Be Adaptable
One key aspect in Matsushita Konosuke's concept of the "untrapped mind" is the quality of ready adaptibility. He illustrated his idea with the legendary confrontation between the 12th-century war lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the formidable Benkei, who afterwards became Yoshitsune's faithful servant. Each time Benkei brought down his long sword in the scuffle, Yoshitsune dodged it deftly, and finally with a single, well-timed trust, forced Benkei to yield. That graceful flexibility, that agility in dealing with the situation at hand, was a quality Matsushita greatly admired. In contemporary terms, he saw it as the ability to see things with a free and open mind, to change one's view radically if necessary, and to deal with new situations effectively without sticking rigidly to just one point of view. "Flowing water does not fuss and fret when it meets an obstacle in its path, but moves around it and goes merrily on its way. You should always meet difficulties with the same ready versatility smoothly shifting your course when necessary.
Follow Your Destiny
Matsushita Konosuke often attributed his success to the fact that he close to go into the business of electrical appliance manufacture at just the right time. "But if I had been born 20 or 30 years ealier," he would add, "I would never have even imagine myselft manufacturing electrical appliances. So while it seems at first glance to have been a decision I thought out and arrived at of my free will, I cannot escape the fact that there was a much greater power of destiny involved." People can choose the path they will take in life on their own initiative, but there is a much more powerful force beyond personal volition that effects the choices we make. It is a mistake to resist this force, Matsushita believed. Respecting, accepting, and working with it is one way to attain a secure and rewarding life.
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Fear Is Something To Value
"Human beings need to know fear," Matsushita Konosuke used to say. "Not the fear of immediate bodily harm, such as being bitten by a dog, but the larger sense of awe for powers greater than we are. Children need to have a healthy fear of their parents; factory workers of their foreman; office workers of their manager. Even a company president should be duly fearful of the potential wrath of subordinates and of the customer." Knowing that there are some things that are truly to be feared as we go about our daily labors fosters humility and prudence. We gain thereby the psychological leeway to reflect upon our actions and make sound judgement about future course of action. Nothing is more dangerous, Matsushita believed, than the notion that we have nothing to fear. .
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Work With Conviction
For Matsushita Konosuke, the power to persuade and motivate others is born of strong inner convictions. "The sense of justice," he said, "is a sense of identity, people can draw on deep reserves of courage and strength, which in turn motivate those around them." But how, one might ask, do I arrive at such convictions or sense of justice? Matsushita would say: "Simply by working hard at your job every day. If you don't put your heart and soul into your work, you won't develop confidence in your performance. Without confidence, you fall into the habit of glossing over your weaknesses. By glossing over your weaknesses, you lose credibility. And without credibility, you grow even less inclined to give your utmost to the job. That is the vicious circle you must take care not to get sucked into."
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The Untrapped Mind
As we make our way in life, it is very easy to become preoccupied with a single pattern of thought or behavior. Matsushita Konosuke believed that, thus trapped, the human heart starts to show its uglier side it becomes defensive, confrontational, spiteful, untrusting and over-critical. The natural, "untrapped" mind, on the other hand, is open enough to gorfive all, perceptive enough to see things as they really are, and reasonable enough to judge their true value. Without these qualities, he warned, a person will be mean-hearted in adversity and conceited in prosperity.
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Success As A Person
Fame, glory and wealth are generally considered the targets of the ambitious. But Matsushita Konosuke thought such stereotypical notions were a sure formula for disgruntlement and grief. "Success," he said, "is not the same for everyone, and there is a more genuine kind of success that has nothing to do with the usual yardsticks. It is enough," he declared, "if we make the most of the talents and the potential with which we are each blessed." It is there, he believed, that true success as a human beings lies. Not everyone can attain great wealth or fame, but every single individual is capable of living up to his or her unique potential.
