Author Alice Schroeder was a noted insurance industry analyst and
writer who was a managing director at Morgan Stanley. She first met
Warren Buffett when she published research on Berkshire Hathaway;
her grasp of the subject and insight so impressed him that he
offered her access to his files and to himself. Their friendship
and mutual respect make her ideally positioned to write the
The Snowball.
Ms. Schroeder was born in Texas, and she earned an undergraduate
degree and her MBA at the University of Texas at Austin before
moving east to work in finance. She is a former CPA and lives in
Connecticut with her husband.
1. Discuss the quotation that gave this biography its title:
"Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow
and a really long hill." What makes Warren Buffett better than
others at finding and recognizing "wet snow"? What gives him the
patience and discipline to endure the long haul? Describe the
"snowballs" you have accumulated, financial or otherwise. What can
you do to help them grow and gain momentum?
2. Buffett often refers to having won the "ovarian lottery,"
particularly because he was born in the United States in 1930 and
was raised in a relatively stable household. Was his success due to
circumstance as much as to innate talent or personal drive? How do
his work habits compare to those of most people you know-not just
in terms of how many hours he devotes to work, but also how he
spends those hours?
3. Would you have been one of Warren Buffett's initial
investors? In what way did some of the qualities that caused him to
be rejected (even blackballed from a country club) prove to be the
very qualities that helped him create wealth?
4. Discuss Susan Buffett's legacy of deep compassion and social
justice. In what way did her personality complement and complete
Warren's? How did she contribute to his financial success? What
changes did she seem to experience when she went from being Susan
Thompson to Susan Buffett, then moved toward greater independence
in California?
5. How did Warren and Susie Buffett's childhoods prepare them
for the fame and opportunity that lay ahead? How did it affect
Warren to be raised against the backdrop of Howard's career as a
conservative politician? What emotional hurdles did Leila set? How
was Susie able to help him overcome them?
6. Discuss the guiding principles that have driven Buffett's
investment decisions (the book's index provides a helpful list,
under "Warren Buffett/Investing Principles"). How many of these
principles have subtly changed over the decades? What distinguishes
his "cigar butt" strategy from the strategies of other
value-seekers, or from the corporate raiders of the 1980s and early
1990s?
7. Why do Buffett's strategies adapt so well to a variety of
sectors, from newspapers to insurance companies, and even the rise
of new technologies? How did your predictions about the high-tech
bubble compare to Buffett's warnings delivered at Sun Valley in
1999, described in chapter two?
8. Schroeder weaves business history and personal history to
tell Buffett's story. What does this teach us about the importance
of the human element in investment decisions? How did tips from
Dale Carnegie's class prove to be just as important as financial
savvy when Buffett began targeting companies to acquire?
9. What traits did Katharine Graham and Buffett's other trusted
friends share? What kinds of people is he drawn to?
10. Would you be content with a long-distance marriage like the
one Warren and Susie had? What are the advantages of such an
arrangement, particularly for spouses who have been married for a
long time? What made Astrid a good match for Warren, especially at
the time in his life when they met?
11. Discuss Warren and Susie's parenting styles. How do their
children compare to the children of other wealthy parents you have
heard about? Did you agree with Warren's observation that many
wealthy parents who decry welfare programs actually create a form
of welfare within their own families?
12. What did it cost Warren Buffett emotionally to amass his
record-breaking fortune? How did he recoup some of those personal
losses? How did you react to his observation in chapter 58,
"Buffetted," that "the trouble with love is that you can't buy
it"?
13. Why was Buffett able to maintain modest tastes, preferring a
hamburger and French fries to haute cuisine and enjoying the same
home, car, and clothes for years? What makes him eschew status
symbols? What do you think the "purpose" of money is?
14. What does the story of Rose Blumkin, captured in chapter 44,
indicate about succeeding in business in America? How did her
business strategies mirror Buffett's in many ways?
15. What drew Buffett to Salomon Brothers? What does this
episode demonstrate about the way a reputation of integrity can be
made and broken in corporate America? Does the culture of your
workplace have more in common with Salomon or with Buffett's office
on Kiewit Plaza?
16. How familiar had you been with Berkshire Hathaway before
reading The Snowball? Why have so few other
corporate leaders had the courage to try unconventional approaches
to growing a company, such as not splitting the stock price?
17. If you had been one of Warren and Susie's children, would
you have sold your shares in Berkshire Hathaway? If so, how would
you have spent or invested the proceeds? What charities would you
have supported during the periods of mandated philanthropy?
18. Were you surprised by the fact that Buffett approves of
estate taxes? Do you agree with his rationale?
19. Discuss Buffett's decision to give a substantial number of
Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
and the ways this decision inspired others, from all walks of life,
to become philanthropists. What is the potential for the world if
most philanthropists do as Buffett did, rather than building
monuments to themselves?
20. How will you apply Buffett's wisdom in the closing chapter,
"Claim Checks," to your own life?