-Life as a Corporate Executive | Entrepreneur-
Introducing
Tetsuzo (Ted) Matsumoto is a seasoned Japanese executive and entrepreneur. His background has mainly been within information, communication and media businesses in Japan, the US, and other countries.
Despite being involved in business for over sixty-one years, Ted is still very much active. Presently, he is serving as Chairman and CEO of ORNIS Corp., which he founded in September 2022.
Softbank Mobile Corp.
in October 2006, Matsumoto joined Softbank Mobile Corp., as a member of the Board, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, at the strong request of Masayoshi Son, Founder and Chairman of SoftBank Group.
SoftBank Group Inc. is now a world-famous investment (holding) company with a market value of nearly US $90 billion, and Masayoshi Son, who leads the group, is one of the wealthiest individuals in Japan.
However, in 2005, they were still a very small company struggling for survival. It was a big bet for them to jump into the battlefield of gigantic mobile telecom operators.
Matsumoto’s Influence
Ted served Softbank for nearly 6 years, mainly responsible for the engineering strategy, government relations and international business development. During that period, the company recorded dramatic growth.
For instance, the number of the mobile subscribers, which was 15.22 million (market share 16.5%) in March 2006, grew to 42.18 million (market share 29.8%) in March 2013, and EBIT, which was JPY 76.3 billion, grew to JPY 517.1 billion (6.8 times).
Qualcomm
Prior to joining the Softbank group, Matsumoto worked for the multi-national tech company Qualcomm for more than 10 years, commencing as a consultant, and, subsequently, serving as President and Chairman of Qualcomm Japan, which he established in March 1998. He also served as Senior Vice President of its HQ in San Diego.
Itochu Corporation
Matsumoto started his career working for a Japanese conglomerate, Itochu Corporation where he served for 34 years, occupying the positions such as Senior VP of Electronics Division of Itochu America, and General Manager of Telecommunication and Multimedia Business of its Tokyo HQ.
Educational Background
Matsumoto has a Bachelor of Law degree from Kyoto University (one of the top educational institutions in Japan) and based on his exemplary experiences and career success has served as a Special Visiting Professor for Graduate School of Global Business at Meiji University.
Published Works
Finally, throughout his career, Ted has written many books with one of his most well-known being a book he had published in 2017 titled “The Day AI becomes God. The Singularity Will Save Humanity”. That book has been translated into three languages and unsurprisingly is more pertinent than ever.
Reasons to Listen
This talk traces a professional career filled with extreme accomplishment and success while also fitting in hefty amounts of practical realism illustrating the sometimes difficult business decisions which must be made along the way.
This will be a talk worth listening to for:
- those interested in acquiring business and life learnings Ted himself shares based on his wide ranging career and experiences
- those curious about what types of challenges and difficulties the world of corporate professional work can entail
- those who are looking for ways of attaching meaning to their own professional endeavours
Listeners will come away with insights on:
- acquiring a sense of purpose within one’s own career and business experiences
- the sometimes difficult decisions one faces in a corporate executive career
- the mindset of an individual who clearly experienced extreme professional success
- first hand looks at what it was like attempting to shake up a Japanese telecom monopoly
- how his mindset of “be creative or die” served him well across his career
- how and why he became involved in running a company in his eighties
- his belief on how to evaluate the starting of new business
- an engaging story encapsulating his involvement in the rise of the global Japanese telecom giant SoftBank
- his relationship with legendary entrepreneur Masaoyoshi Son
- his compelling takes on AI and his book, “The Day AI Becomes God, The Singularity Will Save Humanity”
- much more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“If the demand is here and technology to enable it is here, then there should be a business. That is my belief. All we have to do is find a way to connect both needs.”
–Tetsuzo (Ted) Matsumoto
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view the full video conversation of this discussion, you can do so via Youtube.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Ted and his work, be sure to check out his book “The Day AI becomes God. The Singularity Will Save Humanity” as well as his latest venture.
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
