This is the 15th post in a series of 20 highlights from the Acrobatics during the crisis, Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and other series I ran last year.
Given the scary COVID-19 stats in the US, the bitter politics, the high unemployment you may snicker at the title of this post. Well, you would be laughing at Warren Buffett.
I excerpted from the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in May, where Buffett turned historian and talked about the "American Tailwind" ...how we have bounced back many times, usually much stronger after the stumbles we have had. The longer post is here including a video of the full meeting - fair warning, it is over 4 hours long and mostly procedural given it is a shareholder meeting.
At 2.37, Ray Lane of GreatPoint Ventures provides more contemporary history. He talks about US dependence on foreign oil in the early 2000s, and how our innovations in horizontal drilling and fracking changed that. He also points out the funds which raised money last year and this will likely be the best performing this decade. It's largely about the quality of the entrepreneur he is seeing. You should hear his reasoning in the longer interview here.
At 5.24, it is Paul Wright, CIO of Accuride Corp, a major supplier to the truck making world. He discusses how the country is likely to pivot back to "making" more right here and what that would mean to the education system. We cover a lot of ground in the longer interview here
Finally at 7.08. it is Jeremy Bloom, CEO of Integrate, a B2B marketing software company. Impressively, he is the only athlete in history to ski in the Olympics and be drafted into the NFL. He was also a founder of Wish of a Lifetime foundation, which recently joined forces with AARP. Listen to him talk about how he learned from his parents who had a "healthy disrespect for the impossible". The longer session with him is here
I am an immigrant who has always been grateful for the opportunities the country has given me, but it is reassuring these and so many other business executives I have profiled in the last few months say the best is still ahead for the US. In spite of a very challenging 2020.
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