Just after graduating from Harvard Business School in 2009, Tracy Britt Cool showed up on Berkshire Hathaway’s BRK.A -0.27% door. In her arms: a bushel of sweet corn and tomatoes from her family’s farm in Manhattan, Kansas. She hoped to woo the company’s famed CEO Warren Buffett into hiring her. It worked. The following fall, Cool joined Berkshire as Buffett’s financial assistant.

    Five years later, Buffett’s giving Cool, now 30, her first big operating role. On Monday, the Oracle of Omaha announced that Cool will become the CEO of Pampered Chef on November 1, replacing founder and current chief Doris Christopher, a home economics teacher who started the Pampered Chef in 1980 by selling kitchen tools from her basement. Christopher will remain at the company as chairman. In 2002, Berkshire bought the company, which sells its products through a network of independent consultants, mimicking the Tupperware business model. The price wasn’t disclosed, but at the time, Pampered Chef had over $700 million in revenue and 67,000 consultants.

    More recently, the company’s growth has stalled. Christopher came out of retirement in December 2013 to temporarily take the reins from then-CEO Marla Gottschalk, the former SVP of financial planning and investor relations at Kraft, whom Buffett had hired in 2006. Though 2009 proved a bright spot for Gottschalk—Buffett listed her as one of the execs who increased profits despite declining sales in Berkshire’s annual report—Pampered Chef’s more recent years were bumpy. According to Berkshire’s annual reports, earnings declined in 2011—and in 2012 and 2013 both revenue and earnings took a hit. The company also thinned itself with layoffs: Since 2008, its headcount has declined 20%.

    To be sure, Buffett has admitted publicly that Berkshire has struggled with retail, in part because of technology’s constant reshaping of shopping behaviors. But for the past few years, he’s sent Tracy in to clean a few of his retail companies up; now he’s hoping she’s the one to right Pampered Chef’s path.

    Tracy Britt Cool isn’t an attention-seeker. She doesn’t command or crave the spotlight or spout rhetoric on small screens and conference stages the way some of her more media-trained peers do. But Cool’s earnest, Midwestern sincerity and her kind demeanor give her an unstudied relatability not unlike her billionaire boss’ folksy charm.

    She’s also quite serious. Growing up on her dad’s farm (her parents separated, and each ran one), her work ethic has often been described as meticulous. “I always said she was an old soul growing up,” Cool’s stepmother Lou Britt told Fortune in March. (Cool didn’t cooperate for this piece; her comments in this story are from past conversations with Fortune.)

    2009年，刚刚从哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）毕业的特雷西•布里特•库尔叩开了伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的大门。当时，库尔带来了许多从自家位于堪萨斯州曼哈顿的农场采摘的甜玉米和西红柿。她希望公司大名鼎鼎的CEO沃伦•巴菲特能录用她。这招很管用。第二年秋天，库尔作为巴菲特的财务助理，加入了伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司。

    五年后，巴菲特给现年30岁的库尔安排了她职业生涯中第一个重大运营职务。10月27日，被尊称为奥马哈先知的巴菲特宣布，自11月1日起，库尔将接替多丽丝•克里斯托弗担任厨具销售商Pampered Chef公司CEO。作为创始人的克里斯托弗，仍将留在该公司担任董事长一职。克里斯托弗曾经是一位家政学教师，她于1980年创办了Pampered Chef公司，刚开始只是在自家地下室销售厨具。2002年被伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司收购时，该公司通过许多独立顾问销售其产品，模仿特百惠（Tupperware）的商业模式。虽然伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司没有披露收购价格，但当时Pampered Chef的年收入已超过7亿美元，旗下有6.7万名销售顾问。

    最近，该公司的增长陷入停滞。本已退休的克里斯托弗于2013年12月复出，临时接替当时的CEO玛拉•戈特沙尔克。戈特沙尔克曾是美国卡夫食品有限公司（Kraft）负责财务规划和投资者关系的高级副总裁，于2006年被巴菲特聘用。虽然2009年Pampered Chef在戈特沙尔克执掌下表现出色（巴菲特在当年伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司年报中列出了那些在销售下滑情况下仍成功提高盈利的子公司负责人，而戈特沙尔克也位列其中），但该公司最近几年颇为坎坷。伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司的年报显示，Pampered Chef公司2011年盈利下降，而2012年和2013年则收入和利双双下降。该公司不得不通过裁员瘦身：自2008年以来，其员工人数已经下降了20%。

