Talk Two

You had to tell who was going to do what, where, when, and why. … You might ask, why is that so important? Well, again, that’s a rule of psychology. … If you always tell people why, they’ll understand it better, they’ll consider it more important, and they’ll be more likely to comply.

The iron rule of life is that only 20 percent of the people can be in the top fifth.

I think the reason why we got into such idiocy in investment management is best illustrated by a story that I tell about the guy who sold fishing tackle. I asked him, “My god, they’re purple and green. Do fish really take these lures?” And he said, “Mister, I don’t sell to fish.”

There are huge advantages for an individual to get into a position where you make a few great investments and just sit on your ass: You’re paying less to brokers. You’re listening to less nonsense. And if it works, the governmental tax system gives you an extra one, two, or three percentage points per annum compounded.

What should a young person look for in a career?

I have three basic rules—meeting all three is nearly impossible, but you should try anyway:

• Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself.
• Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire.
• Work only with people you enjoy.

Talk Three

When you don’t know and you don’t have any special competence, don’t be afraid to say so.

Talk Four

The situation reminds me of the old-time Warner & Swasey ad that was a favorite of mine: “The company that needs a new machine tool and hasn’t bought it is already paying for it.”

Talk Five

There is an old two-part rule that often works wonders in business, science, and elsewhere: 1) Take a simple, basic idea and 2) take it very seriously.

Talk Ten

You can cause enormous offense by being right in a way that causes somebody else to lose face in his own discipline or hierarchy.

If you turn problems around into reverse, you often think better.

The correct persuasive technique in situations like that was given by Ben Franklin. He said, “If you would persuade, appeal to interest, not to reason.” The self-serving bias of man is extreme, and should have been used in attaining the correct outcome.

Avoid working directly under somebody you don’t admire and don’t want to be like.

Talk Eleven

German folk saying “We are too soon old and too late smart.”

“Whose bread I eat, his song I sing.”

What will a man naturally come to like and love, apart from his parent, spouse, and child? Well, he will like and love being liked and loved.

“It is not greed that drives the world but envy.”

At Berkshire, there is a common injunction: ‘Always tell us the bad news promptly. It is only the good news that can wait.’

—Charles T. Munger, “Poor Charlie’s Almanack”, 2023