Innovation and Operational Efficiency

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An organization's ability to innovate is inversely proportional to its operational efficiency.

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Marry the best who will have you and other wisdom from Munger and Buffett

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I spent the last weekend in Omaha, Nebraska with two of the my heroes- Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett . After attending the Berkshire Hathaway (BH) for a few years, I still get amazed how a shareholder meeting attracts 40,000+ people and the meeting is about two guys having fun. Everyone else  enjoys watching them have fun. The format is six hours of open Q&A. There is no preparation by Munger and Buffett. Anyone can ask anything about anything expect what BH is going to buy/sell next. You will see it in the notes  that a wide variety of topics are covered. Notes from previous years are available here . The David Sokol issue was covered by Buffett and that part of the meeting has been recorded so I have not covered it in my notes. You can see it here. Munger talked more this year compared to previous years. I just love this man. He is brilliant! Following are my random notes from the meeting: Buffett does two things in his job- 1) keep operating manag...
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Random Learnings From The Books I Read In 2018

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I tend to read 10-12 books a year.  Last year, I completed reading eleven books and at the end of the year I realized that I do not remember much of what I had read. Following is an attempt to remember at least one thing from each book I read i.e. a random sentence or paragraph I underlined while reading the book:  1. The success equation - Michael J. Mauboussin  A common mistake is to use a process for making a decision that is appropriate for activities that are nearly all skill and then apply to activity that is mostly luck. 2. Design is storytelling - Ellen Lupton  Emotion is temporal. Waves of feeling drags us out of the present and into the past and future. Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that trying to live in the present moment is a losing struggle. People, he said, are ceaselessly drawn to "the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us." Mindfulness is a state of focused attention that requires people to resi...
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Munger and Buffett: Wise Words with Peanut Brittle

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The first weekend of May just passed. That means I was in Omaha to attend  Berkshire Hathaway's  annual shareholder meeting along with 35.000 other people including  Bill Gates  and  George Lucas . The meeting always begins with two or three new humorous short films starring Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, Vice-Chairman and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway respectively. There is the same  serious short film  every year as well; Warren Buffett's 1991 testimony to the congressional committee on the  Salomon Brothers  scandal. The film has a famous line from Buffett," Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation and I will be ruthless." I wish more firms followed this philosophy. See my summary of the 2012 meeting here .   Buffett and Munger on the stage. See the peanut brittle?      Both Munger and Buffett are my heroes. I like Munger more for his multi-disciplinar...
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