    当然，巴菲特曾公开承认，由于科技不断重塑消费者购物行为，伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司旗下零售业务一直问题不断。但在过去几年中，他委派特雷西整顿了一些零售子公司。现在，他希望特雷西是那个能让Pampered Chef回到正轨的不二人选。

    特雷西•布里特•库尔为人低调。与那些更善于和媒体打交道的同行相比，她并不渴求出现在聚光灯下，也不爱在电视及会议场合露脸讲话。但库尔和典型的中西部美国人一样淳朴友善，让人感觉亲切，毫不做作，这一点与巴菲特平易近人的魅力不无相似。

    库尔还相当认真。她在父亲经营的农场长大（库尔的父母已经离异，各自经营一家农场），养成了认真细致的工作风格。库尔的继母露•布里特3月份向《财富》（Fortune）杂志表示：“我总是说她少年老成。”。（库尔没有接受记者此次采访；库尔在本报道中的言论均来自她与《财富》过去的对话。）

    Her high school teachers remember a mix of precociousness and humility—and an ability to multi-task at a very young age. “She was quiet and hardworking,” recalls her high school accounting teacher Glenda Eichmann. Mary Ellen Morgan, who taught Cool English, remembered Cool’s involvement in many extracurriculars, often in leadership positions. “She was very well liked and very well respected,” says Morgan. “She wasn’t the homecoming queen, but that wasn’t anything she strived for.” Cool was president of the Farmer’s Market as a high school student, while also balancing schoolwork, clubs, and her friends. Troy Morgan (Mary Ellen Morgan’s son) was part of her friend group and says Cool’s time management was “evidently out the roof, being able to juggle and balance everything.”

    That ability would follow her to college. After graduating first in her Manhattan High School class, Cool headed to Harvard in 2003, where she studied economics and quickly became a staple in campus women’s groups. Harvard’s famed Women in Business (HUWIB) organization named Cool president in 2006, a title earned after she developed HUWIB’s 2005 fundraising campaign and raised more than double the funds compared to the previous year. She also headed the Women’s Leadership Project, an organization focused on high school students. She then founded Smart Women Securities (SWS) in 2006, an investment literacy group for female undergrads, with several classmates. In 2007, she told her hometown newspaper The Mercury that she spent “much more time” on her extracurriculars “than I ever spent on classes, that’s for sure.”

    Cool’s dual interest in business and female leadership led her to professional women’s network 85 Broads. In 2005, she split her summer between Bank of America and the women’s organization. Founder Janet Hanson had recently left her CEO role at Milestone Capital, a hedge fund with $2.5 billion in assets, to join Lehman Brothers as a managing director. Hanson got the group interested in investing by putting $75,000 in a Fidelity account. She huddled the eight students—spanning Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale—in a conference room one afternoon and asked them to pick 2-3 stocks. “This was totally unscientific. But after 4 hours, those gals were so fired up. They realized they were investors,” says Hanson.

    For Cool, another 85 Broads perk was meeting Jill DiLosa. The hedge fund exec retired at age 27, the year before, with an estimated net worth of $25 million, says Hanson. DiLosa focused on becoming independently wealthy after watching her parents divorce when she was a kid, an experience Cool also went through. “Tracy was gobsmacked” by meeting DiLosa, says Hanson. Both were from small towns and the mentoring relationship blossomed into a friendship. Hanson says DiLosa admired Cool’s grit. “She wasn’t your typical ivy leaguer. [DiLosa] really taught her the ropes.”

    All these experiences paved Cool’s road to Omaha. She now had a deep network of connected women to round out her intellect and drive. After launching SWS, Cool and her classmate Tiffany Niver (who’s originally from Omaha) mailed Buffett a letter asking if their organization could visit. He agreed—Cool told Fortune last October that she thinks he said yes because of Niver’s connection to Omaha—and, as head of the organization, Cool got to have dinner with Buffett at his favorite restaurant during SWS’s first annual trip to Berkshire Hathaway.

