刘建位笔记：看看巴菲特多么重视名誉：
我们亏得起钱，甚至是很多钱，但是我们丢不起名誉-哪 怕是一丁点儿的名誉。
我们花了43年才取得了这样的成就，但是我们可能只需花43分钟就能够摧毁这一成就。
沃伦•巴菲特如何管理自己的经理团队
作者: Patricia Sellers 时间: 2009年10月14日 来源: 财富中文网
在很多方面，伯克希尔所取得的成就得益于它的声誉，而我们不想做任何事来玷污这个声誉。
http://www.fortunechina.com/first/c/2009-10/14/content_25415.htm
沃伦•巴菲特（Warren Buffett）称旗下公司的首席执行官们是“全明星队。”
这个世界最知名的投资者选择股票非常务实，挑选经理人也是如此。但是把伯克希尔-哈萨韦（Berkshire Hathaway ）拥有的企业的老板们称为“全明星队”也许是巴菲特管理人员的一个聪明手段---因为他非常信任这些人以至于让他们感觉自己必须是最好的……这样压力很大，他们也确实如此。
在最近《财富》杂志举办的商界女强人峰会（Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit）上（巴菲特是参加峰会的少数男性之一。他说“对那些在高中没约会过的男人来说，这里就是天堂”），巴菲特和他的两个明星让我们看到了他是如何激励经理的。
一个明星经理人叫凯西•巴伦•塔马兹Cathy Baron Tamraz）。2006年她与巴菲特通过电话进行了快速的协商，没有见面就把自己的公司美国商业通讯社（Business Wire）卖给了巴菲特。这项交易非常成功，因为巴菲特称“如果我当时见了她的面的话，我会出更高的价钱买她的公司。”他把新闻传播服务业称为“一个非常成功的产业。”
塔马兹怀疑巴菲特有心理学学位，她说“沃伦让我们觉得我们应该是完美的。”他不是一个受过培训的心理学家，但是他却毫不逊色于受过训练的心理专家。塔马兹说：“这对我们来说很恐怖，因为我们晚上睡不着觉，想着如何把每一天的事情都做好。这很神奇。”
另一个出席峰会的明星是苏珊•雅克（Susan Jacques）。她是奥马哈市Borsheims珠宝礼品公司的首席执行官。巴菲特解释说，27年前雅克开始在这个公司上班的时候，只是一名时薪4美元的小职员。之后巴菲特在这个来自津巴布韦、充满活力的年轻女性身上发现了一些特殊才能。12年之后他让雅克做这家珠宝零售公司的首席执行官。他承认这个决定让很多人吃惊，但是“后来事实证明她就是一个很了不起的首席执行官。”
雅克说自己从巴菲特那里得到的最好建议来自一份备忘录。巴菲特每隔几年就会给自己的77个全明星们送去一份备忘录。每次的备忘录都包括以下信息的不同版本：
我们亏得起钱，甚至是很多钱，但是我们丢不起名誉-哪怕是一丁点儿的名誉。我们必须保证我们的任何商业行为都能够在一份国家报纸的头版上由一个不友善但是很聪明的记者写文章来报道。在很多方面，包括收购别的公司，伯克希尔所取得的成就得益于它的声誉，而我们不想做任何事来玷污这个声誉。伯克希尔曾被《财富》评为世界第二大最受尊敬企业。我们花了43年才取得了这样的成就，但是我们可能只需花43分钟就能够摧毁这一成就。
雅克说：“这就是我在个人和职业生活中每天都用的标准。”她还透露了从巴菲特那里学到的另外三条智慧：“让自己像企业主一样思考。坏消息要立即告诉大家。如果你不了解珠宝的话，那么就了解你的珠宝商。”
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/12/how-warren-buffett-manages-his-managers/
October 12, 2009, 11:27 am
How Warren Buffett manages his managers
Warren Buffett calls the CEOs who run his companies "All-Stars."
The world's most renowned investor picks his managers practically as well as his stocks. But branding the bosses of businesses owned by Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) "All-Stars" may also be a clever people-management ploy on his part--to inject so much confidence in his people that they feel they must be the best...and duly pressured, they are.
At the recent Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit (where Buffett, one of the few male attendees, says, "For a guy who couldn't get a date in high school, this is heaven"), he and two of his All-Stars clued us in on how he motivates.
One "All-Star" in attendance, Cathy Baron Tamraz, sold her company, Business Wire, to Buffett sight unseen, after speedy negotiations by phone, in 2006. The deal worked out well, because "if I had met her, I would have paid more," Buffett said, calling the news-distribution service "a fabulously successful business."
Tamraz suspects that Buffett has a psychology degree because, she said, "Warren makes us feel like we can do no wrong." He's no trained psychologist, but he may be as good as one. "It's a very frightening thing to do to us," Tamraz said. "We're not going to sleep at night because we're going to get it right every single day. It's extraordinary."
The other "All-Star" at the Summit: Susan Jacques, the CEO of Borsheims Fine Jewelry and Gifts in Omaha. Twenty-seven years ago, Buffett explained, Jacques arrived at Borsheims as a $4-an-hour clerk. He detected certain skills in this dynamic young woman from Zimbabwe, and 12 years later he made her CEO of the jewelery retailer. The promotion surprised many people, he admitted, but "she turned out to be a fabulous CEO."
Jacques said that the best advice she's gotten from Buffett comes in a memo that he sends to his 77 All-Stars every couple of years. Every memo includes some version of this message:
We can afford to lose money--even a lot of money. We cannot afford to lose reputation--even a shred of reputation. Let's be sure that everything we do in business can be reported on the front page of a national newspaper in an article written by an unfriendly but intelligent reporter. In many areas, including acquisitions, Berkshire's results have benefitted from its reputation, and we don't want to do anything that in any way can tarnish it. Berkshire is ranked by Fortune as the second-most admired company in the world. It took us 43 years to get there, but we could lose it in 43 minutes.
"This is the mantra I use every day in both my personal and professional life," Jacques said, noting three more pieces of wisdom from Buffett: "Think like an owner. Tell us bad news right away. And if you don't know jewelery, know your jeweler."
PATTIE signature
P.S. Buffett introduced a Summit session called Most Powerful Women in Small Business, which spotlighted a new program from Fortune and American Express (AXP)--where Buffett is the largest shareholder. We selected 10 extraordinary female entrepreneurs and brought them to the Summit. Stay tuned to Postcards for more about this new initiative.
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