Do Business with People You Can Trust: Balancing Profits and Principles [Hardcover]

L. J. Rittenhouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2002

At time when investors are wondering who to trust, L.J. Rittenhouse has written the first-ever guide to identifying trustworthy business leadership. She examines the letters that CEOs write in their annual reports to show readers how to spot executives with clear sight, wise judgment and the ability to balance profits and principles. While many people complain that these letters are a waste of time to read, Rittenhouse shows investors how to read between the lines to ferret out useful information that management may be trying to hide. Quoting from the letters of Warren Buffett and other trust-building CEOs, she establishes standards of disclosure that readers can use to determine the worth of other company communications. In Do Business With People You Can Tru$t readers are invited to be part of a movement to instill improved business disclosure and accountability.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Prior to founding andBEYOND Communications Inc. in 1991, Ms. Rittenhouse was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers. She has appeared on CNN and CBS Marketwatch and is the author of the series, Profiles in Change and other articles appearing in magazines, journals and newspapers. Ms. Rittenhouse lives in New York City with her daughter. She has an MBA in Finance and an MS in Organization from Columbia University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: AndBEYOND Communications] (April 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971935602
• ISBN-13: 978-0971935600
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A European perspective on a US problem, January 19, 2003

By 

Brian Birkenhead (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do Business with People You Can Trust: Balancing Profits and Principles (Hardcover)

Laura Rittenhouse has done us all a great favour in her book "Do Business with People you can Trust". It should be required reading for all CEO's and corporate communicators. At last we can see the propects for creating shareholder value by full and honest disclosure and she has created a useful technique for assessing the value (or lack of it)implicit in the shareholder letters published by CEOs.
All those who have had the uneviable task of writing reports or letters to shareholders know the temptations of the fashionable phrase or the piece of internal jargon. They are easy to write and get the job done - but we should all learn to stand back and ask "exactly what does that mean?"
Disclosure requirements are increasing in all countries but no amount of rules or legislation will prevent the use of meaningless phrases or words. The author helps us understand what works and what doesn't.
I only have two suggestions for improvement. First, I think we are benefiting here in the UK from additional disclosures about risk management and many companies are now reporting on the major risks they are taking and how they manage them. More on that would have been helpful. Second, She has focused on the "goodies" strongly represented by Berkshire Hathaway, and the "baddies" represented by Enron. The emphasis on these two companies is heavy and I would have preferred something a little more balanced.
Other than that I enjoyed the book immensely, it is well and intelligently written with a mischievous sense of humour. I hope Ms Rittenhouse will persevere with her theme and continue her analysis for an update in a year or so.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for analyzing annual reports and finding good CEOs, May 15, 2002

By 

Tom Robbins-milne (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Do Business with People You Can Trust: Balancing Profits and Principles (Hardcover)

I've read dozens of investment books over the last couple of years, and this is clearly one of the best. It provides a very useful and simple method of improving the quality of the single stocks I buy, and is also a good quick read. I can't recommend it enough, you'll never ignore your annual reports again!

A better name for the book would be "How to find a CEO you can trust". The book focuses on helping shareholders analyze the trustworthiness of their CEO. It is more than just general business principles.

Rittenhouse's basic thesis is that it's best to invest in firms where the CEO can clearly and forthrightly explain what's going on and demonstrates his knowledge of the business. Throughout her book, she gives details on how to analyze the CEO's shareholder letter. (How many people don't know there's one in every annual report?). She uses great concrete examples of good letters (many from Warren Buffet) and bad ones (several from Enron) to prove her points and further explain them. It's very well written, and reasonably short.

Her ideas are critical for individual investors to use. Unlike portfolio managers running mutual funds who limit their viewpoint to the next quarter, we can be more patient. Hence it's particularly important for us to invest in firms for the long haul, and that demands having someone in charge that knows what he's doing, and can effectively communicate it. If a business can't be made understandable to the shareholders, can we assume the CEO understands it? And if he can't communicate it to us, how does he communicate it to the people who work for him?

I've worked on Wall Street for 15 years, and I must admit that the only shareholder letter I read every year was from the CEO where I worked. In that case, this book is also very important, as it provides a way to analyze it and compare the one (or few) annual reports you read against the hundreds that Rittenhouse reads.

After a dozen chapters explaining particular points to look for, Rittenhouse presents a one page score card, which can be used when judging annual reports. It's really easy to use and I very much look forward to using it on the stack I've accumulated.

I found the juxtaposition of Enron's letters with Berkshire Hathaway particularly useful. It helps to demonstrate the central point of the book: If the CEO can explain in clear language how the business is run, it's a good sign. If they can't perhaps it's cause they don't know or would simply rather you not know what's going on.

Thanks to the author for sharing her easy to use recipe for finding firms with good caretakers. As Warren Buffet said, she is really doing the work of angels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mining the Nuggets of Knowledge from Shareholder Letters, September 15, 2002

By 

T. Newberry (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do Business with People You Can Trust: Balancing Profits and Principles (Hardcover)

Tru$t should be required reading for anyone interested in leadership, communications or investing. In fact, many Wall Street analysts could offer significant added value in their reports by applying the lessons in Tru$t to their research. My hope is that in subsequent books Ms. Rittenhouse builds on her analysis of success to provide more insight into the art of creating new businesses - or leading any worthwhile organization.

Do Business with People You Can Tru$t involves readers in the possibilities of trustworthy and ethical business practices through entertaining and illustrative analysis of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters. The premise of this analysis is that these letters do not just represent a unique and interesting form of communication - they are also the best barometers of the qualities of the manager that writes them. This premise is illustrated with examples of how Berkshire approaches its business issues and needs contrasted with other approaches and the relative success of each.