"No matter how deep a study you make. What you really have to rely on is your own intuition and when it comes down to it, you really don't know what's going to happen until you do it"
About this Quote
Matsushita is puncturing the managerial fantasy that enough research can eliminate risk. Coming from the founder of what became Panasonic, this isn’t anti-intellectualism so much as a veteran’s refusal to confuse preparation with control. The opening concession, "No matter how deep a study you make", flatters the modern impulse toward analysis - then quietly strips it of the authority we want it to have. He’s arguing that information is necessary, but never sovereign.
The pivot to "your own intuition" is doing double work. On the surface, it’s an endorsement of gut instinct; underneath, it’s a claim about responsibility. Intuition is personal. You can outsource studies, commission forecasts, hire consultants. You can’t outsource the moment of choice. Matsushita’s subtext is that leadership begins where the spreadsheet ends, and that accountability is the price of agency.
The last clause, "you really don't know what's going to happen until you do it", reframes uncertainty as an active condition rather than a problem to be solved. It’s practically a theory of entrepreneurship in one line: markets reveal themselves through action. In early-20th-century Japanese industrialization - and later postwar rebuilding - conditions shifted fast, capital was scarce, and consumer behavior was evolving. In that environment, the decisive advantage wasn’t perfect prediction; it was iterative courage. Matsushita’s intent is to legitimize experimentation, to normalize not knowing, and to remind would-be strategists that reality is a feedback loop, not a thesis defense.
The pivot to "your own intuition" is doing double work. On the surface, it’s an endorsement of gut instinct; underneath, it’s a claim about responsibility. Intuition is personal. You can outsource studies, commission forecasts, hire consultants. You can’t outsource the moment of choice. Matsushita’s subtext is that leadership begins where the spreadsheet ends, and that accountability is the price of agency.
The last clause, "you really don't know what's going to happen until you do it", reframes uncertainty as an active condition rather than a problem to be solved. It’s practically a theory of entrepreneurship in one line: markets reveal themselves through action. In early-20th-century Japanese industrialization - and later postwar rebuilding - conditions shifted fast, capital was scarce, and consumer behavior was evolving. In that environment, the decisive advantage wasn’t perfect prediction; it was iterative courage. Matsushita’s intent is to legitimize experimentation, to normalize not knowing, and to remind would-be strategists that reality is a feedback loop, not a thesis defense.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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