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In 2005, a Japanese executive used this child’s game to decide where to gift his $20MM art collection
In the spring of 2005, Takashi Hashiyama, president of Maspro Denkoh Corporation, had a dilemma. He couldn’t decide which of the two powerhouse auction houses, Christie’s or Sotheby’s, should sell his company’s extensive art collection.
This was no ordinary collection. With works from Cézanne, Picasso, van Gogh, and Renoir, the stunning portfolio was valued at over $20MM.
Rather than analyzing the merits of each company, Hashiyama took another route. He consulted one of the oldest, most revered forms of decision-making, respected on playgrounds the world over. He made the representatives of both companies engage in a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Hashiyama reasoned, “As both companies were equally good and I just could not choose one, I asked them to please decide between themselves and suggested to use such methods as rock, paper, scissors.”
The winner: Christie’s scissors beat Sotheby’s paper.
For full disclosure, Christie’s did have some “expert” help from their international director’s 11-year old twins. “Everyone knows you always start with scissors,” the twins sagely advised. “Rock is way too obvious, and scissors beats paper.” They…
