The Bershire Hathaway annual report arrived in the mail this week. I consider it mandatory reading. It’s the only annual report I give any serious consideration. The rest I glance through to make sure the companies are still solvent and viable (using a few key indicators I picked up from reading Berkshire’s Chairman’s Letter to the Shareholders) and then they go in a pile, or directly to recycling.
I read the following in the Chairman’s Letter to the Shareholders of the Berkshire Hathaway 2007 Annual Report, pg 13.
"Susan came to Borsheims 25 years ago as a $4-an -hour saleswoman. Though she lacked a managerial background, I [Warren Buffett] did not hesitate to make her CEO in 1994. She’s smart, she loves the business and she loves her associates. That beats having an MBA degree any time.
(An aside: Charlie [Munger] and I are not big fans of resumes. Instead, we focus on brains, passion and integrity…"
I think I might be violating Mr. Buffett’s copyright above (Sorry Warren).
"Brains, Passion & Integrity" over an MBA … I think that aligns pretty nicely to our approach which we’ve described in aother posts on this blog… Capability, Attitude & Presence.
Jim, you can do a search for “Capability Attitude” in the search on the right. Here is a url you could use:
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=capability+attitude&domains=pxltd.typepad.com&sitesearch=pxltd.typepad.com&btnG=+Google+Search+
I agree whole heartedly. Not that people with these credentials lack C.A.P. either, it just doesn’t always come with the MBA.
A couple of other things I think that Warren also believes:
– Invest in the Management team
– Invest for the long term, this is not a flip type of investment.
I hope that these two would be indicators of Project X Ltd as well. I may be biased, but I think we rock as a management team and have a great board. We also are in it for the long and slow run. Not to be a build and flip, but more a build and operate.
I do not remember reading about Capability, Attitude & Presence. Could not find with a search. Could you give a reference URL?