1985年，唐担任可口可乐总裁时，公司推出了一款短命的“新可乐”。后来，唐为此发表了一场著名演讲，向公众道歉并恢复了原始配方的“老”可乐。唐解释说，这一转变的背景是他收到一批寄给可口可乐“最高白痴”的来信之后，来自客户的反馈让他改变了主意。他那段“撤回”主题的演讲堪称经典，可以在YouTube上看到。他欣然承认，可口可乐产品其实属于公众，而非公司。随后的结果就是——销量恢复飙升。
你们可以在CharlieRose.com上查看这个精彩片段。（汤姆·墨菲和凯·格雷厄姆也有几个经典片段。）和查理·芒格一样，唐永远保持着中西部男孩的热情、友善，骨子里透着美国精神。
Finally, Ajit Jain, born and raised in India, as well as Greg Abel, our Canadian CEO-to-be, each lived in Omaha for several years late in the 20th Century. Indeed, in the 1990s, Greg lived only a few blocks away from me on Farnam Street, though we never met at the time.
Can it be that there is some magic ingredient in Omaha’s water?
最后是生于印度、长于印度的阿吉特·贾因，以及我们来自加拿大的候任CEO格雷格·阿贝尔，他们都在20世纪末于奥马哈居住过多年。事实上，1990年代格雷格就住在离我法纳姆大街住宅几个街区外——但当时我们未曾谋面。
难道奥马哈的水里真有什么神奇成分？
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I lived a few teenage years in Washington, DC (when my dad was in Congress) and in 1954 I took what I thought would be a permanent job in Manhattan. There I was treated wonderfully by Ben Graham and Jerry Newman and made many life-long friends. New York had unique assets — and still does. Nevertheless, in 1956, after only 1½years, I returned to Omaha, never to wander again.
Subsequently, my three children, as well as several grandchildren, were raised in Omaha. My children always attended public schools (graduating from the same high school that educated my dad (class of 1921), my first wife, Susie (class of 1950) as well as Charlie, Stan Lipsey, Irv and Ron Blumkin, who were key to growing Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Jack Ringwalt (class of 1923), who founded National Indemnity and sold it to Berkshire in 1967 where it became the base upon which our huge P/C operation was constructed.
少年时代，我在华盛顿特区住过几年（当时我父亲担任国会议员），1954年我以为自己会永远待在曼哈顿。在那里，我受到了本·格雷厄姆和杰里·纽曼的照顾，还结交了许多终身挚友。纽约有独特的优势——至今依然。然而在1956年，仅待了一年半后，我回到了奥马哈，此后再未离开。
后来，我的三个孩子以及几个孙辈都在奥马哈长大。我的孩子们一直就读公立学校——这所学校培养了我的父亲（1921届）、我第一任妻子苏西（1950届）以及查理、斯坦·利普西、内布拉斯加家具城发展的关键人物欧文和罗恩·布卢姆金，还有创立国民赔偿公司的杰克·林沃尔德（1923届）（国民赔偿公司于1967年卖给伯克希尔,并成为伯克希尔庞大的P/C业务的基石）。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Our country has many great companies, great schools, great medical facilities and each definitely has its own special advantages along with talented people. But I feel very lucky to have had the good fortune to make many lifelong friends, to meet both of my wives, to receive a great start in education at public schools, to meet many interesting and friendly adult Omahans when I was very young, and to make a wide variety of friends in the Nebraska National Guard. In short, Nebraska has been home.
Looking back I feel that both Berkshire and I did better because of our base in Omaha than if I had resided anywhere else. The center of the United States was a very good place to be born, to raise a family, and to build a business. Through dumb luck, I drew a ridiculously long straw at birth.
