[No. 177] Yoshiaki Sakito

"Competition ratios of 100 to 1 or 1,000 to 1 don't matter," I said, as I received a school recommendation and joined Sony, the company I had longed to work for. At that time, I never imagined that I would one day lead the iPod at Apple and seize the initiative from Sony, which had dominated the portable music player market with the WALKMAN.

The reason I chose Sony when I was finishing my master's degree was that I was captivated by a powerful sentence in the founding prospectus of its predecessor, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. That sentence was, "We shall create our own unique products in a realm where other companies will find it absolutely impossible to follow." It was written by one of the founders, Masaru Ibuka. I desperately wanted to join Sony, a company that continued to uphold that spirit and constantly create new value.

However, it wasn't easy. Getting a school recommendation was a struggle. In the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Sony's recommendation slots were for a total of five students: three for bachelor's degrees and two for master's degrees. The innovative Sony was extremely popular, and more than 20 students were vying for those two master's degree slots. The hopefuls gathered in a classroom and were told by the career placement professor that adjustments would be made through individual interviews. My highly motivated friends asked the professor, "What happens if you can't make a final decision through adjustments?" When they heard the answer, "In the end, it will be decided by grades," everyone there looked at me and said things like, "Too bad, Sakito." It was true that my grades were the worst. But you never know until you try.

The professor tried to persuade some students, saying, "Sony attracts the best and brightest from all over the country, and the competition for promotion is fierce. Wouldn't it be better to get ahead at a company that's a little less popular?" My friends were convinced, saying, "That's true," and changed their company of choice. In contrast, what I told the professor was, "Competition ratios of 100 to 1 or 1,000 to 1 don't matter. The ones who are going to make it big will make it big." As a result, in addition to the two top-performing students, I somehow managed to get a school recommendation for Sony as well—using one of the bachelor's degree slots. I believe my strong will was recognized, but I felt bad for the undergraduate students.

It was great to get the school recommendation and a job offer from Sony, but there was another major hurdle before I could join the company: my master's thesis. It was said that you could still be failed even if you had a job lined up. I had chosen a completely new topic rather than a continuing theme in the lab, and as was often the case, I was behind schedule. The review during the one-shot thesis presentation was crucial, so my friends had practiced their presentations over and over until the day before and were fully prepared.

As for me, my thesis wasn't finished, and I hadn't completed my presentation preparations either. The professor who had been waiting for my rehearsal finally left, saying, "I'm going home. You'll just have to wing it tomorrow." To make matters worse, during the actual presentation, I scattered the OHP sheets I had prepared for the Q&A session. The session was cut short with, "There's no more time, that's enough," and I couldn't even show the slides that would have allowed me to answer perfectly. Back in the lab, as I was feeling dejected and thinking, "Ah, I've really blown it," the professor came in and reported that I had passed the review. To the professor, who said, "I have no idea how you passed," I remember proudly replying, "It was because of the advanced and unique nature of my topic."

It was Professor Tadaaki Fukukawa who accepted and guided me, someone who was far from a model student and disliked imitating others. I am confident that I was one of his more memorable students. I am grateful for Professor Fukukawa's broad-mindedness in finding such a student amusing. It makes perfect sense that he later served as the head of the Keio Yochisha Elementary School.

Thanks to this, even after entering the workforce, I've enjoyed being different from others, leading a life of "reset and restart" that has never been short of stories. I challenge myself with new things, achieve results I'm satisfied with, and once I feel a sense of accomplishment, I take on a new challenge. This cycle has allowed me to grow.

Starting with Sony, then Bain & Company, Walt Disney, AOL (America Online), Livedoor, and finally Apple. Steve Jobs entrusted me with the Japanese market, and I was able to help revive Apple from a critical situation. Currently, at Real-dear, the company I founded, I am working on creating new values and a self-innovation business.

Harnessing the "learning intelligence"—the ability to keep learning—that I have cultivated since my time as a Keio student, I will continue to pursue self-innovation and take on new challenges. I believe that "the me of tomorrow has infinite possibilities."