M20:47
嗯，在 Berkshire 的最高层，其实并没有什么所谓的核心竞争力。
Well, there's no core competence at the very top of Berkshire.
但是呢，像那些会参与到和 5G 相关的发展，或者这个世界将要发生的各种事情里的子公司——比如说铁路里 LNG 的应用，或者其他这类问题——我们在那些业务里都有一些人，他们对这些事情懂得比我们多得多。
But we— the subsidiaries that will be involved in developments relating to 5G or any one of all kinds of things that are going to happen in this world, you know, the utility of LNG in the railroad or all those kinds of questions, we have people in those businesses that know a lot more about them than we do.
这个嘛，你知道，我们是依靠我们的经理人去预判他们各自业务里将要发生什么，然后有时候他们也会来跟我们讨论。
And this is, you know, we count on our managers to anticipate what is coming in their business, and then sometimes they talk to us about it.
但我们不会从中央统一去管理这些事情。
But we do not run that from a central— on a centralized basis.
Charlie，你还想补充点什么吗？
And Charlie, do you want to have anything to add to that?
你对 5G 了解吗？
Do you know anything about 5G?
我不知道。
I don't know.
嗯，你可能对 5G 懂得挺多。
Well, you probably know a lot about 5G.
不，我对 5G 了解得非常少。
No, I know very little about 5G.
不过我对 China 倒是有一点了解，我们已经在 China 买过一些东西了，我猜以后还会买更多。
But I do know a little about China, and we have bought things in China, and my guess is we'll buy more.
对。
Yeah.
不过我的意思是，我们基本上是想拥有一批经理人，而我们也确实有这样一批经理人，他们都非常了解自己的业务。
But I mean, we basically want to have a group of managers, and we do have a group of managers who are on top of their businesses.
我的意思是，你刚才看到展示的那些内容里有 BNSF、Berkshire Hathaway Energy，Ajit 也都在里面。
I mean, you saw something that showed BNSF and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Ajit's all there.
那些人都懂他们自己的业务。
Those people know their businesses.
他们知道接下来很可能会发生哪些变化。
They know what changes are likely to be ahead.
有时候他们会发现彼此业务之间可以合作的地方，但我们不会试图由总部来统一指挥这些事。
Sometimes they find things that they can cooperate on between their businesses, but we don't try to run those from headquarters.
这也许意味着，我们在某些时候会有一些弱点。
And that may mean that we have certain weaknesses at certain times.
但总体算下来，我觉得这对 Berkshire 是非常大的好处。
I think net, it's been a terrific benefit for Berkshire.
我们的经理人在很大程度上就像是在拥有他们自己的业务，我们也希望他们有这种主人翁的感觉。
Our managers, to a great degree, own their businesses, and we want them to feel a sense of ownership.
我们不希望他们迷失在某个庞大的 conglomerate 里，搞不清楚自己到底是从这个小组、还是那个小组下面的另一个小组那里接收指令。
We don't want them to be lost in some massive conglomerate and not know where they get directions from this group, which is a subgroup of that group.
而且我可以跟你讲几个我们收购过的公司里的可怕故事，他们跟我们讲过，在那种运作体系下面他们都经历了什么。
And I could tell you a few horror stories from companies we bought when they tell us about their experience under such an operation.
所以，我们这个世界会发生非常剧烈的变化。
So we— the world is going to change in dramatic ways.
你想想看，在我们拥有 Berkshire 的这五十四年里，世界已经发生了多么大的变化，而其中有些变化也伤害了我们。
Just think how much it's changed in the 54 years that we've had Berkshire, and some of those changes hurt us.
它们在纺织业务上伤害了我们。
They hurt us in textiles.
他们在鞋类业务上伤害了我们。
They hurt us in shoes.
他们在百货商店业务上伤害了我们。
They hurt us in the department store business.
在 trading stamp 业务上也伤害了我们。
Hurt us in the trading stamp business.
这些都是我们这套业务最早的根基，但我们确实会做调整，而且整体来看，我们手上还是有一批非常好的企业。
These were the founding businesses of this operation, but we do adjust, and we've got a group overall of very good businesses.
其中有一些，实际上会被这个世界发生的变化给摧毁。
We've got some that will be actually destroyed by what happens in this world.
但这个嘛，你知道，我依然是个坚定的资本主义者，我相信这其实是好事。
But that's, you know, I still am a card-carrying capitalist, and I believe that that's a good thing.
你必须做出改变。
You have to make changes.
一八零零年的时候，有百分之八十的人在农场干活。要是后来没有发生那么多变化，要是这个国家还得靠百分之八十的人去生产我们需要的粮食和棉花，那我们现在会是一个完全不同的社会。
We had 80% of the people working on farms in 1800, and if there hadn't been a lot of changes and you needed 80% of the people in the country producing the food and cotton we needed, we would have a whole different society.
所以，我们欢迎变化，我们当然也希望我们的经理人能够提前预判并适应这种变化，但有时候我们也会判断错，那些业务就会慢慢衰败、走向死亡，而我们最好把钱用到别的地方去。
So, we welcome change, and we certainly want to have managers that can anticipate and adapt to it, but sometimes we'll be wrong, and those businesses will wither and die, and we better use the money someplace else.