Warren Buffett, one of the world most successful investors, turned 80 yesterday. The world's third richest man with a net worth of $47 billion continues to do what he likes the most: work, work and work.
When most people of his age lead a retired life, chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway, says "I plan to work past 100, but to do so I may have to learn to think outside the box,"
In 2007, Buffett beat Bill Gates to become the world's richest man. Buffett's journey to become the world's richest is truly inspirational.
Let us take a look at his inspirational journey so far, which indeed holds a lot of wisdom for every investor, entrepreneur and most important of all, a leader in the true sense of the term:
He has created the fourth-largest company in America: Berkshire Hathaway is the name of a small Massachusetts textile firm that Mr Buffett acquired in the Sixties. By the time he had already been investing for half his life.
While Berkshire itself eventually failed along with most of the US textile industry, Mr Buffett had long since turned the company into a mini-conglomerate, adding businesses in insurance and retail, and stakes in all-American staples such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's. Today it is one of the world's largest reinsurers and owns the largest US railways business, and has a market value of $200bn.
He has educated generations of investors: Mr Buffett is a teacher, by explication and by example. His homespun investment philosophy delivered in pithy bon mots – "Rule No 1, don't lose money. Rule No 2, don't forget Rule No 1" – and his determination to avoid the investment fads of Wall Street and the business school crowd won him the moniker the Oracle of Omaha and inspired a whole industry of Buffett-watching.
He proves that human relations matter in business: A man who could judge people well – he could look and someone and size them up – a lot of his deals were handshake deals, done by looking someone in the eye and judging whether they just want the money or whether they really want to run the business at Berkshire. That human factor has become very important, and if you look at the top of Berkshire, seldom have there been any firings, or even anyone leaving. Buffett is the glue that holds all these human relations together.
He helped saved the world economy: Under-appreciated is the role that Berkshire played in keeping the world economy from the brink during the panic of 2008, in the weeks after the failure of Lehman Brothers.
"We poured $15.5 billion into a business world that could otherwise look only to the federal government for help," Mr Buffett pointed out, in a single reference in his 2009 letter. "Berkshire was a supplier of liquidity and capital to the system, not a supplicant."
And now he is raising the bar for philanthropy: In 2006, Buffett pledged to give 90 per cent of his wealth away to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. With typical absence of ego, he said that the organisation was already doing more effective work in areas of health and education than any foundation with the Buffett name on could hope to achieve on that scale.
Now, he is exhorting other billionaires to pledge similarly to give away a majority of their wealth, and has induced 40 of America's richest so far to agree.
Source : Rediff | The Independent Business
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