    After graduating from HBS in 2009, Cool again sent Buffett a letter saying she’d love to work with him for “a day, a week, a month – I’ll do anything.” He didn’t need help, but he suggested she stop by if she ever finds herself in Omaha, “which is Warren’s resounding way to say, ‘come to Omaha,’” she said.

    And so she ended up at Berkshire with that offering of produce. The two had lunch, and afterwards, having asked how she could help him, Cool spent the summer researching Lehman’s bankruptcy (she had interned there in 2006). In early fall, after she returned to her analyst job at Fidelity, Buffett called and said he might have a role for Cool, if she was interested. “And I said, ‘okay, I’ll be on the next flight.’”

    在其中学老师的印象里，库尔有些早熟，为人谦逊，很早就具备了多任务处理能力。她中学会计老师格伦达•艾希曼回忆说：“她很安静、勤奋。”。英语老师玛丽•艾伦•摩根则记得库尔参加了许多课外活动，且常常担任领导职务。摩根说：“她很受人喜爱和尊重，她不是返校节皇后那种类型的女孩，但那也不是她的梦想。”还在上中学时，库尔就担任了农夫市场（Farmer’s Market）主席，同时还要兼顾学业、在各种俱乐部的活动以及与同学的友谊。特洛伊•摩根（玛丽•埃伦•摩根的儿子）是她朋友圈中的一员。他说，库尔时间管理能力超强，能在各种事务间取得良好平衡。

    这种能力在她上大学后也得到彰显。在曼哈顿中学（ManhattanHigh School）以年级第一的成绩毕业后，库尔于2003年进入哈佛大学，主修经济学专业。她很快成为哈佛大学各种女性组织的中坚成员。2006年，哈佛大学著名的商界女性组织（HUWIB）任命库尔为主席。此前，她制定了该组织2005年募捐活动计划，筹资金额比上年高出逾一倍。她还担任了专注于中学生的组织——女性领导力项目（Women’s Leadership Project）负责人。2006年，她和几位同学创办了智慧女性证券组织（Smart Women Securities），向本科女生传播投资知识。2007年，库尔向自己家乡的《水星报》（The Mercury）表示，她在课外活动上花的时间肯定要比在学业上的时间多很多。

    库尔对商业和女性领导力的双重兴趣，促使她参加了职业女性组织85 Broads。2005年暑期，她一直往返于美国银行（Bank of America）和85 Broads之间。该职业女性组织的创办人珍妮特•汉森当时刚刚卸任在对冲基金麦顿投资公司（Milestone Capital，资产管理规模25亿美元）的CEO职务，转而加盟雷曼兄弟公司（Lehman Brothers），担任董事总经理一职。汉森此前以85 Broads的名义，在富达投资集团（Fidelity）开设了一个证券账户，初始投入资金7.5万美元。此举激发了该职业女性组织成员对投资的兴趣。一天下午，她和8名来自哈佛大学（Harvard）、哥伦比亚大学（Columbia）、宾夕法尼亚大学（Penn）、普林斯顿大学（Princeton）和耶鲁大学（Yale）等著名学府的学生在一间会议室促膝而坐。汉森让她们选两三只股票。汉森说：“这太不科学了。但4小时后，这些女生都神采奕奕。她们意识到自己已经是投资者了。”。

    对于库尔来说，参加85 Broads的另一大好处，在于和对冲基金经理吉尔•狄罗萨（Jill DiLosa）邂逅。汉森说，前年，年仅27岁的狄罗萨就正式退休了，当时净资产估计有2500万美元。在孩提时代目睹双亲离婚的狄罗萨，一直致力于靠自己打拼致富，而库尔也有同样的家庭经历。汉森说，库尔见到狄罗萨后惊呆了。两人都是来自美国小城镇，她们的师徒关系发展成了友谊。汉森说，狄罗萨赞赏库尔的坚毅。“她不是典型的常春藤联盟名校生。狄罗萨教了她一些真本事。”

    所有这些经历都为库尔去奥马哈做了铺垫。现在，她的圈子里有很多人脉广博的职业女性，能够激发她的智慧和干劲。在创办智慧女性证券组织后，库尔和她的同学蒂芙尼•尼韦尔（老家也在奥马哈）给巴菲特寄了一封信，询问她们组织的成员是否可以前来参观。巴菲特同意了（库尔去年10月份对《财富》杂志称，她认为巴菲特之所以同意，是因为尼韦尔的老家是奥马哈）。在智慧女性证券组织对伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司首次年度访问期间，库尔作为该组织的负责人，与巴菲特在他最喜欢的餐馆一道就餐。

