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The Good, The Bad And The Buffett

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By CECIL JOHNSON McClatchy-Tribune News Service

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

"Good Guys & Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes with the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business (And Everything in Between)" by Joe Nocera; Portfolio, 292 pages ($25.95)

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In Omaha, Neb., on the first Saturday in May in 1998, the skies did for Warren Buffett something similar to what the Red Sea did for Moses, writes New York Times business columnist Joe Nocera in one of the highlight articles of this splendid collection of reprised reports.

The column, which first appeared in Money magazine, is titled "Saint Warren of Omaha." It details the happenings during the three-day Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting that year. Warren throws the annual party for the legions of Buffett followers and investors who flock to Omaha to partake of the wit and wisdom of the widely acclaimed investment genius. About 11,000 of them packed the largest arena in the city for the teach-in.

Other events included a huge cocktail party at Borshiem's Fine Jewelry store (owned by Berkshire Hathaway); a meal at Buffett's favorite steakhouse, Gorat's; and another feast at the Dairy Queen, a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway.

It appeared, however, that one of the big events, an Omaha Royals baseball game, would be rained out.

Shareholders who had come from far and near were nervous. They would be at a loss to fill the rest of the day if the game were rained out.

"But then the clock struck 5 p.m., and the rain suddenly stopped, and the sun broke through the clouds. Two hours later, when Buffett threw out the first pitch, the field was dry enough to play on and the weather was just about perfect. It stayed that way for the duration of the game. And wouldn't you know it? The moment the game ended and Buffett headed for home, the skies darkened. By the time the stands emptied, the downpour had begun again in earnest," writes Nocera.

Nocera uses the baseball game episode as a way of segueing into his opinion of just how extraordinary Buffett is, how his way of investing and his success fly in the face of so-called "random walk" theory, which has to do with luck, and also belies the notion that anyone could achieve Buffett's kind of investment success merely by imitating him.

Still, Nocera does not buy into the "hard work" explanation completely. He says he came away from the Berkshire Hathaway weekend "utterly convinced that what Buffett does is, in its own way, as unreachable as anything Michael Jordan does.

He maintains that what Buffett has accomplished is miraculous.

Buffett is only one of dozens of prominent members of the business community and associated professions revisited in the pages of this captivating anthology.

"Good Guys & Bad Guys" is an extraordinary achievement in recycling. Nocera spices the assortment of previously published articles with insightful and often witty introductory commentaries that give them historical context and present-day relevance.

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