Serena Ng and Erik Holm wrote an article about Warren Buffett’s current aide David Sokol in The Wall Street Journal. This article presents the facts about a recent trade Sokol made and the negative impacts it has on his future at Berkshire Hathaway.
Warren Buffett as well as many people close to this situation thought that Sokol would succeed Buffet at Hathaway. However, the trade deals that Sokol performed have led to his resignation from the organization. This is significant because due to the amount of trust Buffett had in Sokol. Leaders of today’s organizations need to be careful with their succession plans, despite Buffett selection it all boils down to the candidate. Sokol is not a bad person but this one decision has negatively affected his future.
I feel that this story relates to the presentation Dave Margers made during his keynote speech. “You can win with integrity,” this appears to be a contradiction but the fact of the matter is that today’s business transactions require more trust and integrity than ever before.
Even a great leader and investor like Warren Buffett was blindsided by this transaction, which imposes an extra degree of caution when key decisions are made. We all are exposed to these decisions everyday and it is never easy to win with integrity but it will lead long –term success. While ethics play into this news story I feel that the actions of Sokol may lead to Buffett being placed under further scrutiny. We shall see how this plays out for Buffett…
Penned by: Drew Alfrey
Article information
Serena Ng and Erik Holm, The Wall Street Journal, "Buffett Jolted as Aide Quits" Page A1 3/31/2011
That is a really good connection with Dave Merger's speech. Integrity is so important in business, as well as life in general. If people can't trust you, you will fail. With the free flow of information being so important now in this age of social networks, ethical mistakes are always in the news. Once they are out there it is very, very hard to reverse people's perception. Because of all of this, Buffet and his company will probably take a hit.
ReplyDeletePosted by Jason Svela