    2009年从哈佛商学院毕业后，库尔再次致信巴菲特，说她很想与巴菲特共事，哪怕是“一天、一个星期、一个月，我做什么都行。”但巴菲特表示并不需要帮助，但建议她如果来奥马哈可以去他那坐坐。库尔表示：“这是巴菲特以他独特的方式在响亮地说‘来奥马哈吧’。”。

    于是，她来到伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司，带着上文提到的农产品做礼物。之后，两人共进午餐。事后，库尔花了整个夏天伏案研究雷曼兄弟的破产案（她曾于2006年在该行实习过）。在当年初秋，也就是在库尔回到富达的分析师岗位上后，巴菲特打来电话，说他这里可能有个工作机会，看她是否有兴趣。“我说：‘好，我马上飞过去。’”

    Cool’s path at Berkshire has not been particularly easy. Though she initially oversaw the company’s $217 million investment in Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, her role quickly expanded to include other responsibilities. Before her most recent promotion, she was chairman of custom frame company Larson-Juhl, insulation and roofing supplier Johns Manville, Oriental Trading Company, and Benjamin Moore—and she also sits on Heinz’s board. At Fortune’s 2013 Most Powerful Women Summit, Cool said she spends the majority of her time reading and visiting Berkshire’s operating companies, learning about their inner workings and occasionally getting involved in the operations—a role that sometimes includes the unpleasant task of firing management.

    The CEOs Cool has worked with applaud her strategic thinking. Drew Van Pelt, the head of Larson Juhl who was hired by Cool in 2011, says she connected him with other chiefs at sister companies like Johns Manville and molding-maker Marman Industries. “It is an extraordinary and unique opportunity to consult with those different businesses and CEOs,” he says. “Berkshire [companies] have strategy and leadership that is distinctive and exceptional.” Johns Manville CEO Mary Rhinehart asked Buffett for Cool to be named her company’s chairman. She says they complement one another and her input is “always helpful, insightful and on point.” Rhinehart adds that she’s “impressed by Tracy’s energy and business acumen.”

    If there’s a blip on this otherwise impressive record, it’s Cool’s experience with Benjamin Moore, the 131-year-old paint company Cool was sent in to help after a slew of management and strategic problems (Fortune profiled the business’ blues last month). Buffett has admitted to Fortune that he didn’t keep a close enough eye on the company—and he sent Cool to clean up the mess.

    She named Bob Merritt CEO in 2012, replacing previous chief Denis Abrams. Merritt was formerly Outback Steakhouse’s CFO—and is also married to DiLosa, Cool’s aforementioned mentor. He tried to create change too quickly, he didn’t mix well with the company culture, and was let go by Berkshire in October 2013. The New York Post reported that Merritt was fired because he harassed female employees (a claim Merritt says is not true) and, in a series of articles, pegged the chaos on Cool’s decision-making.

    Cool suffered through her first professional mistake—the hiring of Merritt and the press coverage of it—in a very public way. Luckily, Buffett was forgiving. “He recognizes that he’s made mistakes, and he’s recognized that some people he’s chosen have gone on to be all-stars at Berkshire, and others have been great, and others have not worked out,” Cool told Fortune in October 2013, adding that “he’s been incredibly trusting, which is very empowering to an individual.” She said that Buffett’s trust has inspired her to work harder after the experience with Benjamin Moore, as she doesn’t want to disappoint him or Berkshire’s shareholders. From a management standpoint, Benjamin Moore is back on track; new CEO Mike Searles has won back many of Moore’s independent dealers—though its strategic success still remains a question mark. But through all the tumult, Cool remained positive—and, well, cool. “We all make mistakes, and I think that that is the way we learn,” she told Fortune.

    Ultimately, those learning experiences are what paved Cool’s path to Pampered Chef. The company is a tiny part of Berkshire’s portfolio—a small playground for Cool to put her learnings into practice. Whether or not she can sharpen the company’s dull kitchen knives is to be determined, but Buffett clearly thinks she’s up to the task. Regardless, the young Berkshire star has been given a business education like no other. “Clearly, she has a bright future ahead of her,” Rhinehart told Fortune. And Cool’s next moves will certainly be some to watch.

