3555, Farnam Street

Kiewit Plaza may be one of the tallest buildings in Omaha, Nebraska but it is very likely that you will pass it by without much of a glance, unless you knew that it housed the headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway and the office of its legendary chairman, Warren Buffett. 

It is 8.30 am on a cold, windy May morning as my colleague Rajesh Padmashali and I make our way to the security desk at the reception. “Can we see Debbie, please,” I ask. Buffett’s assistant Debbie Bosanek, a living legend herself, turns up and after a warm hug, walks us briskly through one flight of stairs to a quiet room that has exactly two chairs, one cabinet and a desk with some flower vases. “This is the room we use for interviews because there is nothing here that will interfere with your work,” she says. 

We settle down in the room, frantically trying to get in touch with our photographer, Dave. He appears soon after and remarks, “This always happens when people meet Warren for the first time — they are so nervous and anxious. Why? He is just a normal guy,” he pauses, “with $60 billion.” 

As we wait, Mr. Buffett walks into the room a couple of minutes before time with his executive assistant Tracy Cool, a rising star and the youngest in his A-team. He makes us feel instantly comfortable, recalling the special Berkshire edition we worked on last year (June 8, 2013) and saying, “It’s great to have you guys over.”

The topic of discussion this time around was not investing — there is precious little that is still to be uncovered about his investment style. We were there to get his thoughts on philanthropy for our upcoming eighth anniversary edition, although we could not help but ask why he has not invested aggressively in India.

Having met Mr. Buffett, we did not want the day to end but the upcoming weekend promised its own share of thrills. About 40,000 Berkshire shareholders from across the world were to descend on Omaha to enlighten and enjoy themselves. For us, there was an additional reason for cheer: Outlook Business’ scheduled meeting with Howard Graham Buffett at his farm on Sunday. Here is the interview