Warren Buffett was, as of Tuesday, the fifth richest person on the planet. The owner of assets of 116 billion US dollars. He was after four equally flashy names. Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Bernard Arnault (LVMH) and Bill Gates (Microsoft). His Berkshire Hathaway published last year’s figures on Saturday (26). I love looking at results charts for large publicly traded companies. They have a lot of knowledge. Just numbers don’t speak. Your commander speaks. They teach business lessons. and seat. They talk about mistakes, successes. Sometimes they speak frankly. They often speak between the lines. But there are always lessons. In the case of the Buffett-led company, the 143-page document compares the performance of the S&P 500 (this includes dividends) with all earnings per share since 1965. For 57 years, Berkshire has tested positive 46 times. In the annual average, it returned 20.1%, more than double the S&P 500’s 10.5%. In accumulated, it performed an impressive 3,641,613% – as against 30,209% of the New York Stock Exchange’s main index.
Lesson 1. Trust
Buffett began the testimonial message on behalf of himself and longtime partner, VP and Berkshire’s vice president, Charlie Munger. “We are honored by your trust,” he said. To a man who has $116 billion, it seems insurmountable that he would never use anything for free. Not even words. That’s why he wrote “faith”. Nothing is allowed without it. In relationships between people, between companies, between consumers and brands, or between governments, it is the indispensable platform. Nothing will happen without faith.
Lesson 2. Tax… ah, tax
He also recalled that in the mid-1960s, Berkshire collected $100 a day in tax equivalents. Today, that number reaches $9 million a day. “But to be fair to our government partner, our shareholders should recognize the fact that Berkshire has prospered because it operates in the United States.” He did not mention Brazil. But I took a stab at my tribute. Here you are due for parallel justice of Revenue and Revenue Attorney. This is why leaders of multinationals established in Brazil cannot explain to their headquarters how the accounting and legal departments have more people than the areas of innovation, R&D (research and development).
Lesson 3. Mistakes… Ah, Mistakes
It’s not just someone who says in an open letter to their shareholders: “I make a lot of mistakes”. That is the lesson of life.
Lesson 4. Inheritance
For the mega-investor, “the goal is to make significant investments in businesses with sustainability, economic benefits and first-class CEOs.” He adds: “Charlie and I are not stock pickers; we are business scavengers.” Between the lines of this approach is something that divides the world: thinking about heritage, which is permanent. Its relationship It’s about the numbers, but most of all it’s about the people. That’s why Buffett insists on the phrase “first-class CEO.” It’s the rare leaders who decide the game.
Lesson 5. The Role of Teaching (Children)
Buffett says his toughest audience was his grandson’s fifth-grade class. As they say, the 11-year-old was ignoring what he was saying until he mentioned Coca-Cola and its famous secret formula. “The secrets,” he said, are powerful with children. He likes to pass on what he knows. “Teaching, how to write, helped me develop and articulate my thoughts.” The billionaire entrepreneur tells a story credited to his life partner, Charlie Munger, who calls it the orangutan effect: ‘If you sit down with an orangutan and carefully explain to him one of your cherished ideas, you will be in for a surprise. Can leave the primate behind. But you yourself will come out thinking more clearly’.
Lesson 6. The Role of Teaching (Young Adults)
When talking to students of higher education, he says that he advises them to look for jobs in the fields they would choose if they didn’t have to think about money. “Economic realities, I agree, may interfere with demand. Nevertheless, I tell them to never give up on the search, because when they find this type of work they will no longer ‘work’.” Charlie and I followed this liberation path. We started out as part-time employees with boring jobs and low pay … until we got here where we ‘work’ with people we like and trust.”
Thank you very much for all the teachings! Uncle Buffett.
Edson Rossi is the editor-in-chief of DINHEIRO.
