When I heard last week’s news that Warren Buffett had decided to step down from his mighty Berkshire Hathaway empire, at the age of 94, it reminded me of something that has bothered me for years.
It relates to the great investor’s annual letters to Berkshire shareholders. For decades they have been one of the financial world’s most insightful, cheering and best-read documents. Endlessly quoted. Collected into books. Hugely educational.
Buffett did have help. Financial journalist Carol Loomis edited the letters. Even so, how is it that so many other financial heavyweights, with so many aides and so many resources, repeatedly fail to produce annual letters that match Buffett’s? Many are perceptive, sure. But why don’t more deploy the brevity, wit and humility that makes Buffett’s missives so successful?