Special Report

Charlie Munger is widely quoted in value investing community for his multidisciplinary ideas. However, he has some unconventional advice on the subject of corporate governance also which deserves a discussion. Let’s look at some of the insights from Munger on the issue of governance.

Munger believes more in the spirit of corporate governance rather than enforcement of compliance rules and regulations. If the intention is not right, people can always bend the rules and find workarounds for carrying out unethical practices without breaking the law. But when you know that the intentions are right then even an occasional instance of non-compliance doesn’t bother you because you trust the person and know that things will eventually get sorted out.

Munger is of the opinion that different companies have different cultures and you cannot come up with a one-size-fits-all solution in form generic compliance rules. An organization is made up of diverse set of people with different interests and values. Such collection of people behaves as a complex adaptive system. The moment complex rules are infused to command more control it invariably results in unintended consequence. So the solution is not to device more rules but to make the system simpler.

In the annual meeting for Wesco Financials in 2007, Munger pointed out –

A lot of people think if you just had more process and more compliance—checks and double checks and so forth—you could create a better result in the world. Well, Berkshire has had practically no process. We had hardly any internal auditing until they forced it on us. We just try to operate in a seamless web of deserved trust and be careful whom we trust.

This brings us to the Munger’s first idea for simplifying the corporate governance puzzle.

Seamless Web of Deserved Trust

A system in which the individuals making decisions do not bear the consequences of those decisions seems incompatible with a seamless web of deserved trust. Munger explains –

Good character is very efficient. If you can trust people, your system can be way simpler. There’s enormous efficiency in good character and dis-efficiency in bad character.

Moreover, unethical behavior is contagious. Gresham’s law says that bad values (or currency or people) drive out the good values from a system. If you find that it’s easy to cheat and steal in an organization, it’s just a matter of time before majority of the people in that system start exhibiting dishonest and unethical behaviour. Even if everybody was absolutely honest to begin with. Such is the human behaviour.
[Read more…] about Corporate Governance: Charlie Munger on Governance

I acknowledge how clichéd the title sounds. I mean who doesn’t know that being active is a good thing? But when I heard the following five words, it got my attention immediately – “Sitting is the new smoking.”

Whosoever came up with this line, understood the power of inversion.

In last seven years, I have tried four different gyms, two swimming pool memberships and started preparing for numerous marathons. Every time the initial motivation lasted only for few weeks and then life (career, family, friends, IPL) got in the way.

I am sure many of you have had the same experience. You make a plan and commit yourself to it but soon life’s randomness and uncertainties throw you off. The randomness of life, its uncertainties – I call it “the chaos monkey”.

The gym operators understand this and you would be surprised to know that they plan their capacity taking this into account. So if the gym can accommodate 50 people at a time, they would actually sign up 100 people because they know that 50% of them will just give up after some time.

I soon realized that the solution wasn’t to reduce or control the randomness of life but to come up with a system which works in spite of the uncertainty of our environment and to certain extent thrives on that uncertainty – a true anti-fragile approach. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of anti-fragility, I would strongly recommend Nassim Taleb’s book Antifragile.
[Read more…] about Life 2.0: Staying Active

The organizers of a tennis tournament needed money. They approached the CEO of a big company and asked him to sponsor the tournament.

“How much?” asked the CEO.

“One million,” said the organizer.

“That is too much money,” said the CEO.

“Not if you consider the fact that you personally can play one match, sit at the honorary stand next to a member of the presidential family and be the one that hands over the prize,” said the organizer.

“Where do I sign?” said the CEO.

That’s the power of incentives, you see. People do what they perceive as in their best interest and are biased by incentives.

Look at the brokerage business. Stock brokers have a strong incentive to get us to trade. They advise us what to buy and sell. Volume creates commissions. Investment bankers encourage overpriced acquisitions to generate fees. Investment bankers have every incentive to get initial public offerings (IPO) deals done, regardless of the company’s quality. Their compensation is tied to the revenues the deal brings in. Analysts are rewarded for helping sell the IPO. Brokers want to move the stock.

What did Groucho Marx say? “I made a killing on Wall Street a few years ago…I shot my broker.”

Similarly, in the medical field, some psychologists ensure themselves future income by telling their patients that another visit is required. And they don’t talk about the limits of their knowledge. Their careers are at stake. As American actor Walther Matthau said, “My doctor gave me six months to live. When I told him I couldn’t pay the bill, he gave me six more months.”
[Read more…] about Corporate Governance: How They Pay Themselves