“Back in Omaha I’m known as the Jim Pattison of the United States” Warren Buffett
Jim Pattison is a Canadian Born entrepreneur who solely owns and operates Canada’s second largest Company, The Jim Pattison Group and is the 4th richest person in Canada. The company comprises around 25 separate business lines with interests in media, automotive dealerships, grocery store chains, magazine distribution, food service specialty packaging, advertising, real estate development, fishing, forest products, financial services, and entertainment. His philosophies around running a business are consistent with many of the world’s most successful managers including a laser focus on return on invested capital, a lean cost structure, learning from mistakes, a decentralised operating model and making every employee feel like they are an owner in the business. At 90 years old, he is still running the business full time and drives 1,000’s of miles around the country dropping in on his various management teams. The book is an open and honest account of his rise from a car salesman to highly successful businessman and is one of the best autobiographies I have read.