The Warren Buffet CEO: Secrets of the Berkshire Hathaway Managers. (Bookshelf).By Robert P. Miles ROBERT MILES Robert Miles (born Roberto Concina, November 3, 1969, in Neuchâtel) is an Italian record producer, composer and musician in trance and ambient music. Biography Robert Miles was born to Antonietta and Albino Concina in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. INTERVIEWED many of the managers of the 32 subsidiary companies fully owned by Warren Buffett's investment marvel Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. over an eight-month period. The result is a roadmap for corporate best practices, focusing on what the Berkshire bosses have in common. A recurring theme is that these managers love their businesses and what they do. They're not chasing money: Most are already fabulously wealthy and all of them are generally compensated much more than Warren Buffett Warren Buffett Known as "the Oracle of Omaha," Buffett is Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and arguably the greatest investor of all time. His wealth fluctuates with the performance of the market, but for the last few years he has been reported to be worth over $30 billion, making . These are not corporate men or women; they are leaders. Al Ueltschi, the founder of Flight Safety International, is a typical Berkshire manager: independent, passionate and beyond competent. A pilot himself, he founded his company on the belief that the best way to train other pilots was to do so on the ground, if possible. When Ueltschi sold his company to Berkshire, he was already a billionaire in his own right, but he has built no monuments to himself. The Flight Safety office is still a simple, low-slung building across the street from the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) is an airport serving New York City, New York, United States, located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst in the borough in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Buffett buys managers, not companies, and he doesn't interfere. Ueltschi talks to Buffett every week, but only because he wants to. One manager said it was 20 years before he ever even went to see Buffett in Omaha. Many of the managers have never met one another. That's only a small part of the freedom that comes with being a Berkshire subsidiary. Rick Santulli of Executive Jets never has to deal with Wall Street analysts, quarterly results and such things that aren't intrinsic to his business. Lou Simpson, the investment manager for GEICO GEICO Government Employees Insurance Company , doesn't have to worry about his shareholders' revolting if his investment returns drop in the short-term. These are important points that speak to the harm that short-term considerations and corporate distractions can have on any CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. over the long-term, and may be the most important insight into the kind of character shared by Berkshire Hathaway managers. If you didn't have to answer to Wall Street analysts or impatient shareholders, what would you do differently? Bill Mann, a senior analyst at The Motley Fool. |
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