我们国家有许多伟大的企业、伟大的学校、伟大的医疗事业，他们有着各自独特的优势，并由英才管理。但我觉得自己非常幸运——结交了许多终身挚友，遇见了我的两任妻子，在公立学校接受了优质启蒙教育，年幼时遇到了众多有趣友善的奥马哈长辈，还结识了内布拉斯加国民警卫队的朋友们。简而言之，内布拉斯加就是我的家。
回首过往，我觉得伯克希尔和我本人能够做得更好主要是因为扎根在奥马哈，而不是其他地方。美国中部是最好的成家立业之地。仅凭运气，我出生时就抽中了一支好得离谱的上上签。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Now let’s move on to my advanced age. My genes haven’t been particularly helpful — the family’s all-time record for longevity (admittedly family records get fuzzy as you work backwards) was 92 until I came along. But I have had wise, friendly and dedicated Omaha doctors, starting with Harley Hotz, and continuing to this day. At least three times, my life has been saved, each with doctors based within a few miles from my home. (I have given up fingerprinting nurses, however. You can get away with many eccentricities at 95 . . . . . but there are limits.)
现在聊聊我的高龄。我没有特别长寿的基因——家族史上最高纪录是92岁（历史追溯起来肯定会有点模糊）。所幸的是，我在奥马哈遇到了一群睿智、友善、尽职的医生，从哈利·霍兹开始到现在。一生中，至少有三次，我的生命差点丢掉，每次都是离家附近的医生把我救了回来。（不过我已经不采集护士指纹了。95岁是可以干很多出格的事……但总有个限度。）
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Those who reach old age need a huge dose of good luck, daily escaping banana peels, natural disasters, drunk or distracted drivers, lightning strikes, you name it.
But Lady Luck is fickle and — no other term fits — wildly unfair. In many cases, our leaders and the rich have received far more than their share of luck —which, too often, the recipients prefer not to acknowledge. Dynastic inheritors have achieved lifetime financial independencethe moment they emerged from the womb, while others have arrived, facing a hell-hole during their early life or, worse, disabling physical or mental infirmities that rob them of what I have taken for granted. In many heavily-populated parts of the world, I would likely have had a miserable life and my sisters would have had one even worse.
活到老的人需要大把好运，每天要避开香蕉皮、自然灾害、酒驾或分心的司机、雷击等等，数不胜数。
但命运女神反复无常，而且极度不公。很多时候，领袖和富人得到的运气远超应得——而受益者往往不愿承认。家族继承人呱呱坠地就实现了终身财务自由，而另一些人却生在人间地狱；更糟的是，残疾的身体或精神障碍剥夺了他们理应得到的东西。如果生在世界上其他人口稠密地区，我可能会一生潦倒，我的姐妹则会更糟。
I was born in 1930 healthy, reasonably intelligent, white, male and in America. Wow! Thank you, Lady Luck. My sisters had equal intelligence and better personalities than I but faced a much different outlook. Lady Luck continued to drop by during much of my life, but she has better things to do than work with those in their 90s. Luck has its limits.
Father Time, to the contrary, now finds me more interesting as I age. And he is undefeated;for him, everyone ends up on his score card as “wins.” When balance, sight, hearing and memory are all on a persistently downward slope, you know Father Time is in the neighborhood.
我生于1930年，健康、智商尚可、白人、男性，而且在美国。哇！谢谢命运女神。我的姐妹们智商不逊于我，性格比我更好，但面临的境遇却截然不同。幸运女神在我人生大半时光频频光顾，相比搭理90多岁老人，现在她还有更重要的事。运气总有用完的时候。
相反，时间老人如今对我越来越感兴趣。时间老人是无敌的，我们每个人最终都会载入他的记分牌。当平衡感、视力、听力和记忆力都持续走下坡路时，你就知道时间老人就在你身边。
I was late in becoming old — its onset materially varies — but once it appears, it is not to be denied.
To my surprise, I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people. Occasionally, I get a useful idea or am approached with an offer we might not otherwise have received. Because of Berkshire’s size and because of market levels, ideas are few—but not zero.
我老得晚——衰老发作的时机因人而异——但一旦出现，就无法回避。
惊喜的是，现在我总体感觉还不错。虽然行动有点缓慢，阅读变得困难，但我每周坚持到办公室工作五天，与优秀同仁共事。偶尔我还能冒出点有用的想法，或接到原本可能错过的收购提议。鉴于伯克希尔的规模和市场地位，好机会确实不多——但并非为零。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
My unexpected longevity, however, has unavoidable consequences of major importance to my family and the achievement of my charitable objectives.
