When Masayoshi Son founded SoftBank, he had an audacious vision: synthesize Japanese long-term thinking with Silicon Valley innovation speed. Critics said it was impossible—the cultures were too different.
Son's synthesis strategy: 1. Time Horizon Fusion: 300-year vision with quarterly pivots 2. Relationship Integration: Japanese trust-building with American deal-making 3. Risk Synthesis: Japanese consensus with Silicon Valley aggression 4. Value Combination: Patient capital with growth obsession
The Vision Fund became the world's largest technology investor, deploying $100 billion globally⁴⁹. While not without controversy, it proved that cultural synthesis could create new forms of capitalism itself.
"I'm not Japanese or American in my thinking," Son explained. "I'm both and neither. That's where interesting things happen."