vlogolution network » warren buffett

Strategic Ideas are Everywhere – it’s Execution Talent that’s Lacking

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:16:11 +0000

(Interloper) “The confusion between the brilliance of a strategy and the ability to execute on it is at the heart of every poorly managed company. Far too often, a lack of corporate performance is blamed on a bad strategy when the strategy was perfectly fine. In other words, the architect is always blamed when the house falls collapses but the fault is more likely to lie with the builders.”

“There is a pervasive myth, propagated rabidly by biz schools and business consultants, that a new “great management paradigm” has just arisen (cough-sixsigma-cough) that will transform your company into a global behemoth. The truth is that there is no premium on corporate strategy ideas – they are everywhere. The talent that is almost nonexistent is execution.”

“What Jack Welch actually did in practice was fire entire buildings full of people in under-performing businesses, to the point where he was given the nickname Neutron Jack. Anyone could have come up with the idea of getting rid of poor businesses and focus on their successful counterparts, but it took a singular talent like Welch to execute.”

“What Buffett does, for instance, is about as complicated as Welch’s strategy – buy companies with consistent long term ROE assisted by competitive advantage when they are trading, ignored, at lower than historical valuation levels. His execution of the strategy, the unparalleled discipline, is what sets him apart.”

“All of this is not to say that managing money or global industrial companies is easy. The point is that, while there are multi-bazillion dollar industries trying to convince you otherwise, “The Plan” doesn’t really matter, it’s the person implementing the plan that does.”

Full Story: CEOs and Investors: Strategy/Execution Distinction Separates Good from Bad (Interloper)

People suck at multitasking – a few simple rules for Increasing Productivity

Alexander P Morris — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:26:10 +0000

(ContrarianEdge) “Investing is not an idea-per-hour profession; it more likely results in a few ideas per year. A traditional, structured working environment creates pressure to produce an output — an idea, even a forced idea. Warren Buffett once said at a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting: ‘We don’t get paid for activity; we get paid for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.’ ”

“I do my best thinking in the morning. At 3:00 in the afternoon, my brain shuts off; that is when I read my e-mails. We are all different. My best friend is a brunch person; he needs to consume six cups of coffee in the morning just to get his brain going. To be most productive, he shouldn’t go to work before 11:00 a.m.”

“And then there’s the business news. Serious business news that lacked sensationalism, and thus ratings, has been replaced by a new genre: business entertainment …” (WHY, you ask? cuz that’s what people want)

“You may think you’re able to filter the noise. You cannot; it overwhelms you. So don’t fight the noise — block it. Leave the television off while the markets are open, and at the end of the day, check the business channel websites to see if there were interviews or news events that are worth watching.”

“Numerous studies have found that humans are terrible at multitasking. We have a hard time ignoring irrelevant information and are too sensitive to new information. Focus is the antithesis of multitasking. I find that I’m most productive on an airplane. I put on my headphones and focus on reading or writing. There are no distractions — no e-mails, no Twitter, no Facebook, no instant messages, no phone calls. I get more done in the course of a four-hour flight than in two days at the office. But you don’t need to rack up frequent-flier miles to focus; just go into ‘off mode’ a few hours a day: Kill your Internet, turn off your phone, and do what you need to do.”

Full Story: A Few Simple Rules For Money Managers (ContrarianEdge)

Letter from Grandpa to Liberal Granddaughter – ask Obama to Spread the Wealth

Alexander P Morris — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:58:15 +0000

This anonymous “letter” has been circulating around the Internet for the past few months, and it’s turning out to be more or less right on. Granted, Obama supporters will claim that Obama “inherited” many of the problems he faces. But how does that address Obama surrounding himself with many of the same questionable entrenched politicians from past administrations? And palm-greasing bribery lobbying is still alive and well and going on strong in Washington.

Hitler, Chavez, and any other number of die-hard socialists have made the same claim to sweeping hope and “change”. Unfortunately, it never turns out as most people expect, and tends to lead to a massive power-grab instead, under the guise of “helping the people”. When considering a new employee, one will generally look for references, appropriate qualifications, history of competent performance, honest and ethical behavior, and years of experience, to say the least. When hiring a money manager, most of the time they’ll want to see years of track records, references, etc (and still Madoff managed to bilk his clients for billions).

However, in politics we are always told to “give him a chance, and let’s see what he’ll do”. No big deal that these politicians control the incomprehensibly massive purse strings of the nation — TRILLIONS of dollars worth. But, that’s okay. Obama seems like a nice guy. Of course, I doubt he’s ever run anything so much as a lemonade stand. Let’s have some faith (where’d that suddenly come from?!) and let’s see what he’ll do. Given the limited choice of political nominees (which are selected solely by their parties), many people tend to vote for who they believe will be less “bad” for the country. They’re actually surprised if a politician merely tells fewer lies, breaks fewer promises, or causes fewer problems than they expected.

So, while everyone’s so busy bickering republican over democrat, the people have lost site of the fact that at this point, nearly all politicians are guided by one primary motive: their own self-interest. With the exception of a few politicians such as Ron Paul, I’d say we should place just about all of them on their own rocket ship to the moon. It would be interesting to see how they would handle that move. Of course, as Margaret Thatcher once stated, “socialism only works until you run out of other people’s money“, and without generous, naive, and hopeful peasant slaves citizens to bilk, things will fall apart pretty quickly. Especially since many of them would find more ways to evade paying the taxes they themselves imposed on each other (as they already do in Washington, right Mr. Rangel?!).

Unfortunately, corruption, perversions of the “Rule of Law” by the “untouchable” Judiciary branch, and political self-interest will always usurp all best efforts at such Utopian fantasies. And what politician ever considers the ramifications of their policies if their latest “war” once again turns out to be dead wrong? How is that “War on Poverty” going Mr. Johnson? You would think 45 years should be long enough to win any war, at least any war that can actually be won… If socialism and near-complete government control over everything is such a great prospect, there must most certainly be at least ONE, just ONE single example in 6,000+ years of history leading to a happy ending for all those concerned, right? Anyone, anyone, Ashley? Anyone??

Benjamin Franklin once said “Upon the whole I am much disposed to like the World as I find it, and to doubt my own Judgment as to what would mend it. I see so much Wisdom in what I understand of its Creation and Government, that I suspect equal Wisdom may be in what I do not understand.” Or as St. Francis de Sales perhaps best put it, “The path to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

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WARREN BUFFETT SUCKS UP TO HILLARY CLINTON??? – GO RON PAUL!

Alexander P Morris — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:00:00 +0000

You would think an individual of Mr. Buffett’s stature would support someone more like Ron Paul, who stands for limited government, sound fiscal policy, and a solid currency. (Congrats to Jim Cramer by the way for his AWESOME 12/14/07 interview with Ron Paul on Mad Money!) – BUT WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD BUFFETT SUPPORT HILLARY CLINTON??!!
Music: “KYA” by Paulus