MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

The power of self-interest in business and economics is, of course, well established.

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, “but from their regard to their own interest.”

VII, 6.19.05

当然，在商业和经济中，利己主义的力量是已确定的。“屠夫、酿酒商、面包师给我们提供晚餐，他不是出于仁慈，而是为了从我们得到回报。”亚当·斯密在他的《国富论》中如此写道。

 

There is no way to make a good deal with a bad person. It’s the character of the people you go into business with that will fundamentally determine your investment returns and your ability to sleep well and eat well in the meantime. If you’re not comfortable with the people involved because of their prior conduct and how they’ve treated shareholders, you’re probably not going to be comfortable with your investment results. I take it to heart and use it as a screen for potential investments.

Thomas Russo, 4.27.05

与一个坏人做成一项好的生意是绝无可能的。你与之做生意人的性格基本决定了你在此期间的投资回报率，你是否能吃得香睡得好。如果因为他们先前的行为和他们对待股东的方式让你感觉不舒服，你对你的投资结果可能也不会舒服。我牢记并将之用于筛选潜在的投资。

 

We tend to be more about the jockey than the horse. It’s important to understand how people are going to behave under stress. You don’t have to predict the future if you know the company has the assets and management to do well in difficult times. I believe that’s when the seeds for exceptional performance are planted.

Bruce Berkowitz, 4.28.06

我们倾向于去做骑师而不是马。了解人们在压力下的行为非常重要。如果你知道这家公司在困难时期在资产和管理方面做得很好，你就不必去预测未来。我相信出色业绩的种子此时已经种下。

 

I’m at a stage in my career where I’d say human behavior is the most important determinant of a business’s long-term success. I don’t care how smart an analyst you are, you can’t really know what’s going on inside a business. We want to invest not only in highly capable managers, but also those with clear track records of  integrity and acting in shareholders’ best interest. I’ve found that when a manager puts his hands in shareholders’ pockets once, he’s much more likely to do so again.

Charles Akre, 11.30.06

在我的职业舞台，我认为如果能够企业长期顺利发展，人的行为是最具决定性的因素。我不关心你这个分析师有多聪明，或者你真是不知道在企业内部会发生什么。我们不仅仅想投资于能力超强的职业经理，我们也在乎那些在诚信方面有干净记录的，并且对股东的最大利益有所作为的人。我发现，一旦一个经理人把手放在股东的兜里一次，他就可能有第二次。

 

You can’t overstate the importance of the CEO in judging an investment. My best ideas, by far, have been in situations where a new CEO takes over an undermanaged franchise. If we only focused on one thing, that would be it.

Kenneth Feinberg, 5.31.07

在判断一项投资时，你不能夸大CEO的重要性。至今为止，我的最好的一个主意是在一个新的CEO接管了一个疏于管理的特许经营公司时得到的。如果我们只集中在一件事上，就应该是这个。

 

Julian [Robertson] was maniacal on the importance of management: ‘Have you done your work on management?’ Yes, sir. ‘Where did the CFO go to college?’ Umm, umm. ‘I thought you did your work?’ He wanted you to know everything there was to know about the people running the companies you invested in.

Lee Ainslie, 12.22.06

朱利安·罗伯森执迷于管理的重要性：‘你在管理方面做工作了吗？’是的，先生。‘CFO是从哪所学校毕业的’‘嗯，嗯，我不知道’，‘我还以为你做了工作？’他希望你了解关于管理你所投资的公司这家公司人员的所有事情。

 

We don’t ascribe to the view you shouldn’t meet with management to avoid being “sold.” A personal connection gives us a better understanding of what’s going on, allows us to judge management more directly and even can give us some influence all of which we consider necessary to invest with conviction.

