2010-07-26 Warren Buffett.To Berkshire Hathaway Managers (“The All-Stars”)

Memo

To: Berkshire Hathaway Managers (“The All-Stars”)

cc: Berkshire Directors

From: Warren E. Buffett

Date: July 26, 2010

This is my biennial letter to reemphasize Berkshire’s top priority and to get your help on succession planning (yours, not mine!).

这是我每两年写一次的信，目的是再次强调 Berkshire 的头号优先事项，并请你们帮忙做接班人规划（是你们的，不是我的！）。

The priority is that all of us continue to zealously guard Berkshire’s reputation. We can’t be perfect but we can try to be. As I’ve said in these memos for more than 25 years: “We can afford to lose money – even a lot of money. But we can’t afford to lose reputation – even a shred of reputation.” We must continue to measure every act against not only what is legal but also what we would be happy to have written about on the front page of a national newspaper in an article written by an unfriendly but intelligent reporter.

我们的首要任务，是所有人都要持续、严谨、近乎偏执地维护 Berkshire 的声誉。我们不可能做到完美，但可以尽量接近完美。正如 25 年来我在这些备忘录里反复说的那句话：“我们可以承受亏钱——哪怕亏很多钱；但我们承受不起丢掉声誉——哪怕只是一点点。”我们必须继续用这样的标准来衡量每一个行为：不仅问它是否合法，更要问，如果一位不友善但很聪明的记者，把这件事写成一篇登在全美性报纸头版的报道，我们是否也会感到坦然。

Sometimes your associates will say “Everybody else is doing it.” This rationale is almost always a bad one if it is the main justification for a business action. It is totally unacceptable when evaluating a moral decision. Whenever somebody offers that phrase as a rationale, in effect they are saying that they can’t come up with a good reason. If anyone gives this explanation, tell them to try using it with a reporter or a judge and see how far it gets them.

有时候，你的同事会说：“大家都这么干。”如果这是某个经营决策的主要理由，那几乎总是一个糟糕的理由；如果放到道德判断里，这种理由则是完全不可接受的。每当有人拿这句话当理由，本质上就是在说：他们想不出一个真正站得住脚的原因。如果有人这样解释，你就让他想象一下，把这句话拿去对记者或法官说一遍，看能走多远。

脑子里只是习惯性的复制别人的想法，有这种惯性的很难再改回去。

If you see anything whose propriety or legality causes you to hesitate, be sure to give me a call. However, it’s very likely that if a given course of action evokes such hesitation, it’s too close to the line and should be abandoned. There’s plenty of money to be made in the center of the court. If it’s questionable whether some action is close to the line, just assume it is outside and forget it.

如果你看到什么事情，在“合不合适”或者“合不合法”上，让你哪怕犹豫了一下，请一定给我打电话。不过，很可能只要某个行动会让你产生这种犹豫，它就已经离红线太近，应该直接放弃。球场中间有大把可以赚钱的位置，不必靠着边线铤而走险。如果你在犹豫某个行为是不是靠近边线，那就直接假定它已经越界，然后把它忘掉。

As a corollary, let me know promptly if there’s any significant bad news. I can handle bad news but I don’t like to deal with it after it has festered for awhile. A reluctance to face up immediately to bad news is what turned a problem at Salomon from one that could have easily been disposed of into one that almost caused the demise of a firm with 8,000 employees.

顺带一提，如果有任何重大的坏消息，请第一时间告诉我。我可以处理坏消息，但我不喜欢接手那些已经拖了一阵子、开始“发酵”的坏消息。当年 Salomon 的事件，本来是一个可以轻松解决的小问题，之所以演变成几乎让一家拥有 8,000 名员工的公司走到崩溃边缘，就是因为当初有人不愿立刻面对坏消息。

Somebody is doing something today at Berkshire that you and I would be unhappy about if we knew of it. That’s inevitable: We now employ more than 250,000 people and the chances of that number getting through the day without any bad behavior occurring is nil. But we can have a huge effect in minimizing such activities by jumping on anything immediately when there is the slightest odor of impropriety. Your attitude on such matters, expressed by behavior as well as words, will be the most important factor in how the culture of your business develops. Culture, more than rule books, determines how an organization behaves.

