Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2013. It reports Bill Gates joining LinkedIn Influencers with more than 75,000 followers in a day; Buffett’s pledge to give away 99% of his fortune and Gates’s marriage reflect 2013, and Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021.
From now on, Bill Gates will be part of LinkedIn’s group of “influential people” (Influencers), where great business leaders give users advice and write articles about their views on business or how they got started.
Bill Gates already has more than 75,000 followers on LinkedIn after a single day, and he has chosen to share in his article three things he learned from Warren Buffett, since Gates and Buffett are good friends.
Gates says he loves going to Berkshire Hathaway‘s annual shareholder meetings, because they’re the best way to see what Warren Buffett is really like and, above all, how he thinks. In fact, Buffett’s shareholder letter has become a benchmark, not to mention his shareholder meeting, which has to be held in an arena because of the huge crowds who attend.
What were the three things Bill Gates learned from Warren Buffett?
1. It’s not just about investing
Gates says that most people learn from Buffett how to think about investing, but unfortunately few people see Buffett as a model in business, even though, as we pointed out in a previous article, Buffett is a better businessman than he is an investor (which is saying something).
In business, we have to gain a competitive advantage by looking for the “moats” that other companies don’t see. In the same way, a shareholder should act as if they owned the whole business, looking at the stream of future earnings to decide what the company is worth and whether it’s cheap or expensive. Shareholders must be willing to ignore the market rather than follow it, because they want to take advantage of the market’s mistakes with companies the market itself has undervalued.
(Read: Warren Buffett’s 16 best pieces of investing advice)
Gates acknowledges that Buffett has a masterly understanding of business.
2. Frankness, honesty and clarity
It’s often said that when someone is influential or holds a prominent public position, as members of the select club of millionaires do, they tend not to take a stand on certain issues. One of the things Gates admires about Buffett is that he doesn’t mind stating his views, even when they go against his own interests or those of that select club.
For example, Warren Buffett criticised the financial derivatives industry, calling these products financial weapons of mass destruction, even though he himself made 1.2 billion with derivatives. He was also very brave in calling for higher taxes on the rich.
Perhaps that’s why Gates chose to follow the path he learned from Buffett and harshly criticise capitalism.
3. How valuable your time is
It doesn’t matter how much money you have: however rich you are, you can never buy time. There are only 24 hours in a day, for millionaires and for the poor alike. Warren Buffett knows this, which is why he manages his time well. He doesn’t fill his calendar with pointless meetings, yet he’s very generous in giving his time to the people he trusts.
Bill Gates recounts that when he and his wife decided to start their foundation, they went to Buffett for advice, and found that seeing the world through Warren Buffett’s eyes is an indescribable experience, because he’s the first to want to fight poverty and disease around the world. Indeed, it’s plain to see that he will give away 99% of his fortune. Buffett is probably one of the people who has managed his time best, devoting it to creating wealth, generating wealth and jobs, and finally to fighting for philanthropic causes. That’s making the most of your time.
Gates ends by saying that Warren Buffett is one of a kind.
Further reading
- Richard Branson: 9 tips for entrepreneurs
- 5 steps to getting rich, from Warren Buffett’s right-hand man
- 8 habits millionaires share
- Donald Trump: the mindset of an entrepreneur
Featured image: ENERGY.GOV, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
