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Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

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Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#51

Post by beefield »

tootie wrote: post #39
slaxman wrote: post #19

I love Warren Buffet's quote on hiring: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and too little on integrity. ht…

“I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the m…

I think that the ones you really have to watch are the intelligent and industrious ones. They do not have time to stop wondering whether their goal is sensible or not, and being intelligent, they have means to push towards their goal much further that dumb and lazy will ever be able.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#52

Post by mohawk »

onion2k wrote: post #11
kibibu wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love it - one of the world's richest people, and his site is built using Word

A website is a marketing operation. BerkshireHathaway don't really need to do marketing because they're more a legal entity for the purpose of organising things efficiently rather than a business with customers.

The marketing of that website is that they don't waste money.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#53

Post by pjc50 »

tvvocold wrote: post #23
pjc50 wrote: post #18

He references "Where Are the Customer's Yachts?"! That's a great fun little book, written in 1940 looking back on the madness leading up to 1929.

I believe that's not his book. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Are-Customers-Yachts-Street/dp/0...

Yes, I didn't imply that it was Warren Buffet's book.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#54

Post by alex8022 »

xtrumanx wrote: post #45
slaxman wrote: post #19

I love Warren Buffet's quote on hiring: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and too little on integrity. ht…

Sorry for the dumb question but I think I'm having a hard time parsing and understanding the quote. > And if you don’t have the first (integrity), the other two (intelligence and energy) will kill you. If you hire somebody without integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy. I don't follow the logic there at all. I think I get the gist of what he is saying (without integrity, intelligence and energy don't mat…

If they don't have integrity, then intelligence + energy makes them "dangerous" to your company. Think Frank Underwood (House of Cards).. Smart and ambitious, but out to improve his own position, often at the expense of the nation (or company).

If you hire someone who doesn't have integrity, you want them to be dumb and lazy to limit the damage they can cause.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#55

Post by foobarqux »

bostonpete wrote: post #42
slaxman wrote: post #19

I love Warren Buffet's quote on hiring: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and too little on integrity. ht…

> Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and > too little on integrity. Maybe because integrity is virtually impossible to objectively evaluate for a candidate who you've got limited time to assess (aside from some extreme examples perhaps). I guess you could incorporate some sort of formal integrity test [1] into your hiring process but my impression is that those are costly and controversial. Do companies…

Integrity also means different things to Warren Buffett than it does to other people. Ripping someone's face off in a business transaction is a desirable quality to Warren Buffett.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#57

Post by dferlemann »

bostonpete wrote: post #42
slaxman wrote: post #19

I love Warren Buffet's quote on hiring: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and too little on integrity. ht…

> Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and > too little on integrity. Maybe because integrity is virtually impossible to objectively evaluate for a candidate who you've got limited time to assess (aside from some extreme examples perhaps). I guess you could incorporate some sort of formal integrity test [1] into your hiring process but my impression is that those are costly and controversial. Do companies…

I agree. Integrity is mostly subjective. It has two meanings:

1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

2. the state of being whole and undivided.

Some Christians would consider anti-homosexuality as a model for integrity, and how can you argue with that? They in fact are protecting integrity of the Bible. They are at least honest about it.

When something is said, it needs to be put in correct context. What Warren Buffet was talking about probably meant loyalty, honesty, and consistent work ethnics and attitude. It should be clearly stated in order to have an objective measurement.

Also, I find organizations putting Integrity as part of their motto distasteful. I don't know, maybe I just don't like any kind of mottos... These things are just generically "good." They don't mean shit when just posted on the wall. Might as well post something like "I'm good, trust me" or "don't be evil." I agree with Mitt Romney - corporations are people. He's right. Both are inherently hypocritical. Never trust what a person says, even yourself, do good and be good. Actions speak the loudest. Seriously, fuck those posters! I hate them so much.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#58

Post by swalsh »

alex8022 wrote: post #54
xtrumanx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the dumb question but I think I'm having a hard time parsing and understanding the quote. > And if you don’t have the first (integrity), the other two (intelligence and energy) will kill you. If you hire somebody without integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy. I don't follow the logic there at all. I think I get the gist of what he is saying (without integrity, intelligence and energy don't mat…

If they don't have integrity, then intelligence + energy makes them "dangerous" to your company. Think Frank Underwood (House of Cards).. Smart and ambitious, but out to improve his own position, often at the expense of the nation (or company). If you hire someone who doesn't have integrity, you want them to be dumb and lazy to limit the damage they can cause.

Frank Underwood is the perfect analogy.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#59

Post by jackfoxy »

beefield wrote: post #51
tootie wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the m…

I think that the ones you really have to watch are the intelligent and industrious ones. They do not have time to stop wondering whether their goal is sensible or not, and being intelligent, they have means to push towards their goal much further that dumb and lazy will ever be able.

That's why you put them on staff. You should be close enough to them to know what they are working on, and redirect them when necessary.

Re: Warren Buffett Just Wrote His Best Annual Letter

#60

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

bostonpete wrote: post #42
slaxman wrote: post #19

I love Warren Buffet's quote on hiring: “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and too little on integrity. ht…

> Often we tend to focus too much on intelligence and > too little on integrity. Maybe because integrity is virtually impossible to objectively evaluate for a candidate who you've got limited time to assess (aside from some extreme examples perhaps). I guess you could incorporate some sort of formal integrity test [1] into your hiring process but my impression is that those are costly and controversial. Do companies…

An integrity test works exactly once. The first time you do it, you can see the candidate for who he is. Pass, fail... you've measured it.

Then, other candidates learn of the integrity test. And they try to game it. They see you drop the wallet, they make a point of giving it back regardless of what their true impulse might be.

So I don't think you can effectively test for these things, unless you hire so rarely that word never really spreads.

Haha! Got a chuckle out of the Wikipedia link. Sounds like pseudo-science (obviously if he answers that his favorite color is red and not blue he's some sort of shifty klepto!).

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