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Let The Cuckoo Be
The temperaments of Japan's three great medieval war lords are often described by how they might have treated a little cuckoo (hototogisu), a familiar motif in Japanese prose and poetry The cold-blooded, intolerant Oda Nobunaga would probably have threatened, "If it won't sing, kill it"; the impetuous Toyotomi Hideyoshi would have said he would "Make it sing"; and Strategist Tokugawa Ieyasu, who outlived the other two and established his dominion over the territories both had held, unifying all of Japan, would have said, "Just wait for it to sing." Matsushita Konosuke, however, saw the matter from a completely different angle. "All three men were eager for the bird to sing. That is, they assumed that its singing was absolutely necessary. But as I see it, nothing goes well if you are stubbornly determined that things must go a certain way. If it were me, I would not press the cuckoo to sing in the first place." Matsushita's rule in life was to keep a flexible mind free of preconceptions.
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Intuition And Science
For a time while Matsushita Konosuke was chairman of Matsushita Electric, the proceeds of each day's sales were being calculated by computer the following morning. Then Matsushita asked the daily calculating cost, and was told around Y3.6 million a month. He thereupon ordered the practice stopped, saying: "We don't have to be so meticulous. A report every five days is certainly adequate; for daily sales, just make an educated guess." Reflecting on this incident years later, he wrote: "They say no scientist is worth his salt who doesn't have a keen sixth sense. In other words, there are times you need the precision of science and times you should go with your hunches. Intuition and science are like the two wings of an airplane. The important thing is to work them together, keeping the right balance and angles to get where you want to go." This idea of balancing the dictates of hard knowledge with faith in one's gut feeling was another aspect of Matsushita's concept of adaptability.
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Good Manner Lubricate Life
Society is made up of all kinds of people, who differ in age background, and basic world view. Especially in today's rapid-moving, cutthroat world, it is all too easy for friction to develop in interpersonal relations. Matsushita Konosuke firmly believed that good manners were, therefore, crucial as the lubricant of social interaction. "When the wheels of machinery engage," he wrote, they will bind and throw sparks if not properly lubricated, and can become irreparable damaged. It is the same when people encounter one another. We need to keep our interactions well oiled. "commons courtesy is not a matter of stuffy, old-fashioned formalities; it is indispensable to peaceful coexistence in a world of difference and diversity.
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Humanity's Mandate
While theories about the place of humankind in the scheme of the universe abound, there was no question in Matsushita Konosuke's mind that the human species was "sovereign" in the world. "Through the natural laws of life and evolution," he wrote, "the human race has been blessed with the capacity to utilise the resources of the world to nurture a potentially endless process of symbiotic prosperity." By calling human beings the sovereigns of the world, however, he did not mean that we should exploit it simply to satisfy our own selfish urges. Rather, we have an inherent obligation to respect and follow the laws of nature, making use of what we can in a spirit of reserve and righteousness. We are the masters of nature, but only to the extent that we fulfill this responsibility.
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Opposition And Harmony
Matsushita Konosuke believed that all things in the universe maintain a harmony through opposition. Each unique entity asserts itself vis-à-vis other things in the world. The sun and the moon, mountains and rivers, men and women-these can all be seen as existing in relationships of opposition. But that is not the whole story. Through opposition, these things maintain the harmony and order of nature as well as generate change and development. Matsushita thus saw the subtle tension between opposition and harmony as one of the fundamental principles of the universe and an important model for social interaction. Opposition alone causes disorder, and with total harmony there could be no progress. Only in harmony achieved and evolving through opposition can each thing develop its unique potential.
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Enthusiasm Is Magnetic
"No matter how much talent or knowledge you might have," Matsushita Konosuke said, "they will be of no use to you if you lack devotion. If, on the contrary, you are not particularly brilliant or gifted but apply yourself with unflagging zeal, all manner of things become possible. And though you may not expressly seek it, you will nonetheless earn the unspoken support of those who recognise the intensity of your efforts." As long as you are enthusiastic about what you do, this will have a positive influence on the people around you, and with their help your goals will be quickly accomplished. "Just as a magnet attracts and energizes iron filings near it'" Matsushita explained, "so enthusiasm attracts others and charges the atmosphere with a productive vibrancy."
