Actually, in many cases KKR has got managers to take other people's money seriously by making "other people's money" the managers' money, in the sense that KKR has tried to include a company's current management in its buyout proposals. That means managers end up taking a substantial stake in these companies, with the presumable result that they spend money a little more carefully than they otherwise might have done. As it happens, insider buyouts raise all sorts of troubling questions, most of which boil down to this one: If the company is worth the price inside managers are willing to pay for it, why is the current stock price $20 or $30 below the company's real value? The insider LBO threatens to give managers an incentive to depress their own company's stock price and to talk down its future prospects. But all this only further illustrates the need to have an attentive and independent board, which can call managers to account when they're not performing.