The scuttlebutt approach

The world isn’t going to tell you about great deals. You have to find them yourself. I did a lot of work in the earlier years just in getting familiar with businesses. The way I would do that is I would go out and use what Phil Fisher called the scuttlebutt approach. I’d go out, I’d talk to customers, I’d talk to ex-employees in some cases, I’d talk to suppliers—everybody…. Let’s say I was interested in the coal industry. I’d go out and see every coal company and I’d ask every CEO, “If you were to only buy stock in one coal company that wasn’t your own, which would it be and why?” And you piece those things together and you learn a lot about the business after a while.