THE MAN WHO PREDICTED THE FUTURE.docVIP

THE MAN WHO PREDICTED THE FUTURE 　　It’s an arresting scenario. A man holds up a cloth bag with something moving inside it. Then all of a sudden， a “snake” jumps out of the bag and everybody leaps back in panic. 　　Relax， the man grins. It’s not a real snake， just a fake one. 　　“It was a psychological test I made during class，” smiled Professor William Brown， who has been teaching business in Xiamen University’s MBA Center since September 1988. “It was all about perception. Was it logical to be afraid of a snake？ My students said yes because they didn’t know the snake was fake. People don’t have time to think， but react immediately. That’s the point.” 　　Besides tricks for case studies， the 60-year-old， who is a former member of Magic Castle， the magic academy in Hollywood， also juggles and plays poker and the guitar to make his classes more fun. 　　“There’s no way to limit students’ use of mobile phones in the classroom. So I just see it positively： be creative and do more communication，” he said. 　　 A new start 　　After graduating from high school， helping poor farmers in South America was top of Brown’s wish list， but a beautiful poster of an African island changed his mind. 　　“If you join us， you could see a lot of places like this，” a U.S. Air Force recruitment officer told him. More importantly， the four-year military service would pay for his college. 　　The young airman was sent to Taiwan in 1976. He was 20 at that time. Brown started to learn Chinese history and culture and stayed there till 1978. A decade later， after much more wandering， he brought his wife Susan Marie， an American born and raised in Taiwan， and two young sons to settle down in Xiamen on the opposite side of the Taiwan Straits. 　　“I thought joining the military was a mistake but that turned out to be good，” Brown said. 　　Before settling down in Xiamen， the travel bug-bitten Brown had lived in 30 places. The longest stay was in California where he spent seven years studying. 　　Wh