Warren Buffett and Secrets of Management - 49
When Henry Ford was in the early days of the company, he was basically put on trial for being too stupid to run the company (true story). When the prosecutor starting drilling him about his abilities, Ford's response was that if he needed to know anything, he had a row of buttons in front of him in his office that he could push and someone that knew the answer to a question would come running when he pushed the button to give hime the answer.
Ford basically said that if he was smart enough to know who to ask the right questions of, he was smart enough to run the company. He won the case.
What was it Ford was saying? Surround yourself with good people. Great managers know that they want to surround themselves with people that are far more knowledgable than they are. Buffett says the same thing. He knows what it is that he is good at and the contribution he must make. He makes sure everybody else does the rest.
Great business leaders and managers are for the most part secure people. Secure people know that they need great people around them to be successful in running the business.
To do this successfully, we need to know what it is that we have most valuable to contribute to the company as managers. That which we don't have, or isn't our job to do, we must surround ourselves with to build a great, successful team.
This may sound like a given, but you'd be surprised at how many insecure managers won't bring in great people because they're afraid that their skills or personalities may overshadow them. Great managers want those around them to shine, it means that they've got the right people for the job.
Other Buffett Resources:
Warren Buffett: The trouble with being a legend
Warren Buffett: 'I told you so'
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