Subject: Re: Alice Schroeder Interview
Let me suggest that you pay close attention to LongTermBRK'a comments. (caps are important - he's a different person than longtermbrk.) We connected some time back on the old AOL board days. I believe he's known Buffett, and been closer to him, far longer than the vast majority of us folks.

I agree with his comments. Alice didn't violate any confidences with Buffett, she gave him every chance to comment, and she chose to not shield important parts of Warren's life, particularly from the earlier years. These impacted him. In one sense, Warren is two different people depending upon whether he's emotionally involved/impacted or not.

Warren doesn't like criticism - his calling out his own mistakes is a defensive action on his part to avoid debate. So when uncomfortable/personally hurtful parts of his life were revealed in the book he took steps to avoid it. I do agree that cutting ties with Alice is part of these steps - he doesn't like conflict, and he doesn't want to trigger discussions on the points. He didn't have to ghost her as he did.

There are many clues if one doesn't avoid looking for them. Taking the Dale Carnegie was a transforming step in his early development - he says so. And he's mastered the subject. We rarely see his emotional side.

The unexpected early death of his first wife was one trigger. Early discussions about Buffett talked about his avoidance of thinking about his own death. Had he died suddenly instead of Susan, the transition plans for Berkshire could have been a mess. Susan was very liberal and would have controlled all the assets. That forced Warren to rethink his death and succession planning instead of avoiding it. And we shareholders have greatly benefitted from that sad event.

One thing Warren really enjoys is teaching - hence the annual meetings. Originally, back in the partnership days, these were to discuss his investing activities and ask questions. But only once a year. Now it has evolved to a massive interchange with admirers that he really enjoys And one that conveys little info in terms of BRK itself. I always felt that I got more solid info from Munger than I did from Buffett. He wants his privacy. How many "hard" questions does he really answer? It generally transitions to another subject.

His avoidance of conflict - unless absolutely necessary - is another clue. Berkshire operations will be much better managed under Ajit and Greg. However, I do think that Warren choosing to concentrate on investing instead of managing was a good decision on his part. His talents were much better utilized there. So there's two sides of the story.

Along this line, I think there's a pretty simple way to look at Buffett. He does things he likes to do, and avoids things he doesn't like to do. That covers everything from spending time with kids in early years to how he managed BRK. We shareholders have greatly benefitted from that. And I think he's greatly grown over his lifetime to becoming a more rounded person.

But he didn't like his private life being disclosed to the public - albeit after the fact.

I doubt many will care for my comments. That's OK. I do admire Buffett as a person in very many ways. And I've entrusted the bulk of our family's net worth to him. But I don't think he's a perfect individual, and there are aspects of him that I wouldn't want to emulate.