Randall Abramson, 12.21.07

我不认为你应该与管理团队会见以避免被“出卖”。一个私人关系会让我们对事情的发展有着更好的理解，可以让我们对管理进行更直接的判断，以至于会影响我们的决定——所有的一切中，我们认为最必要的是带有信心的投资。

 

Making judgments about management is important to us and something I think value managers tend to underweight. You can analyze something statistically, but if you expect to own it for 10 years, management is going to make thousands of decisions you can't predict and may never even know about, which collectively make earnings compound at a rate more or less than they would have otherwise. Those things can add up over time to the difference between a Staples and an Office Depot.

Boykin Curry, 3.31.08

对管理团队做判断对我们来说是很重要的，这些事情我认为价值投资经理都低估了。你可以在统计上对一些东西进行分析，但是你希望拥有它10年，管理团队将做出数以千计你无法预计的决定，甚至你永远不会知道的决定，这些都会使复合收益与其应有的增多或者减少。随着时间的推移，这些东西累加起来的差异会象一枚订书钉和一家办公用品仓库的差异一样大。

 

[The importance of handicapping management’s skill] really depends on the type of investment we’re making. If a company is under-earning against its industry or historical levels and the challenge is to get things back to normal, my perspective would be more like Rich Pzena’s – that if current management can’t figure it out, someone else will. But in a situation where the business is growing and management’s ability to reinvest capital is critical to the thesis, knowing and believing in management is very important.

Alan Fournier, 2.28.07

[妨碍管理团队能力的重要性]依赖于我们做的投资的类型。如果一家公司的利润水平低于整个行业，或者其历史水平，需要做的事情是让它回归正常，我的观点可能与Rich Pzena的更相像——如果现在的管理团队解决不了，那就换其他人。如果情形是企业一直在成长，则管理团队的资本再投资能力相对于主题来说更关键。了解和相信管理团队是非常重要的。

 

Excellent management is usually critical to successful turnarounds. While management changes aren’t always necessary, we often view management changes positively. You’re much more likely to get a frank, thorough appraisal of what has gone wrong and why, so you’ll probably understand the situation better. My confidence also increases when a strong new manager has been attracted to a given situation and is highly motivated to perform.

Kevin O’Boyle, 11.21.07

出色的管理层通常对成功的转向非常重要。更换管理团队不总是很必要，我们也经常关注管理团队积极的一面。你应该很坦白地，彻底评价发生了什么错误和为什么，这样你对境况的了解会更完善。当一个强有力的经理人被吸引到特定的环境中，有强的执行动机时，我的信心也会增加。

 

We'd rather analyze the company, its opportunities and issues, and how it has allocated capital in the past, without first being fed the party line. When we do meet with management, it should be an educated discussion between two knowledgeable parties.

Charles de Lardemelle, 11.26.08

我们愿意分析一家公司，它的机会和问题，在过去如何分配他们的资金，不会有先入为主。当我们确实需要与管理团队相见，那对很在行的双方来讲都是一个很好的讨论学习的机会。

 

[The ideal turnaround CEO] is a first time CEO, between the ages of 48 and 52. They have 25 to 30 years of experience, but have never had a #1 spot. They’re seeking out a challenge, have everything to prove and – while they’ve surely done very well – probably haven’t yet had the huge payday, which they badly want.

[理想的扭转局势的CEO]是第一次的CEO，年纪在48至52之间。他们具有20-30年的经验，还没有任何污点。他们寻求挑战，让每件事情来证明——他们要是的确做得很好——可能他们还未真正地赚过一大笔钱，那是他们非常想得到的。

Lloyd Khaner, 4.28.06

 

For asset stories, we want at least to see competent management that won’t mess up the value of the assets we’ve identified. With cash-flow ideas, we’re depending on

future execution to deliver the cash flow that at the moment is just a number in our model, so first-class management is much more important.

