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Lawrence A. Cunningham
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Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values Kindle Edition

by Lawrence A. Cunningham (Author, Contributor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 123 ratings
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A profile of Berkshire Hathaway, the keys to its success, and how it can survive beyond its iconic chairman and CEO, Warren Buffett.

In a comprehensive portrait of the corporate culture that unites Berkshire’s subsidiaries, Lawrence Cunningham unearths the traits that assure the conglomerate's perpetual prosperity. Riveting stories of each subsidiary’s origins, triumphs, and journey to Berkshire reveal how managers generate economic value from intangibles like thrift, integrity, entrepreneurship, autonomy, and a sense of permanence.

Berkshire Beyond Buffett explores not only what will happen to Berkshire after Buffett, but presents all of Berkshire behind Buffett, the inspiring managerial luminaries, innovative entrepreneurs, and devotees of deep values that define this esteemed organization.

Whether or not you are convinced that Berkshire can endure without Buffett, the book is full of management lessons for small and large businesses, entrepreneurs, family firms, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Enjoy entertaining tales from Berkshire’s 50 main subsidiaries, including Dairy Queen, GEICO, Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, BNSF, Justin, Pampered Chef, Marmon, Clayton Homes, FlightSafety, and more.

“An invaluable read for entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, managers and anyone wanting to learn more about corporate stewardship.”—The Economist

“How did Warren Buffett build such a great firm as Berkshire Hathaway? To unravel this mystery, Lawrence Cunningham takes a deep dive inside the cultures of Berkshire's subsidiaries, highlighting the value of integrity, kinship, and autonomy—and revealing how building moats around the castles may help the firm outlast its visionary founder.”—Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of Give and Take

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  1. Print length
    334 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
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  4. Publisher
    Columbia Business School Publishing
  5. Publication date
    October 21, 2014
  6. File size
    2438 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An invaluable read for entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, managers and anyone wanting to learn more about corporate stewardship."
(The Economist)

"How did Warren Buffett build such a great firm as Berkshire Hathaway? To unravel this mystery, Lawrence Cunningham takes a deep dive inside the cultures of Berkshire's subsidiaries, highlighting the value of integrity, kinship, and autonomy -- and revealing how building moats around the castles may help the firm outlast its visionary founder."
Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of Give and Take

"Berkshire's trajectory has been so seamless that Warren's professional transition has gone almost unnoticed. The man who began business life as a precocious 'stock picker' has morphed into chief executive of one of the largest collections of businesses in the world. Larry's book astutely chronicles this development."
From the Foreword by Tom Murphy, former CEO, Capital Cities/ABC

"Lawrence Cunningham was Warren Buffett's pick for cataloging and organizing Berkshire's famous annual reports. Now Cunningham has taken us in a new direction, inside the companies of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Beyond Buffett is an insightful and important book."
Robert Hagstrom, author of The Warren Buffett Way

"Fascinating . . . biography of both Buffett and Berkshire."
Don Dion, Seeking Alpha

"An extraordinary portrait of the fifty direct subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway, investment guru Warren Buffett's $300 billion conglomerate, told through the companies' distinct stories and the vital values like integrity, autonomy, entrepreneurship and a sense of permanence that they, and Buffett, share."
David Slocum, Forbes

"Berkshire Beyond Buffett is a great deep dive into Berkshire’s portfolio and Buffett’s theories of management. Furthermore, the book breaks ground by showing Buffett to be an exceptional manager, and not just a legendary investor."
Thomson-Reuters

From the Back Cover

Inside view of Berkshire Hathaway based on interviews with dozens of top managers and board members.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00K33E460
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia Business School Publishing; Illustrated edition (October 21, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 21, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2438 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 123 ratings

About the author

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Lawrence A. Cunningham

Lawrence A. Cunningham

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Lawrence Cunningham's two dozen books include The Essays of Warren Buffett, which Cunningham self-published into an international best-seller that he has arranged for translation into a dozen languages.

An influential thought leader in both value investing and corporate governance, Cunningham's other notable books include Quality Investing (long time best seller with AKO Capital), The AIG Story (with Hank Greenberg) and Margin of Trust (which Warren Buffett singled out for special mention in his 2020 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders).

Cunningham ​advises companies, boards and shareholders, currently as the founder of Quality Shareholders Group and special counsel at Mayer Brown LLP. He has served on numerous corporate boards, of both private and public companies, including Markel Group (New York Stock Exchange) and Constellation Software Inc. (Toronto Stock Exchange).

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
123 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Guy Spier
5.0 out of 5 stars Even people who have never heard of Berkshire Hathaway or Warren Buffett need to read this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2014
Verified Purchase
Berkshire Beyond Buffett is a must read not just for Buffett fans, but for anyone who wants to understand where business is headed. Far ahead of his peers in academia, Larry Cunningham came to the realization that Warren Buffett has lessons to teach that go far beyond business and investing, and which are valid for a far broader audience than just the Berkshire crowd.

This books takes the reader deep into the culture of Berkshire Hathaway and shows how a seemingly disparate group of businesses share a remarkable and deeply enduring common culture.

