Q&A: Microsoft's Yu Sasamoto is in the hot seat

What is your current state of mind?
Excited. The emerging online space with PC and mobile has opportunities and challenges that excite what we do today, especially in Asia.

What is your greatest fear?
Boredom, and lack of stimulation and challenges at work.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Work coming first in life.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
People who have a single view or one-size-fits-all thinking.

Who is your hero? Why?
Kazuo Inamori, who revamped Japan Airlines. His entrepreneurship and management theory based on Buddhism inspires my leadership style.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Caution that leads to lack of risk taking.

On what occasion do you lie?
I lie to myself, when I want to increase my optimism.

Name one thing about yourself that few people know.
I have a good smile, I love people and I’m easy to hang out with.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Create your own opportunity and grow yourself through the opportunity.”

What talent would you most like to have?
Optimism.

What’s your most evocative childhood memory?
After being born in Thailand, I returned to Japan without any Japanese language. Then Is started school life in Australia without any English ability.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I successfully took my career in the direction I had planned.

What makes you happy?
The happiness of people around me.

When did you last cry and why?
Watching a true story movie on an aeroplane. The story was so sad and it reflected my feeling.

What is your greatest regret?
I don’t have any regrets. I believe in what I do and consequences will only lead to the next opportunity.

If your office was burning down, what object would you save and why?
My PC and mobile phone, as I’ll still use these outside of the burning office.

What would you do if you were invisible for the day?
Get on a spacecraft with the astronauts.

What do you see when you look in the mirror?
A man who is eager to accomplish the vision of his life, but is questioning the meaning or the ultimate happiness of it.

This article was originally published in the 8 April 2010 issue of Media.