The Pilgrimage to Omaha and What It Means for the Health Care Industry

Once again this year, as in previous years, I journeyed to spend the weekend at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Far from the average boring stuff of a shareholders meeting, this session, with attendance that has increased an average of 10 percent per year and totaled some 40,000 this year, is half comedy show and half profound wisdom as presented directly by Warren Buffett, the second- richest person in the world, and his sidekick (aka Vice Chairman Charlie Munger), who at 86 is still sharp as the proverbial tack.

As I spent the day watching and listening, I pondered the meaning of all that was happening for health care marketers and marketing researchers. In a nutshell, here are a few key principles that I took away.

Play for the Long Haul - As clearly demonstrated by Warren and Charlie, the gurus of value investing, successful businesses are not developed based on chasing quarterly earnings reports and quick-flip strategies. When Berkshire buys a business, it intends to hold on to it and grow it, being patient along the way. We should all be mindful of this strategy in our approaches to business.

Develop a Loyal Following - One of the key elements of the Berkshire Hathaway approach to business is to focus on developing a group of like-minded stockholders. Since Warren and Charlie started out investing money for their family and friends, they have grown the business with the same close-knit feeling with which they started.

Running a huge corporate empire with a “home office” of 21 people makes sure that everyone stays close to the business, and not requiring operating managers to submit budgets ensures that nobody tries to fool anybody in terms of unrealistic goals. Rather than employing a huge set of accounting rules...