Warren Buffett and Secrets of Management - 17
The way Buffett prefers to communicate is to tell stories that regular people can understand. He uses the game of baseball to get across his message sometimes.
When talking to investors at times, he refers to Ted Williams and a book he wrote about one of the secrets to his great success at batting. Williams understood which pitches to swing at and which ones to let go by him. He knew that if he swung at the good pitches, he could hit .400, if he swung at the bad pitches, it could go down to .230 or maybe even less.
Williams was trying to explain that it didn't matter who that batter was, if they swung at bad pitches, they wouldn't be able to hit the ball well.
Buffett translated that fact into the business and investing world. He has said that the problem is that many times we know when we are getting a good pitch or not; it's not the lack of being able to see ... rather, the problem comes in that we just aren't willing to sit there and wait for a good pitch to come along.
Most people simply don't have the discipline to sit on a pitch and wait, while all the activity is swirling around them. People seem to not be able to resist taking that swing. When you've got that bat in your hand, it's the hardest thing in the world to let the ball go past you until you get the right pitch.
All across any business, managers have tremendous difficulty with this type of discipline. The problem is that just because we may have a bat in our hand, doesn't mean that we have to swing. Business leaders have that bat. Many times success or failur is determined on what isn't swung at, far more than letting past till the right thing comes along.
Apply this to any aspect of a business and you'll see the power of the discipline in waiting. Now waiting doesn't mean never taking a swing, it means swinging within the purpose, strategy, and values of a company. Don't go ahead with anything if the situation you encounter doesn't line up with that.
Other Buffett Resources:
Investment Whiz Kid: Buffett Amasses a Fortune
Management Styles - The Buffett Way: Learn from the maestro himself
Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
a great article that you have here, i posted about it in my warren buffett blog
Posted by: nextwarrenbuffett | December 12, 2006 4:27 AM | Permalink to Comment