Have a read of this insightful Businessweek article by Alice Schroeder (author of biography of Warren Buffett “Snowball“), “When CEOs Have Warren Buffett in Their Boardroom – What’s it like to have America’s greatest investor as your shareholder? Buffett’s biographer talks to CEOs who know“. Here is an excerpt (emphasis added),
Who wouldn’t love to pick up the phone and ask Warren Buffett for advice? People have spent more than $1 million just to have lunch with the man. He was voted the most admired corporate director in America by Directorship magazine in 2008. Chief executives of companies he has a stake in laud his patience, foresight, and ability to capture the essence of a complex financial situation in just a few words. They also like the fact that he usually leaves them alone as long as they’re getting the job done.
Sometimes Buffett emerges from behind his desk and shows a side of himself that’s far less familiar. When he sees something he doesn’t like in a company whose shares he owns, the famously passive investor can swing into action to protect his investment—jawboning behind the scenes, scolding, cutting opportunistic deals, even hiring and firing CEOs. For some of those on the receiving end of his activism, it can feel a bit like being attacked by Santa Claus.
Also download and listen to this podcast (mp3 audio)where,
Jim Ellis talks with Alice Schroeder, author of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, about how the super-investor oversees the CEOs of companies in which he invests.
Filed under: Business, investment, people, Warren Buffett, World 