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Take One Problem At A Time
Even when we have numerous problems on our minds, Matsushita Konosuke observed, at any given moment we invariably focus on just one. "Get a pimple on your nose and it will really bother you. But get a toothache the next day and you'll forget all about your pimple and feel nothing but the toothache." He also noted that we are never completely without problems, and observed that having at least one is in fact good because it makes you careful and so less likely to make mistakes. "People really only concern themselves with the biggest problem they have," he added. "Of course that doesn't solve all their other troubles, but it means they don't worry about them as much. This is why they manage to keep struggling on in life; with only one burden to bear at a time, the road ahead is a lot easier to travel."
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Let Your Shortcoming Be Known
No one is perfect. In whatever kind or proportion, we all have both strengths and weaknesses. In order for people to work together at a given task, it is essential that individual participants make sure their faults and shortcomings are compensated for by cooperation with the others. It is particularly important, Matsushita Konosuke believed, for those who employ others to be candid about their own weaknesses and seek the help of their subordinates in offsetting the handicaps they may pose. For his part, he made sure his employees were aware of his poor health and lack of formal education. This inspired his staff to use their various strengths in areas where their boss was, by his own admission, unqualified, and this became a key factor in the subsequent success they achieved. The candor and willingness to tell others of your weaknesses can, therefore, be a source of great dynamism.
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Keep On Good Terms With Illness
Matsushita Konosuke encouraged employees with weak institutions to learn from his experience; "Try not to worry too much about being physically weak. You should work only to the best of your physical ability, which means devising some way to work without overly taxing your physical resources." To those suffering from some specific illness, he would say: "If you fear sickness and try to ignore it, it will hound you; but if you walk right up and shake its hand, it will shy away and leave you in peace. Keep on good terms with sickness and eventually it will let you go on your way." Matsushita himself was constitutionally weak, and so at times could not work as vigorously as he wanted to. But he believed that moaning and groaning about poor health gets you nowhere. First, you must accept it; then, in a positive frame of mind, you should figure out how to compensate for it in other ways.
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Be Your Own Boss
Most workers carry out their duties as company employees, few enjoying the opportunity to manage their own enterprise. Matsushita Konosuke had the following advice for people who worked for someone else: "From the point of view of the whole company, your are an employee, but in another sense you are your own boss. If you fully embrace this approach to your work, you will derive pleasure in the prosperity of your 'business' and develop your talents to unforeseen heights." In this way, he stressed that the value of our work lies not in the kind of position we hold but in the attitude we take on the job.
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In Good Times ReLogin The Bad
Life is not always smooth sailing; there are bad times just as there are good. When things are going well, however, people tend to gorget the hardships they once suffered, and then into a panic when the tide turns against them again. Matsushita Konosuke always stressed the importance of "reLogining war in peacetime"
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Death Is Part Of Universal Life
"All things in the universe," Matsushita Konosuke said, "develop continuously from the moment they come into being. The world is new and different each day, changing according to the natural laws of generation and regeneration." From this he saw that, while human life is certainly an expression of this law, so human death is part of the cosmic process of creation and progress. It is understandable that we should fear and abhor death, but through an awareness of this generative principle underlying all things, we can see death not as sad and painful but as part of the process through which the world grows. In Matsushita's profound, all-encompassing view, even death can be seen as cause for solemn rejoicing.
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You Are The Hero Of Your Life
Sometimes life really gets us down, and one way Matsushita Konosuke advised of surviving such blues is to think of human society as an elaborate pageant. Each individual is at once the actor, producer, and audience of this play, capable of creating a magnificent performance, depending on how he or she approaches the role. Moreover, no one would deny that a play full of reeling twists and turns, unfolding against a dynamic social backdrop, is far more entertaining - and more moving - than bland, event-less patter. How fully you relish the drama of life, Matsushita believed, depends on how you view, and play your role.
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Be Young At Heart
Inspired by a piece of reflective verse by an American poet named Samuel Ullman, Matsushita Konosuke once composed the following poem:
Youth is youngness at heart
Youth is eternal for those
Who are full of faith and hope
And greet the challenges of each new day
With courage and confidence
Although he passed away at the age of 94, Matsushita would often say that he was determined to reach 106 so he could live in three centuries, of that he would set a new Japanese record by living to be 130. We all grow older with each year, and Matsushita was no exception. But by always living with vigor and an eager eye on the future, he remained a paragon of youthfulness all his life.
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