Why You Should Care About Warren Buffett's Prostate
Have you heard the news? Warren Buffett has been diagnosed with first stage prostate cancer.
Buffett (aka, the "Sage of Omaha") is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway . He's one of the world's richest men, most successful, studied and followed investors - and a philanthropist, as well.
He'll also be 82 this summer. That's why, when doctors found the cancer cells in his prostate, no one - including Buffett - was worried. Evidently, the cells exist in pretty much every 80+ year old man - so no surprise and no concern. He'll start his treatment this summer and, in the meantime, he's feeling just fine, thank you.
Are you supposed to care? Well, if you don't, you should - in both a general and a specific sort of way.
On the general side of things, one is always concerned for anyone who is diagnosed with cancer...or any disease, for that matter. It's a sad thing.
On the specific side, it's not just Buffett's celebrity that drives the interest in this topic. It's that it's a commentary on CEO responsibility overall.
To shareholders.
To employees.
To everyone whose lives they touch.
And Buffett, to give him his due, understands and operates to those responsibilities far more than most. His stated belief and advice is that if you don't want something you've done to be read by everyone in the morning news, then don't do it.
That's why the surprise vote on the part of Citibank's shareholders against the salary package for its CEO, Vikram S. Pandit, was such a happy surprise. Not that the vote is binding...but it shows just how unhappy shareholders are with those CEOs whose performance is 'adequate' but they're paid as if they're stars.
Too many CEOs are too intent on getting as much money out of their companies as they can. Even when their 'leadership' has led the company into dire straits.
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