Let’s explore them.
我意外的长寿对我的家庭和慈善计划的实现不可避免地产生了的重大影响。
我们来探讨一下。
What Comes Next
My children are all above normal retirement age, having reached 72, 70 and 67. It would be a mistake to wager that all three — now at their peak in many respects—will enjoy my exceptional luck in delayed aging. To improve the probability that they will dispose of what will essentially be my
entire estate before alternate trustees replace them, I need to step up the pace of lifetime gifts to their three foundations. My children are now at their prime in respect to experience and wisdom but have yet to enter old age. That “honeymoon” period will not last forever.
后续安排
我的孩子们都已超出了正常退休年龄，他们分别是72岁、70岁和67岁。他们如今各方面正值巅峰，但我不能押注他们三个都能像我一样幸运地延缓衰老。为了提高他们在继任受托人接替前处理我几乎全部遗产的可能性，我需要加快对他们三个基金会的终身捐赠速度。我的孩子们如今在经验和智慧上正值黄金期，但尚未步入老年。这段“蜜月期”不会永远持续。
Fortunately, a course correction is easy to execute. There is, however, one additional factor to consider: I would like to keep a significant amount of “A” shares until Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie and I long enjoyed. That level of confidence shouldn’t take long. My children are already 100% behind Greg as are the Berkshire directors.
All three children now have the maturity, brains, energy and instincts to disburse a large fortune. They will also have the advantage of being above ground when I am long gone and, if necessary, can adopt policies both anticipatory and reactive to federal tax policies or other developments affecting philanthropy. They may well need to adapt to a significantly changing world around them. Ruling from the grave does not have a great record, and I have never had an urge to do so.
幸运的是，调整方向很容易。但还有一个额外因素要考虑：我想保留大量A类股，直到伯克希尔股东们对格雷格建立起的那信任——就像对我和查理的长期信任一样。这应该用不了多久，因为我的孩子们和伯克希尔董事们早已百分百支持格雷格。
我的三个孩子如今都已具备运作巨额财富所需成熟的心智、头脑、精力和直觉。他们还有个优势——在我离世很久后仍健在，必要时可以采取前瞻性或应对性策略，以应对联邦税收政策或其他影响慈善事业变化的因素。他们很可能需要适应周遭剧变的世界。从坟墓里发号施令历来没什么好结果，我也从未有此冲动。
Fortunately, all three children received a dominant dosage of their genes from their mother.As the decades have passed, I have also become a better model for their thinking and behavior. I will never, however, achieve parity with their mother.
My children have three alternate trustees in case of any premature deaths or disabilities. The alternates are not ranked or tied to a specific child. All three are exceptional humans and wise in the ways of the world. They have no conflicting motives.
幸运的是，三个孩子从母亲那里遗传了主导剂量的基因。随着岁月流逝，我也成了他们思想和行为更好的榜样，但永远无法与他们的母亲相比。
为避免早逝或失能情况，我的孩子们有三名备选受托人。备选受托人不分排名，也不绑定特定子女。这三人都出类拔萃，深谙世故，且无利益冲突。
I have assured my children that they do not need to perform miracles nor fear failures or disappointments. These are inevitable, and I have made my share. They simply need to improve somewhat upon what generally is achieved by government activities and/or private philanthropy, recognizing these other methods of redistribution of wealth have shortcomings as well.
Early on, I contemplated various grand philanthropic plans. Though I was stubborn, these did not prove feasible. During my many years, I’ve also watched ill-conceived wealth transfers by political hacks, dynastic choices and, yes, inept or quirky philanthropists.
我给孩子们确认说，他们无需创造奇迹，也不必害怕失败或失望。有些事情在所难免，我也犯过不少错。他们只需比政府活动和/或私人慈善通常达到的效果稍好一点就行，要认识到其他财富再分配方式也存在缺陷。
早年我构思过各种宏大的慈善计划，尽管我一再坚持，但这些最终证明不可行。经过多年观察，我也见证了政客们、家族势力，以及那些不称职或行为古怪的慈善家们操持的、有污点的财富转移行径。
If my children simply do a decent job, they can be certain that their mother and I would be pleased. Their instincts are good and they each have had years of practice with very small sums initially that have been irregularly increased to more than $500million annually.
