Warren Buffett

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1930, Warren Buffett grew up in a middle-class family. His father was a stockbroker and later a congressman. Young Warren showed an early aptitude for numbers and business. At age 11, he bought his first stock. By 14, he was filing tax returns on his paper route earnings.

Buffett's opportunity came when he discovered Benjamin Graham's book "The Intelligent Investor." It was a revelation. Graham's value investing principles resonated deeply with Buffett. He applied to Columbia Business School specifically to study under Graham.

"The best investment you can make is in yourself," Buffett often says. He took this to heart, absorbing everything he could from Graham.

After graduation, Buffett faced his first major setback. Graham rejected his job application. Undeterred, Buffett returned to Omaha and started his own investment partnership with $100 of his own money.

The early years weren't easy. Buffett worked tirelessly, analyzing companies and looking for undervalued stocks. His wife, Susan, supported the family on her modest income while Buffett reinvested all his earnings.

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing," Buffett says. He knew what he was doing. His partnership consistently outperformed the market.

In 1965, Buffett made a pivotal decision. He acquired a struggling textile company called Berkshire Hathaway. It wasn't a great business, but Buffett saw potential. He gradually shifted Berkshire's focus from textiles to insurance and investments.

Buffett's success didn't come overnight. It took decades of disciplined investing and compound growth. He faced skepticism during the dot-com boom when he refused to invest in tech stocks he didn't understand.

"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful," Buffett famously said. This contrarian approach served him well.

Today, Berkshire Hathaway is a $500 billion conglomerate. Buffett's net worth exceeds $100 billion. But he still lives in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958 for $31,500.

Buffett's success extends beyond personal wealth. He's pledged to give away 99% of his fortune to philanthropic causes. "If you're in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%," he says.

His journey teaches us that success isn't just about making money. It's about patience, continuous learning, and integrity. As Buffett puts it, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Lessons

Lesson 1: Cultivate an anti-fragile culture. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway isn't just robust. It's anti-fragile. It gets stronger under stress. This comes from a culture of long-term thinking and decentralized decision-making. "I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will," Buffett quips. Build a business that can survive - even thrive - without you.

Lesson 2: Make inaction a conscious choice. Sometimes, the best move is no move at all. Buffett is famous for his patience. He doesn't feel pressured to act just because others are. "The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient," he says. In your business, learn to resist the urge to constantly change things. Stability can be a competitive advantage.

Lesson 3: Hire for integrity. Buffett's hiring philosophy is simple: "We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don't have the latter, the first two will kill you." Skills can be taught. Character is harder to change. When building your team, prioritize integrity above all else. It'll save you countless headaches down the road.

Lesson 4: Simplify relentlessly. Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are models of clarity. He explains complex financial concepts in plain English. This isn't just good communication. It's good business. "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself," he says. Simplicity in your product, your messaging, your operations - it's all crucial.

Lesson 5: Embrace your constraints. Buffett famously avoids tech stocks because he doesn't understand them. This isn't a weakness. It's a strength. By sticking to his "circle of competence," he avoids costly mistakes. In your business, don't try to be all things to all people. Focus on what you do best. Your limitations can become your defining features.

Warren Buffett Quotes

On focus: "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

On simplicity: "There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult."

On patience: "No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

On perspective: "Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks."

On decision-making: "You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong."

On risk: "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing."

On innovation: "I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over."

On learning: "It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction."

On execution: "Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does."

Speeches and Interviews

• CNBC's Becky Quick interviews Warren Buffett (2023)
• Charlie Rose interviews Warren Buffett (2017)
• HBO Documentary: Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)
• Warren Buffett's 2021 Annual Shareholder Meeting
• Warren Buffett on The David Rubenstein Show (2019)
• Warren Buffett breaks down how he would invest if he had to start again - YouTube

Book Recommendations

• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Lawrence A. Cunningham and Warren Buffett
• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
• Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein
• The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom
• Warren Buffett's Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World's Greatest Investor by Jeremy C. Miller