This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.

How do you take a good company and make it one that business mogul and billionaire Warren Buffet would buy? I found the answer to that question this weekend when I read a new book about the history of the R. C. Willey Company and the success of Bill Child, a remarkable businessman.

The book, "How to Build a Business Warren Buffet Would Buy, The R. C. Willey Story," by Jeff Benedict is a delightful read that teaches some great lessons about leadership, integrity, perseverance, and hard work. I have known Bill Child since high school. We became friends at Weber Junior College years ago and our relationship has continued ever since. In fact, he is also my golfing partner and I am not the least bit surprised by his success; he has always been an outstanding man.

The book tells how Bill, at the age of 22, took over his father-in-law's retail appliance store, a 600-square foot cinder block building on the edge of a cornfield in remote Syracuse. With no business experience, Bill set out to make the store profitable. Was he successful? Well, most Utahans can answer that question. Under the leadership of Bill and his brother, Sheldon, R. C. Willey became one of America's top furniture retailers and a company that Warren Buffet wanted to include in his successful Berkshire Hathaway Company. Mr. Buffet called R. C. Willey a "jewel of a company."

Jeff Benedict is a talented writer. The book teaches valuable lessons about business success. Readers will enjoy learning about Bill's abilities and the traits that have generated such admiration. Everyone who knows Bill comments on his kindness, personality, work ethic and integrity.

I smiled when I read the account of Bill standing on the number one tee at Augusta National Golf Club playing with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Tom Murphy, the legendary chief executive officer of Capital Cities/ABC. Knowing Bill, I'm sure he thought he had died and gone to heaven since he loves golf so much.

For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.

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