Listen to wisdom The secret skills of top CEOs in the world

Author: Jia Bao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-04
Features:
Chapter 2: Masaharu Matsushita, the renowned founder of Panasonic, a Japanese electronics company; entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. He was awarded the highest medal in Japan, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, and held numerous honorary titles such as "Patriarch of the Financial World," "Father of Japanese Electronics," and "God of Business." However, his childhood was exceptionally difficult. Due to poverty, he attended only three years of primary school before leaving his hometown to become an apprentice in Osaka. At the age of 16, he worked in an electric lamp factory, and before turning 20, he briefly attended the Kansai Business School. Afterward, he began independently establishing a small workshop and embarked on a challenging entrepreneurial journey. In 1918, he founded the Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Works; in 1935, it expanded into Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Inc., with Matsushita himself appointed as its general manager.
After World War II, due to Matsushita's adept business acumen, the company rapidly grew into a global giant, ranking among the top in Japan and the world in annual revenue. In 1965, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by Waseda University. He authored works such as On the Philosophy of Life and My Dream, Japan's Dream, 21st-Century Japan. He passed away at the age of 96 in 1989.
Wisdom (2): CEO's Words on Starting from Scratch
When facing setbacks, do not despair but gather courage and persistently move toward your set goals. Solutions will naturally emerge. If one can focus their mind entirely on the present, they can hear the blessings of heaven descend. I advise everyone to maintain mental tranquility and determination. Do not lose your resolve due to minor setbacks. In this way, nothing in the world is unattainable.
While the prayers of ordinary people may differ, they generally revolve around benefits: some pray for happiness, others for health, and some for wealth. No one, however, prays for additional hardships and toil from the gods. Thus, when people heard Matsushita pray for trials and tribulations, they found it strange—it was natural. I believe Matsushita's prayer for trials was an attempt to test and motivate himself through various challenges.
—Masaharu Matsushita
Matsushita spent over six years as an apprentice. By the 1920s, Japan had already developed its electrification industry. Many households and shops in Osaka were equipped with electric lights, and the city was fully wired with tram tracks. These innovations captured Matsushita's attention, and he sought to get involved in this emerging field. First, he worked as an inside wireman at Osaka Electric Light Company, then became a full-time technician, and eventually took on the role of a master who taught apprentices. Due to his excellent performance, his supervisor allowed him to work as a professional inspector. Inspectors primarily reviewed the quality of projects undertaken by technicians in their unit, a job considered much easier and highly sought after by clients. However, after working as an inspector for a few months, Matsushita felt a sense of loss and gradually lost his earlier enthusiasm for the job. He found himself either chatting early in the office or wandering around aimlessly, which increasingly dissatisfied him.
"I'm doing well, and everyone is satisfied. But am I just coasting along like this?" he questioned himself. After much deliberation, he decided to quit his job and start manufacturing electric lamp sockets to sell to the company.
Producing even small sockets proved challenging. First, he lacked funds—his savings of 100 yen, accumulated over years of apprenticeship, were barely enough to buy a machine or tools. Next, he needed manpower. He had his newly married wife and sister help, along with hiring two additional workers, bringing his team to five people in total. For the workspace, he gave up his rented home and rented a larger, cheaper one in the suburbs, which served as both housing and a workshop. These problems were eventually resolved.
However, the bigger challenge in entrepreneurship was technical expertise. None of the five people in his team had any experience. What could they do? They pressed forward with passion and hard work. The outer casing of the power sockets was made of synthetic materials, but they didn't know the exact composition. Matsushita sought information and learned that it was roughly made of asphalt, asbestos, and talcum powder. They began experimenting but failed repeatedly. The reason was the incorrect ratio of the materials. Just when they were at their wit's end, Matsushita heard that a former colleague, T, was also researching such products. He traveled to Tokyo to seek advice. T admitted he had tried but failed, but shared some ideas. They exchanged thoughts, and later, Matsushita realized his methods were very close to the correct process—only a small detail was missing. They resumed their experiments and finally succeeded in producing qualified products.
"Finally, we've made it! Let's sell them quickly," his wife urged. Matsushita, though confident in his product, now felt uncertain: Would they sell? Where should they sell them? How should they price them? A series of new questions troubled him. One of the five, a young man named Iida, was very enthusiastic. He said, "I'll take some samples to Tokyo and see what the electric appliance dealers think—they can tell us how much they'd pay and who might buy." Matsushita agreed.
Iida was gone for several days, and the family waited anxiously, unsure of the outcome. On the fifth day, Iida returned dejectedly. "It's really hard to sell! I've never faced such difficulties," he said. He then reported the details to Matsushita: One dealer made them wait for a long time before asking them to come back later, without even looking at the products. Another asked irrelevant questions: "How many people work in your factory? What materials do you use? If you have other products, maybe we'll order some." None of it was related to actual sales. Disheartened by this news, everyone felt discouraged, but Matsushita insisted that since they had come this far, they couldn't give up. He decided to personally go door-to-door to sell the products. After more than ten days of effort, he managed to sell over 150 units and recouped part of the costs.
What next? Based on customer feedback, Matsushita believed the sockets needed further improvement. But where would the funds come from? The months of trial production had already exhausted their savings, even making it difficult to afford food. The two hired workers decided to quit, leaving only Matsushita, his wife, and sister. Matsushita was at a loss. He wanted to continue but faced overwhelming obstacles; giving up felt unsatisfactory. However, at this point, Matsushita, now in his early 20s and having already endured over a decade of hardship, was not easily discouraged.
After another period of arduous effort, on March 1928, Matsushita finally hung a sign outside his home: "Matsushita Electric Appliance Manufacturing Works." From then on, "Panasonic" began a new chapter.
Matsushita did not have the opportunity to receive formal philosophical education, but his life, work, and entrepreneurial experiences shaped his character, values, and spirit. Starting with the production of electric fan bases, he gradually developed his unique business philosophy: serving the people by providing abundant, continuously updated products to make life more convenient and fulfilling. Guided by this belief, over the decades, Matsushita Electric produced tens of thousands of home appliances—dual-use lamp plugs, battery-powered lights, electric irons, rice cookers, radios, record players, air conditioners, refrigerators, video recorders, bicycles, telephones, televisions, and more—truly becoming the "Kingdom of Electronics." Matsushita also became the true "God of Business."
Looking back at the development of Matsushita Electric, it is clear that Masaharu Matsushita himself had immense confidence and hope in the electrical industry. It was precisely this unwavering spirit that allowed Matsushita to face any setbacks, failures, or misfortunes with determination, ultimately achieving victory in all endeavors.
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