The Eccentric Billionaire Who Ignores Investors to Get Them Rich

South of the famous temples of Kyoto, where factories and subsidized homes dot the landscape, a single skyscraper stands out. Perched at its top is Shigenobu Nagamori, replete in a luminous green tie, pocket square and spectacles, holding forth on his distinctive business ways.

If you work for me, the billionaire chief executive officer of Nidec Corp. says, you’ll never be fired for lacking talent, but don’t count on taking many holidays. If you buy shares in the $27 billion electronics giant I started in a shack beside my mother’s farmhouse, forget about asking for bigger dividends. Even if you’re Masayoshi Son, the second-richest man in Japan, you can expect an earful when I think you’re wrong.