Warren Buffet Says Integrity Matters Most
May 15th, 2007 by MarkI recently found the following question and answer session between Warren Buffet and a group of MBA students on Kempton’s blog. Obviously, as a value investor, I pay close attention to what the “Oracle of Omaha” has to say. What impressed me most about this video, though, was Buffet’s personal philosophy. He’s the least materialistic billionaire the world has ever seen, and his values show through clearly in this speech. “Do what you love. Have integrity.” That’s his message.
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May 17th, 2007 at 12:16 am
What amazes about this man is that he is so down to earth. When you listen to him talk, he sounds just like your own family. This is not the case when you listen to a lot of bankers and investors. It is almost kind of scary, like it is unreal. I loved his Q&A in this event, it was great.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:43 am
I guess you can afford to be not that materialistic when you are a billionaire.
Not to take anything away from Buffet, I think his ideas are great, but being a philanthrope is easy when you have billions. I think you should look at the man who has nothing but gives away everything. (That sounds like Jesus to me!)
Then again, his fortune is mostly going to be given away to charity as his death.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:28 am
The fact that he’s already started a plan to give away his entire fortune isn’t that amazing, especially at his age. What is amazing is that a man who could buy pretty much anything he wants still lives in a house he bought for $31,500, dines on burgers, wears about the same clothes my grandfather would, drives his own car, and essentially lives like a “normal” person. How many other billionaires are willing to do that?
May 17th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Yep, I am aware of his situation.
Still, it doesn’t change my opinion.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I guess I don’t really understand your first sentence, in which you said, “you can afford to be not that materialistic when you are a billionaire.”
Many people could afford his life-style. Are you saying that it’s somehow easier for billionaires not to spend money than it is for people earning normal wages? If so, can you elaborate a bit?
May 18th, 2007 at 2:19 am
Very inspiring. I liked his examples with 10% on the top and 10% on the bottom. Something to think about.
In 2005 Bill Gates made a trip through several North American universities and in each of them he was giving prepeared speech about how he coded Basic interpreter and what was the history of computers etc. Nothing interesting at all. Many people were coding Basic interpreters but only one of them became “Bill Gates”.
Warren Buffet’s lectures are completely different.
“Behaving like them (people who you admire)” is classic NLP technique of mirroring. Probably it works. I should try one day:-)
“running 100 yards”. Isn’t standard distance 100 meters? Probably not in USA:-)
May 18th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Great! Thanks so much for posting this. Very enjoyable, and very informative.
One comment: He really likes Coca-cola.
Very down-to-earth advice from someone who, as someone mentioned, comes across as your favorite grandfather.
Thanks again for putting this up.