# Mike Alfant - CEO Fushion Systems Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems.md Podcast: [Japan's Top Business Interviews Podcast By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan](https://stenobird.com/podcast/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627) Published: 2026-03-13T23:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://japanstopbusinessinterviews.libsyn.com/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/japanstopbusinessinterviews/JTBI_Mike_Alfant.mp3?dest-id=2099903 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627/episodes/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems Duration seconds: 3727 ## Resource "Everyone wants to play for a winning team." "You've got to go to war with the army you've got, not the army you wish you had." "In Japan, talk is cheap. Nobody really pays attention to what people say. They pay attention to what people do." "My philosophy is every employee should be a shareholder in the firm." "This is a marathon, not a sprint." Mike Alfant is the CEO of Fusion Systems and one of the more established foreign founders in Japan's technology sector. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he studied computer science and spent roughly a decade on Wall Street in technology roles before being sent to Japan by Security Pacific during the late-1980s bubble era. What began as a short assignment became dozens of return trips, a permanent move to Tokyo, and eventually the launch of his first company, Fusion Systems, in 1992. That original firm built software for trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, grew without outside capital, and was sold in 1999, creating meaningful upside for management and employees alike. Bound by a five-year non-compete in fintech, he broadened his experience by launching or backing businesses across Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. Over three decades in Japan, he has built a reputation for adaptability, entrepreneurial stamina, and community leadership, including senior roles in major business and civic organisations. His career reflects an ability to adjust to Japan without pretending to become Japanese, while still creating organisations that local employees, partners, and clients can trust. Mike Alfant's leadership story in Japan is not a neat theory assembled in a boardroom. It is a long, practical exercise in adaptation, stamina, and self-awareness. Arriving from New York with a strong technical bac… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627/episodes/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/japan-s-top-business-interviews-podcast-by-dale-carnegie-training-tokyo-japan-294627/mike-alfant-ceo-fushion-systems.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.