Outpacing the Competition
with Jim Weber

Joining Brooks Running Company in 2001 as CEO, Jim Weber turned the small company around with a focused mission of providing inspired products and inspiring experiences that motivated people to keep running.

With a goal to create value and content for runners, Weber’s leadership style and success at Brooks caught the eye of none other than Warren Buffet, who’s Berkshire Hathaway went on to acquire the company in 2012. Weber shares insights from his new book, Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the Pack, how he got creative during the pandemic when the running business was sidelined, and what you can learn about business when you report to Warren Buffet.

Meet our guest:

Jim Weber joined Brooks Running Company as CEO in 2001 and is credited for the Seattle-based running company’s aggressive turnaround story. The business and brand success caught the attention of Warren Buffett, who declared Brooks a standalone subsidiary company of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2012. Weber’s professional journey includes leadership roles for several consumer product brands such as chairman and CEO of Sims Sports, president of O’Brien International, vice president of The Coleman Company, and various roles with The Pillsbury Company. Weber was also managing director of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Seattle Investment Banking practice and a commercial banking officer at Norwest Bank Minneapolis (now Wells Fargo). He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and a Master of Business Administration degree with high distinction from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.