I’ve highlighted on occasion my pride in being an alumni member of one of the world’s great organizations, Matsushita (now formally known as Panasonic).  I left in 1996 to continue my still-early career development, and like most other things in life, I figured out a number of years later what a remarkable and formative experience it truly was. 

While there are many memorable elements of my eight years working in and for this Japanese company, including a tremendous exposure to the country and people of Japan, I credit my experience here for opening my eyes to the power of establishing strong values as bedrock for leading and for managerial decision-making.

I reflected on the Basic Business Principles as the values are known at Matsushita, when I co-authored the Values for a future employer, and I reflect and draw upon them regularly as I teach sections on Values-Focused Leadership in workshops and classrooms.  A typical session will end with a majority of participants highlighting how they never understood until now how powerful the corporate values could be in strengthening their culture, driving performance and guiding behavior.  This is a valuable lesson to learn for all of us. 

The values were originally established by the firm’s founder, Konosuke Matsushita and introduced in a memo from him in 1933. They are presented here as described in John Kotter’s biography of Konosuke Matsushita:

Service to the Public: To provide high-quality goods and services at reasonable prices, thereby contributing to the well being and happiness of people throughout the world.

Fairness and Honesty: To be fair and honest in all business dealings and personal conduct, always making balanced judgments free of preconceptions.

Teamwork for the Common Cause: To pool abilities and strength of resolution to accomplish shared objectives, in mutual trust and full recognition of individual autonomy.

Untiring Effort for Improvement: To strive constantly for improvement of corporate and personal performances, even in the worst of adversity, so as to fulfill the firm’s mission to realize lasting peace and prosperity.

Courtesy and Humility: To always be cordial and modest and respect the rights and needs of others, thereby helping enrich the environment and maintain social order.

Accord with Natural Laws: To abide by the laws of nature and adjust thought and behavior to ever-changing conditions so as to bring about gradual but steady progress and successes in all endeavors.

Gratitude for Blessings: To forever be grateful for all the blessings and kindness received, so as to live with peace, joy and strength and overcome any obstacles encountered in the pursuit of true happiness.
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I recall upon first reading these at the ripe young age of 28,that I viewed them as just some more corporate propaganda designed to describe an idealized state of existence and standard of behavior.  Excellent content to fill posters that would hang in conference rooms around the globe, but very little meaning or substance to use on a daily basis.  Was I ever wrong!

After years of exposure to associates around the globe, especially the post World War II generation of leaders at the top of the firm, a pattern emerged from business dealings that began to take on the shape of the ideals in Matsushita’s Basic Business Principles. 

Given my youth and position, I generally engaged with Managers, Engineers and only occasionally, the Directors and Board Members that sat at the head table of the many division companies.  However, as we pursued new product development, managed the transformation of our business or on a number of occasions, dealt with atypical quality problems, the behaviors and responses were always anchored in the Principles.  Regardless of how difficult or costly it was to solve a problem and fix a customer, we always opted for the right choice, not the easy choice.  After a few experiences, my eyes opened to how ingrained those lofty sounding ideals were in the fabric of the firm and how important they were to defining the firm’s culture and actions.

The bottom-line for now:

Many organizations have stated values.  I make it a point in my business dealings to seek out and try and understand the values of the firms that I encounter.  I also make it a point to attempt to measure whether the values have meaning for the employees of the firm or whether they serve as content for posters.  In my non-scientific, superficial study of this at numerous firms, I find that more often than not, there is little substance or utility placed in the values by the employees.  That’s too bad.  The leaders of those organizations are missing out on a powerful method to shape their culture, develop their leaders and guide their employees on a daily basis.   They would do well to study and learn from Konosuke Matsushita’s Basic Business Principles.