Wise Counsel from Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet gave the following counsel at his annual shareholder meeting that I feel is the way we should treat teachers:

Motivate subordinates with trust and accountability, not money and control.
When Buffett acquires whole companies, he doesn’t get involved in day-to-day management. Instead, his main job is to keep the company’s management motivated. Because the heads of Buffett’s businesses are almost all millionaires in their own right, Buffett doesn’t focus on money. He pays people fairly so they don’t feel ripped off, but he thinks real motivation comes from trusting managers and setting them free. He wants his managers to act like owners; therefore, he treats them like owners. He gives them broad, multi-year objectives and then lets them reach those objectives however they please. For instance, he owns a carpet company and a company that builds houses. Most conglomerates would make their house company buy carpet from their carpet company in the name of “integration,” “efficiency” or “collaboration.” He doesn’t because he can’t hold his managers accountable if he places extraneous demands on them. He says his managers excel because he allows them to “paint their picture” as they see fit. The moment he starts standing behind them and starts telling them to “use more red” or “use more green” in their painting, he will lose their artistic genius.