    库尔在伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司的发展并不轻松。虽然她一开始只负责管理公司在商业抵押贷款服务公司Berkadia Commercial Mortgage的2.17亿美元投资，但她的职责迅速扩展至其他方面。在最近升迁为Pampered Chef首席执行官之前，她是定制裱框公司拉森-朱尔公司（Larson-Juhl）、保温和屋顶供应商约翰-曼维尔公司（Johns Manville）、东方贸易公司（Oriental Trading Company）和本杰明摩尔公司（Benjamin Moore）的董事长。同时，她还在亨氏公司（Heinz）担任董事。在《财富》杂志2013年最具影响力女性峰会上（2013 Most Powerful Women Summit），库尔表示，她大部分时间都花在研究并参观伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司旗下的经营性公司上。她主要是了解它们的内部运作机制，偶尔会介入运营（有时会干解雇管理人员这种不愉快的事）。

    曾与库尔共事过的CEO们赞赏她的战略头脑。2011年被库尔聘为拉森-朱尔公司负责人的德鲁•范•佩尔特说，库尔让他与其他姐妹公司（如约翰-曼维尔公司和成型机制造商Marman Industries）的负责人建立起联系。他说：“这是一个非凡而独特的机会，让我能够与不同企业的CEO们交流。“伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司有鲜明独特的战略和领导力。”约翰-曼维尔公司的CEO玛丽•莱茵哈特要求巴菲特任命库尔为她所在公司的董事长。她说，她们能构成很好的互补，库尔的想法“总是有益、有见地并且到位”。莱茵哈特补充说，库尔的活力和商业头脑让她印象深刻。

    如果非要找出库尔骄人成绩中的瑕疵，在本杰明摩尔公司（Benjamin Moore）的遇挫或许算得上是一个。在这家历史长达131年的涂料公司出现一系列管理和战略问题后（《财富》杂志上个月介绍了这家公司面临的问题），库尔临危授命介入该公司。巴菲特向《财富》杂志承认，他对这家公司关注不够，让库尔去收拾残局了。

    2012年，库尔任命鲍勃•梅里特为该公司CEO，接替前任丹尼斯•艾布拉姆斯。梅里特曾在澳拜客牛排馆（Outback Steakhouse）担任首席财务官。他还是上文提到的库尔的导师狄罗萨的丈夫。但他在寻求变革时操之过急，与该公司企业文化格格不入，最终在2013年10月被伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司解雇。《纽约邮报》（The New York Post）报道称，梅里特被辞是因为他骚扰女员工（梅里特本人否认了这一说法），并在一系列文章中将该公司的乱局归咎于库尔的失策。

    库尔职业生涯的第一个错误——雇用梅里特和相关的新闻报道闹得人尽皆知。幸运的是，巴菲特是宽容的。库尔在在2013年10月向《财富》杂志表示：“巴菲特承认他也犯过错，他选用的一些人才在伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司成为耀眼的明星，另外一些也很棒，但有些人确实没有用对。”。她还说：“他一直非常信任别人，这对相关的人有巨大推动作用。”库尔说，在本杰明摩尔公司遇挫后，巴菲特的信任激励她更加努力，因为她不想让他和伯克希尔-哈撒韦的股东失望。从管理的角度来看，本杰明摩尔公司已重新步入正轨。新任CEO迈克•塞尔挽回了很多独立经销商，但其在战略上是否成功仍是个问号。但在经历所有纷扰后，库尔依然保持积极、冷静。她告诉《财富》杂志：“我们都会犯错，我认为我们就是这样成长起来的。”。

    最终，这些历练为她入主Pampered Chef铺平了道路。该公司是伯克希尔-哈撒韦公司投资组合中很小的一块，但却是库尔学以致用的练兵场。她是否能让该公司重现往日光彩还有待观察，但巴菲特显然认为她能够胜任。无论如何，这位年轻的伯克希尔新星获得的商业教育独一无二。莱茵哈特向《财富》杂志表示：“很显然，她前途一片光明。”。库尔下一步的行动绝对值得关注。（财富中文网）

    译者：Peter

    审校：Hunter