Saturday, October 10, 2009

"CEO's Must Embrace Stewardship As a Way of Life and Treat Owners As Partners Not Patsies. It's Now Time for CEO's to Walk the Walk."

So said Warren Buffett seven years ago. Not written by a PR department, he has embraced and practiced this challenge to CEO's for his entire career.

"Although our form is corporate, our attitude is partnership. Charlie Munger and I think of our shareholders as partners, and ourselves as managing partners.....We do not view the company itself as the owner of our business assets but instead view the company as a conduit through which our shareholders own the assets."
____________________________________________________
Warren Buffett, 1996 Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

"Charlie and I cannot promise you results. But we can guarantee that your financial fortunes will move in lockstep with ours for whatever period of time you elect to be our partners. We have no interest in large salaries or options or other means of getting an "edge" over you. We want to make money only when our partners do and in exactly the same proportion. Moreover, when I do something dumb, I want you to be able to derive some solace from the fact that my financial suffering is proportional to yours."
_________________________________________________________
Warren Buffett, 1996 Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

"At Berkshire , we believe that the company's money is the owners' money just as it would be in a closely-held corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorhip."
_________________________________________________________

Warren Buffett, 1993 Letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders

No comments:

Post a Comment