QuestionerGreg, this question is for you. It comes from a shareholder named Jay Milroy, who writes, Mr. Buffett has a hands-off approach to managing the operating subsidiaries. How would you describe your approach?
Greg AbelWell, we've got our managers over there, and I would say going back to 2018, it's been a, it's been very fortunate being this role, because, one, I had to learn a lot of the businesses, and there's no question as, as a, Warren bought the businesses, had that general knowledge. I absolutely had to engage with each of them, and they've been great in sharing their business models, their approach, their thoughts around, where the risks and opportunities are. And I think as we went through that, there's no question. I had questions and wanted to engage with them. And Warren talks about the curiosity being important And as you go through things, that would be my style to have questions and comments around their business, their frameworks. At the same time, they have great businesses, and they run them very autonomously. And that remains in place. But if there's opportunities to see where maybe you've seen something in another business or an opportunity I may see in their industry, we're going to discuss it and see if that's something we should pursue or we properly addressing the risk. And I found all our managers to be absolutely engaging on that and want to have those dialogues. And I'd say that's a reflection of my approach. I'd also say that when you think of our managers, again, very autonomous. They run their businesses. They know it better than I ever will. But if I see an opportunity that it's well worth their time to talk to another one of our managers. If it's GEICO and they've gone through a technology transformation, they're not by themselves that need to be thinking that way. We want to make sure the right folks are talking and figuring out how we can benefit from the prior experiences. So it's, I would say, more active. But hopefully in a very positive way and we got an exceptional group, so it's worked out exceptionally well as I've gone through that period of time.
WarrenIt's working way better with Greg than with me because, you know, I just, I didn't want to work as hard as he works, and I could get away with it because we've got to basically go to the business, very good business, and I wasn't in danger of you firing me by virtue of both ownership and the fact that we would do pretty well.
[3:02]
WarrenBut the fact that you can do pretty well doesn't mean you couldn't do better, and Greg can do better at many things. Many people want to be managed, need help and being managed. Some don't. Some you just leave alone. You know, we've had managers that would have been crazy to start giving instructions to because they just quit. And I wouldn't blame them. I'd be the same type myself. But a lot of people, I mean, people really do welcome direction and help and, you know, and particularly when they're getting it from somebody like Greg that really lives the life himself and doesn't just come down from high and say, you know, here's what you do while I do something else. And if you get enough companies, you're going to get a lot of different forms of behavior. and Greg does something about it, and I've generally been laxed in doing something about it, but he's done a way better job as that than I have.