A successful entrepreneur can’t be afraid of failures or setbacks. An initial setback can be a great opportunity to take a new and more promising approach to any problem, to come back stronger than ever. – John Roos
Diplomacy is fundamentally working with people, bringing people together to deal with difficult issues. – John Roos
I’m inspired by the example of Prime Minister Abe, who overcame many challenges after his first term as prime minister to successfully return to the highest office in Japan six years later, and is now hopefully leading Japan in an extremely promising direction. – John Roos
People talk about Japanese kids as being inward-looking. But my experience is that if you offer them an opportunity, they’ll take it. – John Roos
As an American, you appreciate the importance of our security alliance, the importance of the economic ties between our two countries, and while I knew of the two bonds between our two people, until I came here, I didn’t really appreciate how deep the people-to-people connections are between the American people and the Japanese people. – John Roos
As the U.S. ambassador to Japan, I see this challenge of our younger generations not knowing each other as well as the prior generations. – John Roos
In running Wilson Sonsini, it’s all people-to-people skills. Those people-to-people skills translate into diplomatic skills. – John Roos
Direct flights facilitate business. They facilitate business-to-business collaborations. I think anything that makes it easier to bring two areas together is a significant benefit to deepening relations and connections. – John Roos
For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realise a world without nuclear weapons. – John Roos
My career was always about working with people, and understanding issues and problems and helping them to solve those issues and problems. How you deal with people – that’s what diplomacy is all about. So while I’m not a career diplomat, many of the skills I had seemed to directly translate into the diplomatic arena. – John Roos
Japan is a well-educated, technological society. It is a free society, protects intellectual property. – John Roos
What people often ask me is, ‘What are the ingredients of Silicon Valley?’ While the answer to that is complex, some of the ingredients I talk about are celebrating entrepreneurship, accepting failure, and embracing a mobile and diverse workforce. – John Roos
