If I had to guess where all this future capital gets put, I would guess that it looks something like the past.

The list of corporations where the next CEO following a legendary CEO - and doing the same thing (successfully) is vanishingly small.

Not Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Jack Warner, Lee Iacocca, Howard Schultz, well, the list is endless. Disney stumbled around for a decade or two after Walt died, didn't they? I'm not saying a company can't be great (again) or even greater - the list above contains many that have gone on to greater glory, but others have stumbled along or been swallowed completely. In any event, almost *none* of them 'did the same thing' under the next CEO.

As one snide but prescient employee of mine said when I took over a business, 'every new guy is like the new dog on the street. He wants to pee on the bush a little just to mark his territory.' We ended up being fast friends, and yes, I made changes. So did the guy who followed me. And the guy after him. And this was at an already wildly successful location, so'

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

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