ABSTRACT
Konosuke Matsushita was under 5 feet 5 inches tall, thin and sickly, not considered handsome, and seldom recognized. His youth was fi lled with tragedy and poverty. He was neither a good speaker, nor a good student, and was not considered extremely intelligent. But he motivated many thousands of employees to achieve socially worthwhile goals through his inspiring and caring leadership and his insight into the role of private business organizations in society. He supplied high quality household appliances to billions of people at aff ordable prices and was a key person in helping to rescue the Japanese economy after World War II. He started with nothing and created an organization with $42 billion in revenue at the time of his death. In Japan, he was more admired than movie stars and professional athletes and was considered a national hero.
