. He said to the secretary that he would agree with it if they disqualified him and somebody wanted to become the next president. He went to the inventor's office and reported the details. The inventor said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I feel guilty." The president said, "You shouldn't feel any guilt. I knew that this coin just reflected my mind." The inventor smiled, "You are right. When you feel a positive idea, your brain sends a subtle electrical pulse, and the machine receives it, and moves and stop where it catches the strongest pulse." The president said, "Like a polygraph." The inventor said, "Although, it is the opposite." They laughed. The president said, "But even after I realized it, the coin has still been very helpful. When I used this coin, I felt a huge freedom from being released from the burden of decisions. Thank you." They gripped hands. The president became serious, "By the way, I'll become free. Can you sell your company to me? With the worker, of course." The inventor was staring at the president, wondering if it was just a joke or not. |
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*coup d'etat: a sudden and sometimes violent attempt by citizens or the army to take control of the government (L)
*agenda: a list of subjects that people will discuss at a meeting (C)
*merger: when two or more companies or organizations join together (C)
*abuse: to say rude and offensive words to someone (C)