“We delegate almost to the point of abdication. Charlie and I mainly attend to capital allocation and the care and feeding of our key managers."
The Charlie he's referring to is his right hand man, Charlie Munger.
What is most important in Warren Buffet's statement, is that he understands exactly what his strengths are, and secondarily, he understands what needs to be done to ensure the vast businesses and employees under the Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) umbrella run smoothly and efficiently.
While the capital allocation skills are unique in their quality to Buffett and Munger, the care and feeding of key managers and - depending on the business size - key employees and managers, is something all of us need to attend to.
It isn't long after starting or running a business, when you run into the growth problem. Either you take on more responsibility yourself, hire someone else to do it, or remain the size you are. One way or the other a decision must be made.
Most the time to survive as a business and as a person, you must hire someone else. From there our major job, other than our personal core competence in the business, is to feed and nuture the key person or people we've hired. There's simply nothing more important than that.
Unfortunately, some very insecure and untrusting people aren't able to take this step, so they must be satisfied with working long hours to keep the business even at an even keel, let alone grow it.
For those able to do it, and most should be, we simply need to know what is important to us in the job we hired the person for. We also need to keep the purpose for the existence of the business always before them; reminding them continuously what the business stands for.
We also have to offer steady doses of encouragement and appreciation. We also must get out of their way and let them do their jobs.
The point is we need to understand what we aren't to abdicate, and what we hire key people and managers for. From there, simply feed and care for them on an ongoing basis. If you feel you can't do that, then either you aren't hiring the right person, or you refuse to let go. Be honest with which one it is, and make the appropriate adjustments from there.
Growth will demand the decisions must be made; you can't hide from that. Just be ready to make a decision either way at the right time. To put it off is to make a decision, whether you know it or not. Then the outward circumstances will dictate your actions, not decisions coming from you. That's not a good place to allow yourself to be cornered into.
Other Buffett Resources:
MSU students have special visit with billionaire Warren Buffett
Sticking to what you know Core businesses
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Sponsored link: The outsourcing every manager requires - Tampa Locksmith
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