"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
HEADLINES:
Warren Buffett’s annual letter -- released yesterday evening, this is your "must" reading assignment for the weekend! Buffett’s firm once again beat the S&P 500 by 2.6% -- 18.4% vs. 15.8%. Notes Buffett, "We believe that $16.9 billion is a record for a one-year gain in net worth -- more than has ever been booked by any American business, leaving aside boosts that have occurred because of mergers (e.g. AOL’s purchase of Time Warner). Here’s a link to download the letter.
Power of productivity gains -- most telling was Buffett’s praise for GEICO, which saw policies increase from 5.7 million to 8.1 million, a jump of 42% between 2003 and 2006. Yet during this same timeframe the number of fulltime-equivalent employees FELL 3.5%. This is a productivity gain of 47%! "And GEICO didn’t start fat," notes Buffett. In turn, GEICO over doubled its advertising budget. Success formula -- get more operationally efficient and then plow a good chunk of the gain into driving sales!
For CEOs only, a chance to be heard -- speaking of CEO insights, if you want your opinion to be heard and compared against the NYSE's CEO's and Deutche Bank's recent "Alternative Investment Survey"; here's your chance. Logon and take the Private Company Index's 10 minute survey of Private Company's CEOs to share your thoughts about the economy, the market and the challenges...
Want more energy? Mixed nuts and fresh fruit -- plus breakfast. Mark Brownlee, Managing Director of Nightlife Music and Video, an international leader in providing music videos to businesses, was in our Rockefeller Habits workshop in Brisbane. To maintain energy among their employees, they are providing healthy snacks throughout the day and are initiating breakfast service in a couple weeks. Mark emphasized the importance of serving unsalted nuts, otherwise people will tend to eat too much (and get too much salt) and serving sun dried fruits vs. sulfur dried.
Best Buffett line -- "Once you’ve flown NetJets, returning to commercial flights is like going back to holding hands."