In the United States, a college graduate named Cooper couldn't find a job. Desperate and nearly out of options, he decided to try his luck at George's company. Cooper was a passionate radio enthusiast who had long admired George, a veteran in the radio industry. He believed that if George would accept him, he could learn a great deal and one day achieve great success in the radio field just like his idol. When Cooper knocked on George's door, George was deeply focused on researching wireless telephones—the very mobile phones we use today.
Cooper carefully expressed the thoughts he had held in his heart for a long time. He said, "Respected Mr. George, I would very much like to become a member of your company. It would be even better if I could stay by your side as your assistant. Of course, I don't care about the salary..." But before Cooper could finish, George rudely interrupted him. Looking at Cooper with disdain, George asked, "What year did you graduate? And how long have you been working with radio?"
Cooper replied honestly, "Mr. George, I'm a recent college graduate this year. I've never worked in radio before, but I truly love this work..."
George interrupted him again, harshly: "Young man, I think you should just leave. I don't want to see you again, and please don't waste my time any further."
Cooper, who had initially been nervous and anxious, suddenly felt calm. Composed and unhurried, he said, "Mr. George, I know what you're working on right now. You're researching mobile wireless telephones, aren't you? Perhaps I could help you with that!"
Although surprised that Cooper had guessed his current project, George still considered the young man too immature and inadequate to be of any use. So he firmly ordered him to leave.
One day in 1973, a man stood on a New York City street holding a wireless phone about the size of two bricks, drawing the curious stares of passersby. This man was Martin Cooper, the inventor of the mobile phone. At the time, Cooper was an engineering technician at Motorola in the United States. Cooper said, "George, I'm calling you now using a portable wireless telephone."
George could never have imagined that the young man he had once turned away had actually beaten him to the invention of the mobile wireless telephone—the cell phone. Today, mobile phones have become an indispensable communication tool in daily life, and the name Martin Cooper is now widely known. In an interview, a reporter asked Martin Cooper, "If George had taken you in back then, you would certainly have helped him complete the development of the mobile phone. In that case, the credit would have undoubtedly gone to George, wouldn't it?" Cooper replied, "No. If George had taken me in and I had become his assistant, we might never have invented the mobile phone as it exists today. Precisely because he rejected me and cut off my desire to learn from him, I was forced to forge a new path in developing the mobile phone—and succeeded. That path is called humiliation. I turned the insult George gave me into motivation to move forward. Without that motivation, even if I had teamed up with George, we might not have completed this groundbreaking work."