The rest of us can benefit greatly from studying and seeking to emulate that culture in our own lives and this book serves as a wonderful and eminently readable resource and jumping off point.
21 people found this helpful
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Marj Jensen
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Detail
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2014
Verified Purchase
Great amount of detail - especially about the concetrations of ownership.
2 people found this helpful
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Matthew Morine
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Look into Culture and the Company
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
You cannot read "preacher" books all the time. I also enjoy investing, and have studied this topic some too. Before I went into ministry, I gained an education in business. This is still an interest of mine. So I have been thinking about creating a position in Warren Buffet's company, but was concerned with the future after he resigns or is resigned to another place, so this book talks about the long lasting nature of Berkshire. This company is conservative in perspective, and would be a safer investment in the market, but would become a core holding of mine. The book deals with the culture of the company, which is hands off, and highly trusting. It also buys companies that seem to be a value in the market, but it is bigger than mere value, it is buying great companies, and willing to pay a fair price. I noticed that a lot of the companies that Buffet buys are family run companies, which have a strong work ethic too. The book also provided perhaps some leadership lessons that would helpful, but it mostly was about the longevity of Berkshire. Some of the companies are not my favorites, but I like the approach of the holding company, and trust in their ability to manage resources well. The company is trading pretty cheaply these days, at about 1.3 of value of the company. Buffet said he would buy back shares at 1.2, which if he feels that his company is a good deal, it probably is. This is not a flowing read, but it is an interesting one, especially if you are going to have "skin in the game." I was highly motived to read it.
2 people found this helpful
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B. Nocerini
3.0 out of 5 stars Good subsidiary stories
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
You won't learn much more about Buffett or Berkshire unless your an investing newbie. But there is some nice history on the subsidiaries acquired over the years.

Secret of success: zero cost capital (from insurance ops) + acquisitions in times of panic + decentralized management + compounding interest.
One person found this helpful
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Neal Kluge
5.0 out of 5 stars Addendum to this book (excuse my impertinence)
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2014
Verified Purchase
Larry Cunningham has done a superb job on how Buffett's functions can be split up among various people and Berkshire will keep sailing up.

In short,

S&P 500 has averaged 10% per year & Berkshire has averaged 20% per year. Compound that over decades and the difference comes to 1/2 a million % not 10% over one year.

There are some Buffett's functions that cannot be replaced as there is only one Warren Edward Buffett ( WEB). Here is a partial list:

1.Public Relations. Can talk to the President. Obama will probably not pick up a call from Buffett's successor
2.Tower of integrity ( results in true permanent financial value to Berkshire)
3. Bursts of Brilliance:
3a.Thought up the BAC deal when in his bath-tub! Made Berkshire > $ 7 ½ Bill.
3b.Bought BNSF which increased Berkshire per share earnings by 40% while giving up only 10% of Berkshire equity
3c.Hiring of Ajit Jain to run the Insurance Operations leading to no cost funds
All three of these added real value to Berkshire Shareholders. Would Ted Weschler be able to do similar ?
4.Buffett the teacher - a huge asset to the entire Value Investor community, not just Berkshire shareholders. Buffett addresses the inevitable changes that come every 5-10 years.We Value Investors will be 'lost' if Buffett 'retires'
5.Buffett is a fundamentally good man, a true living treasure for the world
6.Running the Annual Meeting, done with near perfection. A new CEO will take a few years to come up to speed.

In summary, I feel Berkshire will return > 15% a year over decades after WEB steps down from Berkshire ( assuming the index keeps returning about 10% )

All these points are my own opinions from attending Annual Meetings the first Saturday in May for 10 years, reading annual letters from WEB, reading books on WEB, thinking through,etc,etc.
One person found this helpful
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Mike
4.0 out of 5 stars Its well written and gives a good climpse into Berkshire culture provided it represented correctly
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
Its well written and gives a good climpse into Berkshire culture provided it represented correctly. The only reason for 4 stars versus 5 is that 2/3rds in I am still hoping for a true "Wow". But even if I don't find it, its a good read. My key take away for myself is that the mist boring businesses can be cash generators for decades while many are hurting going in or after fashionable business segments. Maybe trivial but that's my take away learning about Berkshire businesses.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Richard Marie-france
5.0 out of 5 stars MERCI PARFAIT
Reviewed in France on November 15, 2019
Verified Purchase
MERCI PARFAIT
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M Pousada
4.0 out of 5 stars entendendo o investidor!
Reviewed in Brazil on November 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
Livro muito bom sobre como o Waren Buffet montou a Berkshire Hathaway e de como ele se tornou o homem mais rico do mundo. O autor teve um negocio comprado pelo Buffet no inicio do livro.
É impressionante como a disciplina de investimento ajudou ele a construir este império. Um dos mantras dele é a descentralização, ou seja ele so entra em negócios que tenha alguém que pode controlar o negocio como dono de negocio.
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Fernando Aveline
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on May 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
Great
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Wicketywick
3.0 out of 5 stars Hm....
Reviewed in Germany on October 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
The first bit of the book was enlightening and got me thinking and taught me a valuable lesson for life. Understanding the basic concepts of Berkshire is helpful and teaches one about values in business. So it was definitely worth the money and the time.

However, the rest of the book is dull and reads a little like a broschure for Berkshire. I honestly don't know what the latter part of the book is trying to accomplish. I kept on having to force myself to continue reading hoping for something worth the time. All seems repetitive.

My tip, enjoy the first 50 Pages.
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Sandesh Pendse
5.0 out of 5 stars Berkshire will continue to prosper now and beyond Buffett
Reviewed in India on January 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
This book is a great read after Built to Last since it focuses on benefits of building a great organizational culture which will outlast its creators. This book focuses on current investments made by Berkshire Hathaway until end of 2014. Usually Warren does not disclose current investments he makes. Its also great to understand the broad canvas across which his investments range, why those specific investments were made and most importantly points out that there is no common set of rules used to study his purchases prior to him buying a company. Its a thought provoking read.
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