LONDON - He's a renowned financier whose words of wisdom are savored by both budding investors and avid publishers keen to compile it all between two book covers. But is Warren Buffett, the second richest man on the globe, a good manager?
According to a local news report from Arizona, the billionaire investor recently took a trip to Tuscon to visit a Geico call center that had come up trumps in a company sales competition. Budding entrepreneurs listen closely, for as his reward he bestowed on all 500 employees, ice cream. Yes, Dairy Queen Dilly Bars were the sugar-coated reward of choice, and a nice tie up too. International Dairy Queen, along with Geico, is a subsidiary of Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRKA - news - people ).
Buffett was said to be a vivid sight as he entered the office wearing a lime-green Hawaiian shirt splattered with dozens of geckos, in tribute to the company's animated spokeslizard. For those who weren't struck dumb by the spectacle, workers chatted with the sagacious investor, posed for photos and garnered their boss' autograph on clothing and dollar bills. And whether for pride, good circulation, or just promoting the gecko welt, Buffett waved off an offer of a jacket when posing for photos in the chilly Tuscon air.
"I don't think you can find anyone more down-to-earth," one Geico manager said in a media report. "I guess you could call it homespun." Or indeed "folksy," "plain" and thoroughly "Midwestern," as other Geico employees reportedly attested.
Perhaps it was more than the Dilly Bars that made the 17% increase that Furnas' call center team achieved, so worthwhile. After all, who could say no to posing for a photo with a billionaire decked out a flashy, gecko-pattered Hawaiian top? Now there's an incentive
