Lawrence A. Cunningham - Böcker

A modern classic, The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America is the book Buffett autographs most and likes best. Its popularity and longevity over three decades attest to the widespread appetite for this definitive statement of Mr. Buffett’s thoughts that’s uniquely comprehensive, non-repetitive, and digestible. New and experienced readers alike will gain an invaluable informal education by perusing this classic arrangement of Mr. Buffett's best writings.

Berkshire Hathaway, the $300 billion conglomerate that Warren Buffett built, is among the world's largest and most famous corporations. Yet, for all its power and celebrity, few people understand Berkshire, and many assume it cannot survive without Buffett. This book proves them wrong. In a comprehensive portrait of the corporate culture that unites Berkshire's subsidiaries, Lawrence A. Cunningham unearths the traits that assure the conglomerate's continued 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. Rich with lessons for those wishing to profit from the Berkshire model, this engaging book is a valuable read for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, family business members, and investors, and it is an important resource for scholars of corporate stewardship. General readers will enjoy learning how an iconoclastic businessman transformed a struggling textile company into a corporate legacy.

Berkshire Hathaway, the $500 billion conglomerate that Warren Buffett built, is among the world's largest and most famous corporations. Yet, for all its power and celebrity, few people understand Berkshire, and many assume it cannot survive without Buffett. This book proves them wrong. In a comprehensive portrait of the corporate culture that unites Berkshire's subsidiaries, Lawrence A. Cunningham unearths the traits that assure the conglomerate's continued 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. Rich with lessons for those wishing to profit from the Berkshire model, this engaging book is a valuable read for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, family business members, and investors, and it is an important resource for scholars of corporate stewardship. General readers will enjoy learning how an iconoclastic businessman transformed a struggling textile company into a corporate legacy.

Among the landmark occasions in the legendary history of Berkshire Hathaway and its iconic co-leaders, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, was a 1996 symposium held in New York at Cardozo Law School. The focus of the symposium was Warren's letters to Berkshire shareholders. The format was a series of panels with two dozen different experts dissecting all the ideas in the letters, about corporate governance, takeovers, investing, and accounting. Intellectual sparks illuminated the two-day affair, which drew unusual press interest for an academic convocation.While the principal tangible result of the conference was the publication of the international best-seller, The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, the transcript of the symposium is now being made available with annotations and updated commentary that show just how timeless the topics are and how venerable the principles Buffett laid out remain. I had the honor of hosting the event, editing The Essays, and now publishing this archival treasure, with current assessments by such luminaries as Robert Hagstrom as well as several participants from the original symposium.

In this engaging collection of stories, 43 veterans of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting explain why throngs attend year after year. Beyond the famous Q&A with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, these experts reveal the Berkshire Meeting as a community gathering of fun, fellowship and learning.The contributors whisk readers through the exciting schedule of surrounding events – book signings, panel discussions and social gatherings – and share the pulse of this distinctive corporate culture. Spanning decades, the book offers glimpses of the past and ideas of what lies ahead. To learn about what makes Buffett's shareholders tick and all the happenings at the Berkshire Meeting, and to reminisce about past Meetings, make this delightful book your companion.Includes work by these bestselling authors:- Robert Hagstrom- Robert Miles- Jason Zweig- Joel Greenblatt- Vitaliy Katsenelson- Jeff Matthews- Charlie Tian- Whitney Tilson- Prem Jain- Karen Linder

The shareholder letters of corporate leaders are a rich source of business and investing wisdom. There is no more authoritative resource on subjects ranging from leadership and management to capital allocation and company culture.But with thousands of shareholder letters written every year, how can investors and students of the corporate world sift this vast swathe to unearth the best insights?Dear Shareholder is the solution!In this masterly new collection, Lawrence A. Cunningham, business expert and acclaimed editor of The Essays of Warren Buffett, presents the finest writers in the genre of the shareholder letter, and the most significant excerpts from their total output. Skillfully curated, edited and arranged, these letters showcase the ultimate in business and investment knowledge from an all-star team.Dear Shareholder holds letters by more than 20 different leaders from 16 companies. These leaders include Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Tom Gayner (Markel), Kay Graham and Don Graham (The Washington Post and Graham Holdings), Roberto Goizueta (Coca-Cola), Ginni Rometty (IBM), and Prem Watsa (Fairfax).Topics covered in these letters include the long-term focus, corporate culture and commitment to values, capital allocation, buybacks, dividends, acquisitions, management, business strategy, and executive compensation.As we survey the corporate landscape in search of outstanding companies run by first-rate managers, shareholder letters are a valuable resource. The letters also contain a wealth of knowledge on the core topics of effective business management. Let Dear Shareholder be your guide.

