Thread

Warren Buffett Steps Down as Berkshire Chairman, Names Son to Replace Him

323 points · 221 comments · saimiam

dugmartin · 1789732295 · focus · HN ↗
I guess Warren’s quote only applies to other people, not him. "It’s like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics." (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/14/us/dozens-of-rich-americans-join-in-fight-to-retain-the-estate-tax.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/14/us/dozens-of-rich-america...)
1. Nemi · 1789734731 · focus · HN ↗
  The Chairman position is to protect company culture, not make operational decisions.
  1. cube00 · 1789735413 · focus · HN ↗
    Not sure any chairman has their ear to the ground to fully understand the culture within their organization.
    I never saw our CEO in person, never saw our chairman even on a webinar.
    And yes it's not their job to be that low level, but they can't have an idea of the culture either.
    ekjhgkejhgk · 1789735738 · focus · HN ↗
    "Company culture" at Berkshire Hathway doesn't mean the same as at most companies. BH buys companies and don't interfere with them. So while BH employs upwards of 100k people, the people whose culture the CEO cares about is probably under 100 people.
    red-iron-pine · 1789744880 · focus · HN ↗
    sounds like a role that can be replaced by GPT
    GuB-42 · 1789751375 · focus · HN ↗
    I actually asked GPT that question some time ago.
    The importance of top executive decisions is overstated, they often do no better than random chance. But their decisions are not where their value lies.
    The important part is that they own their decisions, or at least appear to do so. And in doing that, they gain trust for the company, they are the company face. It is more of a performance than a technical job. By that, I don't mean it is fake, people will notice if you don't know what you are talking about, and it won't inspire confidence, which is what leaders try to avoid at all costs.
    LLMs will probably be at least as good at decision making (I mean, that's almost a dice roll), and they can be convincing, which is important too, but they are completely lacking in the trust department. No one want to work for a machine, no one want to do business negotiations with a machine either. That's why it is important to have a human on top.

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