By Michael Corkery
Self-published books don’t tend to fly off the shelves. This one may be different.
“Pleased, But Not Satisfied” is written and published by David (D.L.) Sokol, long considered a possible heir to the Berkshire Hathaway throne. It is selling on Amazon for between $35 and 120, but there are only four copies available at the moment.
Sokol is chief executive of Berkshire’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings , a large utility with $12.7 billion in annual revenues and 16,800 workers.
What can be gleaned from Sokol’s 127-page book? Sokol focuses on his managerial philosophy (he keeps a list of the people he would fire first) and a reprint on a speech delivered by American Express CEO Ken Chenault about good brand management. This is no Faulkner masterpiece, however. The book often reads like the diary of an earnest corporate executive.
Warren Buffett weighs in, too, in a brief and over-excited forward : “He brings the business equivalent of Ted Williams’ .406 batting average to the field of business management.” Walter Scott, a childhood friend of Buffett and a Berkshire board member, wrote the preface Sokol credits Scott with the book’s title.
Here are some other nuggets Sokol serves up in “Pleased But Not Satisfied:”
On firing his workers: “I force myself to rank my team in order in which I would terminate each member if I was forced to do so one at a time. Additionally, I define why I would terminate one before the next…”
On the auto industry: “From 2002 to 2007, hundreds of thousands of automobile industry employees were laid off – not because of an event, but due to many years of questionable management decisions, resulting in a cost structure that is unsustainable in today’s more globally competitive world….”
On Buffett’s golden touch: “A large portion of our success stems from what we call the Berkshire halo, which opens many opportunities. Warren has created a perfect haven for businesses that want to grow in a sensible manner…Warren is a kind and considerate man who genuinely cares about people.”
On M&A pitfalls: “Someone once said that when a man chooses the women of his dreams and proposes marriage, he does so with the expectation that she will never change. And when a woman selects a man for marriage, she does so after assessing all the things about the man she assumes she can change once they are wed….after the wedding, both realize their assumptions are incorrect.”
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