What makes Warren Buffett such a potent CEO? According to Carol Loomis, it’s the proactive way in which the Berkshire Hathaway leader communicates with shareholders. Loomis has written for Fortune for more than 50 years and edits Buffett’s annual must-read letter to shareholders. “You make yourself available at your annual shareholders’ meeting. Warren and [Berkshire Hathaway Chairman] Charlie Munger sit on stage for hours answering shareholder questions…that openness goes a long way toward making shareholders feel at ease and the larger public…he writes personal letters, going into the office on Saturdays,” says Becky Quick, who with Loomis and New York Times’ reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin were the three journalists facilitating questions at Berkshire’s last annual meeting. “It’s communications to the public writ large,” noted Richard Levick
The annual shareholders’ letter stands in contrast to newer channels of communication that Loomis and Quick both acknowledged have changed how they find information and locate sources, although both said they don’t use Twitter or Facebook.
Levick advised that directors at least ascertain whether management is aware of the “high-authority bloggers”covering their industry or company, noting that some members of Congress are now doing this.
Both of the media panelists said that they spend little time speaking directly to public company board directors. “In most cases,” Loomis noted, “we can’t get board members to talk to us about issues such as compensation. We read the proxy statements and the arguments in the CD&A.” Quick concurred, asking the audience, “Would you like my phone number?”