All three like working long hours to help others, each in their own way.
只要我的孩子们做得还算体面，他们就可以确信，他们的母亲和我会感到欣慰。他们的直觉很好，早期用小额资金练习多年，后来慢慢增加到每年超5亿美元。
三人都乐于长期以各自的方式帮助他人。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The acceleration of my lifetime gifts to my children’s foundations in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire’s prospects. Greg Abel has more than met the high expectations I had for him when I first thought he should be Berkshire’s next CEO. He understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do, and he is a very fast learner about matters many CEOs don’t even consider. I can’t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government – you name it – that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine.
Greg understands, for example, far more about both the upside potential and the dangers of our P/C insurance business than do a great many long-time P/C executives. My hope is that his health remains good for several decades. With a little luck, Berkshire should require only five or six CEOs over the next century. It should particularly avoid those whose goal is to retire at 65, to become look- at-me rich or to initiate a dynasty.
现在我加快对子女基金会的终身捐赠，并不代表我对伯克希尔前景的看法有任何改变。格雷格·阿贝尔远超我最初的期望。他对我们许多业务和人员的理解远胜如今的我，而且在许多首席执行官甚至都不会考虑的事情上，他学习速度很快。我想不出还有哪个CEO、管理顾问、学者、政府官员——随你点名——能比格雷格更让我放心托付。
例如，格雷格对我们财险业务的潜在优势和风险的理解，远超许多资深财险高管。我希望在后面几十年他能保持身体健康。运气好的话，未来一个世纪里，伯克希尔应该只需要五到六位CEO。但我们尤其要避开那些目标是在65岁退休、追求炫富或开创王朝的人。
One unpleasant reality: Occasionally, a wonderful and loyal CEO of the parent or a subsidiary will succumb to dementia, Alzheimer’s or another debilitating and long-term disease.
Charlie and I encountered this problem several times and failed to act. This failure can be a huge mistake. The Board must be alert to this possibility at the CEO level and the CEO must be alert to the possibility at subsidiaries. This is easier said than done; I could cite a few examples from the past at major companies. Directors should be alert and speak up is all that I can advise.
一个不愉快的现实是：偶尔，母公司或子公司优秀忠诚的CEO会患上痴呆症、阿尔茨海默病或其他致残的长期疾病。
查理和我遇到过几次这种情况，却未能采取行动。这种失误可能酿成大错。董事会必须对CEO层面的这种可能性保持警惕，CEO也必须对子公司保持警觉。这说起来容易做起来难；过去大公司出现的例子不在少数。董事们应保持警惕并直言不讳——这是我唯一的建议。
During my lifetime, reformers sought to embarrass CEOs by requiring the disclosure of the compensation of the boss compared to what was being paid to the average employee. Proxy statements promptly ballooned to 100-plus pages compared to 20or less earlier.
But the good intentions didn’t work; instead they backfired. Based on the majority of my observations – the CEO of company “A” looked at his competitor at company “B” and subtly conveyed to his board that he should be worth more. Of course, he also boosted the pay of directors and was careful who he placed on the compensation committee. The new rules produced envy, not moderation.
在我有生之年，改革者试图通过要求披露CEO薪酬与普通员工平均工资的对比来让CEO难堪、知足。委托书厚度迅速膨胀到100多页，而早些时候只有20页或更少。
但善意并未奏效；反而适得其反。根据我观察到的大多数情况——A公司CEO看到竞争对手B公司的待遇，就委婉地向董事会暗示自己应该得到更多。当然，他也提高了董事薪酬，并谨慎挑选薪酬委员会成员。这种规则却没有达到节制的效果，反而催生了攀比。
The ratcheting took on a life of its own. What often bothers very wealthy CEOs – they are human, after all – is that other CEOs are getting even richer. Envy and greed walk hand in hand. And what consultant ever recommended a serious cut in CEO compensation or board payments?
