Maven Takes On Business Books

To be sure, you have to wade through a fair number of stale observations, from Cepuch's contention that Buffett is the business world's equivalent of Captain Kangaroo (less stale than silly) to this less-than-bracing insight about the Starbucks (SBUX Quote - Cramer on SBUX - Stock Picks) gathering: "Oddly, no food or beverages are allowed in the auditorium."

Cepuch can also be cloying, such as when he finds himself an hour outside Fargo at the annual meeting of Otter Tail (OTTR Quote - Cramer on OTTR - Stock Picks), a prairie utility, and remarks: "I've long had a fondness for this part of the world and an admiration for the people who live here." I hope the good folks of Fergus Falls, Minn., poked him in the eye for being condescending.

But despite his occasional glaring faults, Cepuch makes clear what every investor should know: Shareholder meetings are their own little ecosystems -- in that sense, very representative of their companies and not something you can miss, despite the temptation to think of these meetings as boilerplate. As the author points out, there's always something to know and notice: From how proposals get on meeting agendas to how some CEOs, like Howard Schultz of Starbucks, react with "disdain," "staring frigidly" at shareholders who introduce proposals.

Frigid? Quick, someone get that man a hot beverage.

At Otter Tail, Cepuch rightly notices that for a local company not known widely, shareholder meetings are filled with almost all employees, retirees and customers. What better way to get a bead on who the company is and how it treats people than to absorb the vibe there?

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