What's Warren Buffett's Secret to Great Writing?

Appears in National Association of Corporate Directors, Directorship Magazine (Summer 2016)

GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2016-43

GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-43

8 Pages Posted: 16 Sep 2016

See all articles by Lawrence A. Cunningham

Lawrence A. Cunningham

George Washington University; Quality Shareholders Group; Mayer Brown

Date Written: 2016

Abstract

The gold standard in corporate communications is that of Warren Buffett’s letters to shareholders. When leaders of the National Association of Corporate Directors wanted to understand exactly why they are so valuable, they turned to Lawrence Cunningham, an incomparably informed and knowledgeable expert on the subject, having since 1995 been Buffett’s handpicked compiler and editor of The Essays Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. The editors of NACD’s quarterly, Directorship, published Cunningham’s article as their cover story in the summer of 2016. They explained: The legendary chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has nearly perfected the art of writing his annual missive. We asked Lawrence A. Cunningham, the George Washington University professor who has worked with Buffett to both annotate and aggregate his letters, to share what makes this year’s example another standout. Here is Cunningham’s answer and complete analysis.

Keywords: Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, Shareholder Letters, Writing, Corporate Communications, Directorships, Corporate Culture, Clayton Homes, 3G

JEL Classification: G2, G23, G24, G32, G34, G38

Suggested Citation

Cunningham, Lawrence A., What's Warren Buffett's Secret to Great Writing? (2016). Appears in National Association of Corporate Directors, Directorship Magazine (Summer 2016) , GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2016-43, GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-43, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2839887

Lawrence A. Cunningham (Contact Author)

George Washington University ( email )

Quality Shareholders Group ( email )

HOME PAGE: http://https://qualityshareholdersgroup.com/

Mayer Brown ( email )

HOME PAGE: http://mayerbrown.com

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,028
Abstract Views
3,731
Rank
40,377
PlumX Metrics