So far it’s been great to watch, starting with 3M’s CEO George Buckley on the first video – after some 19:25 of introductions, congratulations and sponsor messages – although even that part wasn’t half bad, and not just because of the pretty decent joke about Obama being irish. Then Mr. Buckley quipped about how the company should have branded “3M” in Neil Armstrong’s boots that landed on the moon – “that was our greatest marketing mistake”… Long live British humor.

Now for the meat of this post, a one-hour video (also embedded below) with Buffett and Ajit Jain, who emerged from the Dave Sokol affair as a very likely “candidate” for Buffett’s succession – and we say “candidate” because Mr. Jain has already said he didn’t really want the job… Also a great opportunity to reveal new Blogroll inductee ValueWalk.com!

Jacob Wolinsky et. al.’s excellent blog ValueWalk.com is a superb source for all things value investing, and we finally get to list it in our Blogroll.

The video itself was shot in India during Buffett’s recent visit. (1:01:30)

One highlight is the interview with Dr. Chris Gibson-Smith (embedded in this post), Chairman of the London Stock Exchange. We highlight in this post several excerpts worth considering – it’s intended for business in general, but can also be framed for the specifics of investment management.

Here’s the 7:41 video (highlights below):

Highlights:

- His life history is interesting: the balance of science and business shifting over the years, and it clearly influenced the highlight below:

- “I’ve worked in half a dozen industries in depth, and I’ve found the same thing wherever I go: every sector has its own technical knowledge, and you have to master that knowledge, otherwise you can’t be in the sector. But above that, the thing that is true particularly as you rise to levels of leadership and senior management, it’s the ability to think and act. The thinking creates the context, the framework, the vision, the intention; but it has no meaning unless you act. But the action has no focus unless you’ve thought. And it’s this balance between deep thought and precise action that produces effective results.“ — We’d add that this can be true as long as incentives are aligned, and the environment (including the teamwork) is positive and so on – but he mentioned the teamwork part below.

- He then talked about how he was kind of surprised that he was getting successful in business, and continuously so, and the surprise was due to the fact that he was so involved in the day-to-day. So he stepped back to wonder why it happened, and his takeaway is very interesting. According to him, he found in this exercise that one is successful or not “because of the quality of the people you worked with and the way you worked with them. Overwhelmingly it was the way in which you interacted with people that was at the center of one’s ability to contribute. And unquestionably I learned that in business – it’s [also] true in life – and it remains the most important thing about doing business for me.”

- Finally, a very interesting take on his duties as Chairman and leader, which show his specific skill set or strong points (and it makes sense given his “scientific method” past). It may not work for everyone, but it’s his way: I’m emphatically clear on my duties as leader. So I carry an un-assignable responsibility for the future of my organizations. It is not dilutable, but it’s completely shareable. So I think a great deal and then I involve people in the organization and they solve all the questions. My real task is to figure out the questions and then give it to other people to work out the answers, and I think I do that in a repeated pattern wherever I go.”

Back to Simoleon Sense: in the “Dear Reader” section for new readers, blog author Miguel Barbosa says he is “blogging to challenge the conventional ‘silo’ approach to learning.(…) I’m a renaissance thinker, an aspiring polymath, and a diligent researcher – as such I believe in the importance of consilience. Successful decision making centers on understanding problems and searching for solutions via a broad frame work of mental models.” - We agree, and given his history and company name, James Simons probably does too.

The video (1h 03min)

We like the way Mr. Simons has built Renaissance and its culture. The MIT host jokes that the world’s best Math and Physics “departments” belong to Renaissance, but that wouldn’t be enough. Mr. Simons highlights that he always wanted to build a company with “the best possible people, no compartmentalization (or “silos” as Mr. Barbosa says), with an open atmosphere, with everyone sharing information and what they’re doing.” That is still not enough: he highlights he’s paranoid about “having the best infrastructure in place – office space, technology, resources – and about paying people very well but based almost exclusively on overall company profit” (to foster collaboration).

He then briefly spoke about his foundation, where he is now full-time (and “busier than ever”), and again the concern with fundamental, basic science is clear. Not surprisingly, the former Math researcher and teacher is very concerned about Math education in the US.

Finally, he closes the talk with 4 “principles”, of which we highlight number 3. That search for the “truth”, for solving problems, for being the first to do something is something we’ve seen in most brilliant and driven people. Unfortunately the Q&A session that follows is mostly rubbish… The principles in summary:

1) Do something new.

2) Collaborate with the best people you possibly can. “Working with these people is FUN”.

3) Be guided by beauty. “(…) it’s a terrific feeling and a beautiful thing to do something right, like solving a math problem“, he says.

4) Don’t give up.

Part 1 of 10 (9:52)

Part 2 of 10 (10:00)

Part 3 of 10 (9:07)

Part 4 of 10 (6:33)

Part 5 of 10 (8:32)

Part 6 of 10 (8:29)

Part 7 of 10 (9:34)

Part 8 of 10 (8:48)

Part 9 of 10 (6:28)

Part 10 of 10 (7:52)

Sir Ken Robinson’s latest book is called “The Element”, and this Bloomberg review (plus the videos, of course) had us looking for time to read it.

TED Talk 2006 (almost 20 minutes):

TED talk 2010 (bit less than 18 minutes):

RSA Animate of another of his talks – gotta love these animations. The message is much more powerful, though.

Video: Quantitative Easing Explained – via The View From the Blue Ridge. The monotone voices in the dialogue start off irritating but contribute to the overall surreal feel of the video – content and looks-wise. Exaggerated as most (good) comedy is.

Keep those ideas coming! E-mail us with your suggested links, texts and so on.

On tour to promote his book “The Big Short“, Michael Lewis interviews have been popping up all over the Internet. You can find some of the best inside. Required reading is this excerpt from the book at Vanity Fair’s website. Great stuff, we especially liked this bit: “I hated discussing ideas with investors,” (Mike Burry said), “because I then become a Defender of the Idea, and that influences your thought process. Once you became an idea’s defender, you had a harder time changing your mind about it.”

Have a great Easter Sunday!

UPDATE: Mike Burry wrote an op-ed in the New York Times recently on how he saw the crisis and why the Fed should have seen it too. We especially like this bit: “I demanded daily collateral settlement — if positions moved in our favor, I wanted cash posted to our account the next day. This was something I knew that Goldman Sachs and other derivatives dealers did not demand of AAA-rated A.I.G.”.  Not only did he get the intellectual challenge right, but he also followed through quite well in terms of execution. Impressive enough, and all by himself.

VIDEOS

Bloomberg Television interview (42:37):

CBS’ 60 Minutes segments:

- Inside the collapse, part 1:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

- Inside the collapse, part 2:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

- Wall Street misfit (on Mike Burry):

Watch CBS News Videos Online

- The $8.4 Bi bet:

Watch CBS News Videos Online