Lionel Barber

"This mixture of stubbornness and inspiration illuminates the essence of Masa’s character and his approach to business. Convinced of his own techno-centric world view, he truly believes he can see into the future and make it reality in the present. ‘Masa thinks that if something could happen, it should happen. And if it should happen, it will happen,’ says a long-time SoftBank colleague, ‘and if it will happen, then in Masa’s mind, it’s already happened. He’s already visualized it.’[16](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_16)"

"‘He [Masa] would keep staring at me, with those eyes, as if they were telling me to keep calling him a genius,’ Mitsunori remembered, ‘and so I ended up having to call him a genius.’ Just in case the foreign visitor failed to absorb the message, the doting father added: ‘Because Masa is convinced that he’s a genius, the good ideas follow. If you truly believe you’re strong, you’re a genius, then failure just bounces off you, you drive failure away through sheer will-power.’"

"Years later, well after his first million, Masa confided to an old friend that he was plagued by a recurring nightmare, waking up in a start with the stench of pig excrement in his nostrils. When he described the experience, his friend said the dream was in fact a memory. Try as he might, Masa could not escape his past.[13](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_13)"

"Masa agrees he was encouraged by his father to believe that he was exceptional. ‘He always said: “Masa you’re the best, you’re number one, you’re brilliant.” So I had a natural belief: I’m number one. Why should I compromise to be number two?’[17](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_17)"