Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The continuing story in the financial markets and across the business world is when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) may crack the 13,000 level for the first time ever.

One question that arises is this: Are we to be concerned much with the levels of markets listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYX)? Another question that comes to mind is this: Is there really such a thing as a market?

It's interesting to not that throughout the years, Warren Buffett has talked about what is called the "Market," as really an irrelevancy to companies and investors. In his mind the market is really a mythical tale unconnected to the conditions of individual companies; which is what really matters in the end.

As far as a manager of a company or investor, what is called the "market" really doesn't exist. If we were to break down the endless ways that a person or institution could invest in what is called the "market," we could go in thousands of different directions.

What is far more important is what an individual company is, than a group of companies put together to represent the whole.

Will the "market" have any effect upon our company? No. Now that doesn't mean that if we do business with a company within the "market," that it won't have an impact upon us. But that's not because of the "market," but because of the current performance of the company and its management.

So while it's fun to watch numbers and look to see if a new record is broken, overall it really doesn't measure the health of an individual company or even a large group of companies. What is called the "market" is simply a group of companies picked to represent a mix of the majority of businesses.

For business leaders and managers, when it comes down to it it isn't really a significant measure of anything at all. It's just a loose measure that gives a general feel on where things are going overall. Either for managers or investors, it's really not that important.

It's much more important to keep with our purpose and vision, serve our customers well and keep tabs on our competition and know where our own specific industry is going.