Chistopher Grisanti, 10.31.07

关于资产的故事，我们至少想看到不会把我们认可的资产价值搞糟的、胜任的管理团队。关于现金流，我们依靠未来的执行来释放那些现金流——目前在我们的模型里还仅仅是一个数字，所以一流的管理团队是非常重要的。

 

We sometimes buy companies with bad management, if that fact is more than accounted for in the price. At a cheap enough price on a decent business, I’m willing to ride out any problems until somebody, if not current management, figures out how to turn things around.

Robert Olstein, 9.28.05

如果在价格上事实多过解释，我们有时会买管理团队很差的公司。一个不错的公司，有一个足够便宜的价格，我们愿意安全渡过问题时期直到某个人——如果不是现在的管理团队——来解决如果扭转局势。

 

The hardest thing is to find management that actually objectively behaves in shareholders’ interest as opposed to their own long-term interest. It’s not what they say, it’s what they actually do. Take SPX Corp., the industrial company that came out with this elaborate description on how they were focused on EVA[Economic Value Added] …until they didn’t hit their targets and then the board changed the criteria and gave management their bonuses anyway, saying “it wasn’t their fault, the economy was bad, why should they get penalized for that?” So you’re looking for managements and boards that actually act in shareholders’ interest, and there aren’t many of them.

Bill Miller, 6.19.05

发现管理团队自己的长期利益与股东利益不一致是件困难的事情。我们不看他们怎样说，而要看他们如何做。比如SPX Corp公司，他们宣布了详细的说明他们如何重视EVA，直到他们没有完成他们的目标计划，然后董事会改变了标准，依然给管理团队发放了奖金，还说“这不是他们的错，经济不景气，为什么他们要受到处罚？”所以，你要寻找的是能代表股东利益的管理层和董事会，这样的情形并不多。

 

I started my career doing criminal defense work and learned a lot from having my clients lie to me and having to see through that. That’s been invaluable in dealing with corporate America.

Edward Studzinski, 4.30.08

我的职业生涯是从一种防止犯罪开始的，并从当事人撒谎中学到了很多，我必须能看穿他。这在与公司交往中是无价之宝。

 

Investors face a variety of risks, which we can more or less address in how we conduct our analysis and make our investment choices. But the risk that can really set you back – and is more difficult to control – is if you have a management that takes these great cash flows and expropriates them more for their own benefit than for the benefit of the company. That, I think, is the biggest risk public equity owners face.

Thomas Russo, 4.27.05

投资者面对着多种的风险，我们能够或多或少专注于怎样进行分析和进行投资选择。但这种风险会真正让你受挫——而且非常难于掌控——那就是公司的管理团队拥有大量现金，并将其更多地用于他们自己的利益而不是公司的利益。我认为，这是公众股东面对的最大的风险。

 

It’s fascinating how differently the same business can perform with two different leaders. We look first for intellectual honesty. It drives me crazy when you meet with management and there are real issues and they act like they aren’t there. Also important is a contrarian bent, a confidence to go against the prevailing trend. You generally don’t want people who are saying this is what we should do because this is what others are doing. You want people who are spending when others are not, and taking chips off the table when everybody else is putting them on.

Jeffrey Ubben, 1.31.06

了解两个不同的管理者管理同一公司有何异同是有趣的。我们首先看良知的诚实。当我们与公司管理团队会见时发现，真正的问题就在那里，但他们却无动于衷，这让我发狂。还有一点重要的是逆向思维的品质，一种虽千万人吾往矣的自信。你通常不需要那些说着‘因为其它人做什么我们就应该做什么’的那些人。你需要的人是别人不投资他投资，而当其他所有人都筹码压上时，他却转向离开那样的人。

 

We look for certain behavior patterns in management that are consistent with an efficient and prudent guardianship of our assets. If we visit a fan manufacturer in Texas and the CEO meets us at the airport in his Lexus, spends five hours with us and then takes us out to an expensive restaurant and buys $300 bottles of wine, that is suggestive of somebody who isn’t as prudent as we would like.

