It does not matter how much we remind people, most are still waiting for power to fall on their lap. Guess what… they can wait for a long time, and the 1% that may actually have power slap them in their face, they probably would not even notice it.
On the flip side, some people stop at nothing to create power. They generate power out of what looks like nothing for other people. Masayoshi Son is one of them. He is the 45th wealthiest person in the world. He is the founder of SoftBank. He is also known for losing the most money ever, approximately $70bn during the dot com crash of 2000. But that is a different story. What is important is how he became the 2nd wealthiest person in Japan.
Let me make a long story short. Masayoshi is an investor. He buys part of companies, pumps money into them and resell them a few years later and make a significant profit. Nothing new there, right? Loads of companies do that. Angel investors, Venture Capitalists, Private Equity, etc… Fancy names for people doing more or less the same: betting money on companies. How come Masayoshi created power in that well-established industry? He brought a bazooka to a knife fight.
At a time when everyone would invest a few million in companies, he decided to invest 100 times more than anyone else. You read well. While some investors would invest 5 million in a company delivering lollypops to office workers in Brooklyn, Masayoshi would invest 500 million in a similar company. So now you have 2 companies competing in the same industry. One with 5 million and one with 500 million. Which company do you believe is going to win?
It almost looks too simple to be true…. and that is the beauty of it. In a battlefield where the money is a crucial predictor of success, it feels obvious that by pumping an insane amount of $$$ into a company, you are guaranteed to prevail. There are small questions to address in the process, like, where get that type of money. Someone creating power is not fazed by these details. Masayoshi approached it by merely answering the question. Who has that type of money? Guess what, royalty in the Middle East does.
At the moment I am writing this post, I feel like a hypocrite because I am not practicing, as much as I could, what I am preaching. And this is because I am scared of failing. I built up this cozy situation for myself, and like many, I prefer to stay the course of non-action and blame whatever bad thing happens to me to faith, instead of making a decision, going for it and enjoying the benefits. How to overcome that fear? Do like Masayoshi:
- Approach the situation with confidence and self-awareness
- Look at the situation through a simple lens
- Set yourself a no BS objective
- Progress step by step
- Go back to step 1 if necessary
I am going to do this right now. I suggest you do the same 🙂
The Black Negotiator 