Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist

by Roger Lowenstein

quarter century earlier, standing in the shadows of the Hathaway mill, Buffett had told Ken Chace that he wanted employees who thought like owners. Now, in the glass-and-steel splendor of Wall Street, he told Maughan that he was quite prepared to lose large numbers of staff. Maughan wondered how many. Buffett said, “Deryck, we can’t buy loyalty.”

This was Buffett’s essential virtue—the courage to stick to his course.

Notably, he says he does not enjoy running businesses; he enjoys owning them.18

I certainly have no desire to sell a good controlled business run by people I like and admire, merely to obtain a fancy price.