The Beautiful Prose of Annual Reports

Nancy Friedman talks about how Warren Buffet writes his own annual reports and does it so well that the reports read like engaging novels: "Reading a Berkshire annual report is like sitting across a booth in a diner with a great conversationalist possessed of both intelligence and insatiable curiosity."

My favorite quote: "And I know I wouldn't enjoy many of the duties that come with their [top managers'] positions -- meetings, speeches, foreign travel, the charity circuit and governmental relations. For me, Ronald Reagan had it right: 'It's probably true that hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?' So I've taken the easy route, just sitting back and working through great managers who run their own shows. My only tasks are to cheer them on, sculpt and harden our corporate culture, and make major capital-allocation decisions."

Nancy also looks at the language tricks at work on this Comcast poster. See if you can spot all of them.

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