Warren Buffett has led Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) for decades and created wonderful levels of wealth for shareholders (including himself). However, he has announced he plans to end his role as CEO of the business by the end of the year.
This is partly a surprise – it seemed like he could stay at the helm for the rest of his days. But, Buffett is 94, and he has had to work without Charlie Munger after he passed away a year and a half ago.
But, just because Buffett is retiring doesn't mean we can't take lifelong lessons with us.
Think like a businessman
Warren Buffett is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest investors, with an investment exceptional track record of around 20% per annum over several decades.
But, we should remember there was more to Berkshire Hathaway's success than just investing in publicly-traded stocks.
He ensured that Berkshire Hathaway employed/acquired excellent people and let them get on with running those businesses. These subsidiaries succeeded without being closely managed and scrutinised by Berkshire Hathaway's head office.
Warren Buffett once explained how being both an investor and CEO helped each role, he said:
I am a better investor because I am a businessman and a better businessman because I am an investor.
Treat shareholders with respect
I don't know how every single management team treats their shareholders, but Warren Buffett (and Charlie Munger) have always tried to do the right thing by shareholders, whether they're individuals or major institutions.
He understood that some shareholders had their life savings invested in Berkshire Hathaway shares, and he tried to explain things to shareholders as though he were talking to his sister (who is a shareholder).
By treating shareholders with respect, I think the shareholders respected him more and were willing to give him more freedom to make decisions. He once said:
If you start fooling your shareholders, you will soon believe your own baloney and be fooling yourself as well.
Reputation is important
I can't think of many businesses around the world that have a reputation as good as Berkshire Hathaway.
Businesses, and particularly ones with public-facing brands, should look after their reputation, in my view. Firstly, it's the right thing to do, and it's very important for attracting/retaining customers. It's very easy to lose customers if the business, or management, do the wrong thing.
Just think about businesses that have had their reputation hit in recent memory such as AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP), Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) and Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN).
Having a good reputation is one of the reasons that Warren Buffett attributes to certain business owners being willing to sell to Berkshire Hathaway over other competitors.
Warren Buffett has a few great quotes on reputation. He has said:
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
He has also made it clear to employees how important reputation is to Berkshire Hathaway:
Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.
If only every CEO cared about their employees doing the right thing as much as Warren Buffett does.
