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Non-Tech : Berkshire Hathaway Class B -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dalroi who wrote (1276)	12/31/1999 12:55:00 PM
From: opalapril	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1652

I haven't yet lost faith in BRK, but my earlier post raises a serious question: BRK has grown so large one must ask whether Buffett's style needs adjusting. No person, however great he may be, can or should try to micro-manage so large an enterprise as BRK has become. He has to rely on subordinates. in the past, Buffett claimed his style was to let managers run the wholly owned companies. OK, but when they screw up, what then? Buffett should be demanding the same high performance he would expect of himself. If a subordinate does not deliver, be it the CEO of GeneralRe or the dufus who headed up Buffett's due diligence team before buying it, he or she should be held accountable. Drastically cut the pay, eliminate stock options, place the person on probation, or terminate. Buffett and Munger head up a company more complex (and richer) than most of the world's nations. They have to find ways to avoid disasters like this, or worse ones, in the future. That requires rigorous, stern, and unyielding enforcment of high performance standards. Is the Smilin' Sage of Omaha too nice a guy to do what is required? Now we know he paid too much for GeneralRe and took on too large a risk. The due diligence team should have discovered this. They didn't. GeneralRe execs should have been aware of, and disclosed, the facts about the liability risk. They didn't. All should be held accountable, or it will happen again and again.