在 Berkshire 今天，一定有人正在做一些事情——如果你和我知道了，会感到很不高兴。这是不可避免的：我们现在雇佣了超过 250,000 名员工，指望这么多人在一天之内没有任何不当行为发生，概率基本为零。但我们可以在第一时间对任何“有一点不对劲的味道”的行为做出反应，从而大幅减少这类事情的发生。你在这类问题上的态度——不仅通过言语，更通过实际行为——会成为决定你所在业务单元文化走向的最关键因素。文化，比制度手册，更能决定一个组织会如何行事。

In other respects, talk to me about what is going on as little or as much as you wish. Each of you does a first-class job of running your operation with your own individual style and you don’t need me to help. The only items you need to clear with me are any changes in post-retirement benefits and any unusually large capital expenditures or acquisitions.

在其他方面，你愿意多和我聊聊公司里发生的事也好，愿意少聊也好，完全随你。你们每个人都用各自独特的风格，把各自负责的业务经营得一流，并不需要我来帮忙。唯一需要事先和我沟通、取得同意的事项有两类：一是关于退休后福利的任何变动，二是任何异常巨大的资本支出或收购。

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I need your help in respect to the question of succession. I’m not looking for any of you to retire and I hope you all live to 100. (In Charlie’s case, 110.) But just in case you don’t, please send me a letter (at home if you wish) giving your recommendation as who should take over tomorrow if you should become incapacitated overnight. These letters will be seen by no one but me unless I’m no longer CEO, in which case my successor will need the information. Please summarize the strengths and weaknesses of your primary candidate as well as any possible alternates you may wish to include. Most of you have participated in this exercise in the past and others have offered your ideas verbally. However, it’s important to me to get a periodic update, and now that we have added so many businesses, I need to have your thoughts in writing rather than trying to carry them around in my memory. Of course, there are a few operations that are run by two or more of you – such as the Blumkins, the Merschmans, the pair at Applied Underwriters, etc. – and in these cases, just forget about this item. Your note can be short, informal, handwritten, etc. Just mark it “Personal for Warren.”

我在接班人问题上需要你的帮助。我并不是希望你们谁现在退休，也真心希望你们都能活到 100 岁（对 Charlie 来说是 110 岁）。但以防万一，如果你哪天在一夜之间丧失工作能力，请给我写一封信（如果你愿意，可以寄到我家里），提出你认为“明天应该由谁来接管你的工作”的推荐意见。这些信件除了我之外不会给任何人看，除非我已经不再担任 CEO，那时候我的继任者就需要这些信息。请简要说明你首选接班人的优势和劣势，同时，如果你愿意，也可以附上若干备选人选及他们的优缺点。你们当中的大多数人过去已经参加过这个“练习”，其他一些人也曾经口头表达过自己的想法。不过，对我来说，定期更新这方面的信息非常重要；而且，既然我们现在又新增了这么多业务，我更需要把你们的想法写在纸面上，而不是试图全靠记忆把它们装在脑子里。当然，有少数业务是由你们两位或多人共同负责的——比如 Blumkins、Merschmans、Applied Underwriters 的那对搭档等等——在这些情况下，就不必理会这一条要求。你的便条可以很短、很随意、手写都没问题，只要在上面标注“Personal for Warren”即可。

Thanks for your help on all of this. And thanks for the way you run your businesses. You make my job easy.

感谢你在这一切上的帮助，也感谢你经营好自己业务的方式。你们让我的工作变得轻松许多。

WEB/db

P.S. Another minor request: Please turn down all proposals for me to speak, make contributions, intercede with the Gates Foundation, etc. Sometimes these requests for you to act as intermediary will be accompanied by “It can’t hurt to ask.” It will be easier for both of us if you just say “no.” As an added favor, don’t suggest that they instead write or call me. Multiply 76 businesses by the periodic “I think he’ll be interested in this one” and you can understand why it is better to say no firmly and immediately.

P.S. 还有一个小小的请求：请你一律婉拒所有邀请我去演讲、请求我捐款、希望我替他们在 Gates Foundation 面前说情之类的提议。有时候，对方在请你充当“中间人”时，会附上一句“问一问总不会有坏处吧”。如果你直接替我说“不”，对你我双方都更省事。另外，拜托不要建议他们去给我写信或打电话。76 家公司乘上“他（Buffett）可能会对这个感兴趣”这种周期性念头，你就能明白，为什么更好的办法是干脆利落、立刻说“不”。

2010-07-26 Warren Buffett.To Berkshire Hathaway Managers (“The All-Stars”)

2010-07-26 Warren Buffett.To Berkshire Hathaway Managers (“The All-Stars”)

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