• Campaigned for Social Reform and was a prominent slavery abolitionist.
• Manufacturer of High Quality Potter ( The company he setup in 1759 that exists till today !)
• ( Credited ) as the inventor of Marketing ( direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogs et al )
• Invented Pyrometer for measuring Oven temperatures
• Built the first factory in the world ( made pottery )
• Invented Quality Control
• Started the first retail showroom

Src : Google , Seth Godin’s talk on Business of Software 2008 conf

Trivia : Josiah is the grandfather of Charles Darwin