The last time I tried to meet up with Buffett to convince him I could be the one, I was stopped at the New Delhi airport itself (alright, I’m lying; I couldn’t even afford the air ticket). But think about it; we’ve all been had. A handful of months back, when we ran Warren’s (and his son’s) exclusive interview in B&E, we had forecasted bang on that Ajit Jain (Berkshire Hathaway’s Reinsurance Business Head) was amongst the nine probable candidates who could be successors to Warren Buffett. And we’d regimentally recommended to dear Warren that he should give up his position sooner than later. Oh, how dumb could we have been...
“I did some dumb things in investments. I made at least one major mistake of commission and several lesser ones that also hurt... Furthermore, I made some errors of omission, sucking my thumb when new facts came-in that should have caused me to re-examine my thinking and promptly take action...” Thumb sucking adjectives aside, these are the actual words of confession from Warren Buffett in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders (Purely due to ethical journalistic policies, I have not bought Berkshire’s shares; one share cost Rs.60,00,000 last year; they say it’s down this year).
But what left me sucking my thumb (sorry Warren, if you can use it, then this is a global usage now) was his one announcement in the above mentioned letter to his shareholders (where he also made the confession written before) where Buffett overtly praises Ajit and paints a picture that most definitely points towards Ajit donning the top hat at Berkshire. In his own words, “There is no one like him and his business is never the same. Ajit came to Berkshire in 1986. Very quickly, I realised that we had acquired an extraordinary talent. So I did the logical thing: I wrote [to] his parents in New Delhi and asked if they had another one like him at home. Of course, I knew the answer before writing. There isn’t anyone like Ajit...” And guess what, it is Buffett’s custom to call up Ajit Jain every evening to discuss ‘business matters’. I never could imagine that I’d live to see the day when Warren would be doodling over a guy. Has Warren finally fallen in love? Well, despite my unfathomable bubbling eagerness to say yes, the answer is a clear no. This is Warren at his impressive bluff best.
“I did some dumb things in investments. I made at least one major mistake of commission and several lesser ones that also hurt... Furthermore, I made some errors of omission, sucking my thumb when new facts came-in that should have caused me to re-examine my thinking and promptly take action...” Thumb sucking adjectives aside, these are the actual words of confession from Warren Buffett in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders (Purely due to ethical journalistic policies, I have not bought Berkshire’s shares; one share cost Rs.60,00,000 last year; they say it’s down this year).
But what left me sucking my thumb (sorry Warren, if you can use it, then this is a global usage now) was his one announcement in the above mentioned letter to his shareholders (where he also made the confession written before) where Buffett overtly praises Ajit and paints a picture that most definitely points towards Ajit donning the top hat at Berkshire. In his own words, “There is no one like him and his business is never the same. Ajit came to Berkshire in 1986. Very quickly, I realised that we had acquired an extraordinary talent. So I did the logical thing: I wrote [to] his parents in New Delhi and asked if they had another one like him at home. Of course, I knew the answer before writing. There isn’t anyone like Ajit...” And guess what, it is Buffett’s custom to call up Ajit Jain every evening to discuss ‘business matters’. I never could imagine that I’d live to see the day when Warren would be doodling over a guy. Has Warren finally fallen in love? Well, despite my unfathomable bubbling eagerness to say yes, the answer is a clear no. This is Warren at his impressive bluff best.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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