Carlo Cannell, 3.31.06

我们期待管理团队的某些行为方式能够保证对我们的资产有效而节俭地监管。如果我们拜访Texax的一家风扇生产企业，CEO开着Lexus到机场接我们，花5年小时陪我们，带我们去一家豪华饭店，点300美元一瓶的红酒，这是意味着某个人不象我们想象的那么节俭。

 

The most important question we ask management is what they believe is the best and

highest use of the cash their company generates. We want to make sure the answer is top of mind and, of course, that we ultimately agree with it.

我们问管理团队最重要的一个问题就是，他们认为什么是公司产生最好和最重要的使用方式。我们要确信回答是用心的，当然，最终我们会同意。

Christopher Grisanti, 10.31.07

 

The historical record on how they allocate capital – acquisitions, divestitures, buybacks, etc. – is ultimately most important to shareholder value, but we also pay attention to the level of management and director share ownership and whether they’re buying or selling. We mean real share ownership, not just options. It’s rare to see excellent capital allocation without significant share ownership.

Clyde McGregor, 4.30.08

他们如何配置资金的历史记录——如收购、剥离和回购——最终对股东价值是最重要的，但是我们也关注管理层和董事持股的量，还有是否他们买入或卖出。我们说是的真正的持股，而不仅是期权。出色的资产配置却没有大量的持股是很少见的。

 

One red flag is when management sits down with us and right off asks, “What do you think is wrong with our share price?” Any implicit or explicit focus on the share price rather than the business is a bad sign.

Edward Studzinski, 4.30.08

一个危险信号是当我们和管理团队坐在一起时他们迫不及待地问：“你认为我们的股价有什么问题？”任何含蓄的或坦率的关注股价而不是业务都是一个不好的征兆。

 

How management communicates about mistakes is very important. No one is mistake-free – as investment managers, about 40% of the stocks we buy end up underperforming the market – and I’d be concerned about any company where shareholder communication doesn’t include a candid assessment of mistakes.

Bill Nygren, 7.28.06

管理团队如何告知错误是很重要的。没有人从来不犯错的——作为投资经理，我们买入的40%的股票最终表现低于整个市场——我只是担忧那些在股东通讯里不包含公正的错误评价的公司。

 

In keeping with the dictum that tough times expose true character, now is a great time to pay attention to management pronouncements. If we read one more statement like this one from Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Tom McKillop, in announcing giant writedowns and the need to raise $24 billion in new capital, we're going to be ill: “This is a difficult time for the financial services industry, and it has presented us with specific challenges.” When times were good, we must have missed the memo saying, “This is a wonderful time in the financial services industry, presenting opportunities to make money hand over fist without paying much attention to credit standards or what we really own.”

VII, 4.30.08

如格言中所说，困难时刻见真心，现在是关注管理层声明的最佳时刻了。如果我们读到了Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Tom McKillop先生的这篇陈述，宣布巨大的减值并需要再筹集240亿美元资金，我们就离死不远了：“这是金融服务行业的一个困难时刻，这给我们提出了特殊的挑战。”当处在好的时期时，我们一定忘记了备忘录上说的：“这是金融服务行业的辉煌时期，提供了毫不费力盈利的机会，不用过于关注信用标准或者我们真正拥有的东西。”

 

Character today is best judged in the proxy statement – what do they pay themselves and how? Is their financial self-interest truly aligned with mine as a shareholder? I have absolutely no problem with the people running huge, complicated, global businesses making a lot of money. The big problem we have now is that you’re seeing a lot of superstar compensation for only minor-league performance.

Thomas Gayner, 5.26.06

性格现在从股东委托书上就可以很容易地判断——他们给自己的报酬是什么和是怎么给的？他们的金融利己主义是我们股东是站在一条线上的吗？我对经营着巨大的、复杂的、全球性的盈利企业的人们绝对没有意见。现在的问题是，你会看到很多人只是小的职业球队的表现，却拿着超级球星的报酬。