这种攀比愈演愈烈。让富有的CEO困扰是—其他CEO正在变得更富——毕竟他们也是人。嫉妒与贪婪如影随形。又有哪个顾问曾建议大幅削减CEO薪酬或董事报酬呢？
* * * * * * * * * * * *
In aggregate, Berkshire’s businesses have moderately better-than-average prospects, led by a few non-correlated and sizable gems. However, a decade or two from now, there will be many companies that have done better than Berkshire; our size takes its toll.
Berkshire has less chance of a devastating disaster than any business I know. And, Berkshire has a more shareholder-conscious management and board than almost any company with which I am familiar (and I’ve seen a lot). Finally, Berkshire will always be managed in a manner that will make its existence an asset to the United States and eschew activities that would lead it to become a supplicant. Over time, our managers should grow quite wealthy – they have important responsibilities – but do not have the desire for dynastic or look-at-me wealth.
总体而言，伯克希尔的业务前景略优于平均水平，由几颗并行的巨型明珠引领。然而，十到二十年后，会有许多公司表现优于伯克希尔；我们的规模成了负担。
伯克希尔遭遇毁灭性灾难的几率比我已知的任何企业都低。而且，伯克希尔拥有几乎我熟悉的所有公司中（我可见过不少）最具股东意识的管理层和董事会。最后，伯克希尔将始终以使其存在成为美国资产的方式管理，并避免成为国家的负担。随着时间的推移，我们的管理者也会随着公司的发展而变得富有——他们责任重大——却没有建立王朝或炫富的愿望。
Our stock price will move capriciously, occasionally falling 50%or so as has happened three times in 60 years under present management. Don’t despair; America will come back and so will Berkshire shares.
我们的股价会反复无常，偶尔下跌50%左右——现有管理层治下60年来已发生过三次。别绝望；美国会复苏，伯克希尔的股票也会。
A Few Final Thoughts
One perhaps self-serving observation. I’m happy to say I feel better about the second half of my life than the first. My advice: Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes – learn at least a littlefrom them and move on. It is never too late to improve. Get the right heroes and copy them. You can start with Tom Murphy; he was the best.
Remember Alfred Nobel, later of Nobel Prize fame, who – reportedly – read his own obituary that was mistakenly printed when his brother died and a newspaper got mixed up. He was horrified at what he read and realized he should change his behavior.
几点最后的想法
或许有些自我标榜，但我很自豪地说，我对后半生的感觉比前半生更好。我的建议是：不要为过去的错误自责——吸取教训，继续前行。改善永远都不晚。找对榜样，然后向他们学习。你可以从汤姆·墨菲开始；他是最棒的。
记住阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔，他以诺贝尔奖闻名——据说——他读到了自己的讣告，那是他兄弟去世时，报纸误印搞混了。他对所读内容感到震惊，并顿悟到自己应该改变。
Don’t count on a newsroom mix-up: Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.
Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless.Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior.
别指望报社的乌龙事件：想好你的讣告该怎么写，然后活得像讣告上写的一样。
伟大不在于积累巨额财富、赢得大量曝光或掌握政府大权。当你以各种方式帮助他人时，你就在帮助世界。善意无本，却珍贵无价。无论你是否信教，都应该坚守“己所不欲，勿施于人”的行为准则。
I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman.
这是一个曾因粗心大意并犯下许多错误，但从一些优秀的朋友身上学到如何更好地待人处事中变得幸运的人的感想（虽然离完美还差得远）。记住，清洁工和董事长一样都是人。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably –capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards.
Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better.
祝愿读到这里的各位感恩节快乐。是的，包括那些混蛋；改变永远不晚。记得感谢美国帮我们创造了最好的机会。虽然它在财富分配时经常反复无常，甚至滋生腐败。
谨慎选择你的榜样，然后向他们学习。你虽永不完美，但总能变得更好。
About Berkshire
Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries engage in diverse business activities including insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, manufacturing, services and retailing.
Common stock of the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B.
关于伯克希尔
克希尔·哈撒韦公司及其子公司从事多种商业活动，包括保险和再保险、公用事业和能源、铁路货运、制造、服务业和零售业。公司普通股在纽约证券交易所上市，交易代码为BRK.A和BRK.B。
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