Text

Masayoshi Son 2.0

Masa and Grandmother
About a month ago, SoftBank Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son presented his 30 year vision for the company at the celebration of its 30th anniversary.  

In the last twenty minutes of his two hour presentation here (at about 1:47:30), Mr. Son provides a tearful, touching description of his rags-to-riches story. One of the translators needs a moment to gain her composure as Mr. Son describes a childhood of poverty supported by a loving grandmother that produced his impassioned outlook on life. This drives his vision for SoftBank of “making people happy through the information revolution.”

For those not up for the video, the Wall Street Journal provides a brief overview of the presentation here, with a focus on SoftBank’s plans to groom 300 potential successors over 10+ years to create Masayoshi Son 2.0. If you have a moment to watch the video, you would find it hard to believe that such a person can be reproduced.