Contracts, the foundation of economic activity, are both vital and misunderstood. Contracts in the Real World, 2nd edition corrects common misunderstandings through a series of engaging stories involving such notable individuals as Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Lady Gaga, and Donald Trump. Capturing the essentials of this subject, the book explores recurring issues in contracting and shows how age-old precedents and wisdom still apply today and how contract law's inherent dynamism cautions against exuberant reforms. The accessible yet rigorous approach will appeal to the general reader and specialists alike, and to both teachers and students of contracts.

Selected as one of Motley Fool’s  "5 Great Books You Should Read" In The AIG Story, the company's long-term CEO Hank Greenberg (1967 to 2005) and GW professor and corporate governance expert Lawrence Cunningham chronicle the origins of the company and its relentless pioneering of open markets everywhere in the world. They regale readers with riveting vignettes of how AIG grew from a modest group of insurance enterprises in 1970 to the largest insurance company in world history. They help us understand AIG's distinctive entrepreneurial culture and how its outstanding employees worldwide helped pave the road to globalization.  Corrects numerous common misconceptions about AIG that arose due to its role at the center of the financial crisis of 2008.A unique account of AIG by one of the iconic business leaders of the twentieth century who developed close relationships with many of the most important world leaders of the period and helped to open markets everywhereOffers new critical perspective on battles with N. Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the 2008 U.S. government seizure of AIG amid the financial crisisShares considerable information not previously made public The AIG Story captures an impressive saga in business history--one of innovation, vision and leadership at a company that was nearly--destroyed with a few strokes of governmental pens. The AIG Story carries important lessons and implications for the U.S., especially its role in international affairs, its approach to business, its legal system and its handling of financial crises.

Contracts, the foundation of economic activity, are both vital and misunderstood. Contracts in the Real World, 2nd edition corrects common misunderstandings through a series of engaging stories involving such notable individuals as Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Lady Gaga, and Donald Trump. Capturing the essentials of this subject, the book explores recurring issues in contracting and shows how age-old precedents and wisdom still apply today and how contract law's inherent dynamism cautions against exuberant reforms. The accessible yet rigorous approach will appeal to the general reader and specialists alike, and to both teachers and students of contracts.

Boardroom Legacy traces the origins of modern corporate governance through the ideas and example of Sidney J. Weinberg and his son John L. Weinberg—legendary leaders of Goldman Sachs and among the most influential directors of the twentieth century.At the center of the book is the first publication of John L. Weinberg’s 1948 Princeton senior thesis, Status and Functions of Corporate Directors. Written long before corporate governance became a formal discipline, the thesis offers a disciplined, experience-driven account of what boards are meant to do: how directors should be informed, how judgment is exercised, and how authority is balanced between oversight and management. The thesis appears alongside two foundational works by Sidney Weinberg and is enriched with annotations and original essays by leading scholars, directors, and public servants.Together, these materials address enduring challenges faced by boards and senior leaders: how to remain engaged without overreaching, how to reconcile fiduciary responsibility with broader institutional consequences, and how culture, integrity, and informed judgment shape long-term success.Edited by Lawrence A. Cunningham and framed by contributions from Richard A. Gephardt, John F. W. Rogers, and Leo E. Strine, Jr., Boardroom Legacy connects Goldman Sachs’s distinctive traditions of partnership and stewardship to the wider evolution of corporate governance. It offers directors, executives, and professionals a rigorous yet accessible resource—equally suited for individual reflection and leadership development—demonstrating why principles forged in earlier eras remain essential guides for responsible decision-making today.