Once you have a staff of prepared, intelligent, and energetic people, the next step is to motivate them to be creative.

I consider it my job to nurture the creativity of the people I work with because at Sony we know that a terrific idea is more likely to happen in an open, free and trusting atmosphere than when everything is calculated, every action analysed and every responsibility assigned by an organisation chart.

From a management standpoint, it is very important to know how to unleash people's inborn creativity. My concept is that anybody has creative ability, but very few people know how to use it.

America looks 10 minutes ahead; Japan looks 10 years.

My solution to the problem of unleashing creativity is always to set up a target.

You can be totally rational with a machine. But if you work with people, sometimes logic often has to take a backseat to understanding.

If we face recession, we should not lay off employees; the company should sacrifice a profit. It's management's risk and management's responsibility. Employees are not guilty; why should they suffer?