No. of Recommendations: 18
Also thought it was funny how Warren said that Greg is tougher and one to hold the managers a bit more accountable with more guidance and tangible goals although still giving them autonomy. However, Greg also seems to be more hands-on with respect to speaking with managers, encouraging dialogue and seeing them in person from time to time.
I suspect there have been a lot of business improvements put in place since Warren turned over the management of operations to Greag and Ajit. Anyone one else remember the leaked memo about Gen Re that Ajit sent them after he took over? Warren had praised the management - his style. Ajit told them their costs were out of control and had to be improved. My read on Greg is that the same is going on with the non-insurance businesses - not making waves but a much closer eye and clearer targets for results.
While the results are not being broken out, I believe Berkshire is becoming a much tighter operating ship that it was under Warren.
I remember when Lee Raymond became CEO of Exxon and set out to reduce costs and streamline the corporation. When told to reduce operating budgets by 20%, managers protested that they were already running a tight ship and that wasn't possible. Lee then explained that if they couldn't do so, he would find managers that could. Once the mindset changed, people found even more efficiencies than the 20% target. And, driven by the pandemic, Darren Woods (and other CEO's) have taken similar steps to streamline Exxon and reduce cost while still operating efficiently and safely.
I'm not expecting change to that extent after Warren is gone. But I do expect moves in those directions. The earlier observation by WEBspired caught my attention: "Interesting, Greg said that our 12 largest businesses provide 86% of the revenue."
One key issue will be if conflict breaks out between the Buffett family members that control the corporation and Able about these type moves not fitting the "Berkshire culture." That potential issue is really the only one that's concerned me in succession planning.
Greg seems to me to be the kind of CEO that can navigate any such choppy waters. I hope he doesn't have to do so.
