Buffet Blows and Opportunity

Joe Nocera has a pithy column about Warren Buffet (Saint Buffet) and a blown opportunity to do the very kind of good he has spoken about.

“The way to get big shots to change their behavior is to embarrass them.”

But when the opportunity came to join a shareholder instigated protest against enormous, and unreasonable, pay packages at Coca Cola, where he sits on the board, he passed it up.

Why?  It seems it was too embarrassing to embarrass others, his friends.

Buffett showed was how impossible it is for directors — even billionaires known for speaking their minds — to rock the boat. The need for collegiality trumped good corporate governance. As it almost always does.

How sad. If Warren Buffett won’t use his unparalleled clout to rein in excessive compensation, how can we expect anyone else to?

Uff