LinkedIn Corp (LNKD), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Starbucks Corporation (SBUX): Investment Philosophy, Rule No. 2: Leadership You Can Trust

What if they’re not really doing that, or what if they’re not really raising the dividend over time? What are they doing with that money? Is it going into other ventures, or are they looking at other ways to try to grow the business? You can get an idea there.

Does management have a stake in the game? Does management own shares of the company? I think of something like LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), for example, and the co-founder Reid Hoffman and CEO Jeff Weiner, who have a tremendous stake in the company.

I think that you can see, time and time again — every quarter they report their results, every presentation they give — there’s an enthusiasm and a passion that comes across when these guys talk, that you can’t put a quantity on it. You can’t really quantify it, but you can see it and you can feel it.

To me, when I see a passionate management team like that, I think that’s something that people ought to take note of. Jeff Bezos with [Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) ] is another great example — Howard Schultz with Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) — those are guys that, to me, just show a passion and a love for what they’re doing.

It’s not necessarily one behavior they’re committing, but it’s just this history that they’re building over time of how they see the world and why they’re growing their business. Those are things that I think, over time, you can find more out about them.

The article Investment Philosophy, Rule No. 2: Leadership You Can Trust originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jason Moser.

Jason Moser owns shares of Amazon.com, LinkedIn, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Amazon.com, LinkedIn, and Starbucks.

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