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One of my employees accidentally pocket emailed me while he was at Warren Buffett's annual meeting in Omaha. When I found out, I asked him to share what he learned. - KF
Three Smart Ways to Invest in Relationships from Warren Buffett
By Brandon Smith
I’d long heard about the legendary shareholder meetings of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Dubbed the “Woodstock of Capitalism,” the event attracts 30,000 people to Omaha, Nebraska, every year. For five hours during the meeting, Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger answer questions from reporters, analysts, and shareholders on a wide range of subjects. No audio or video recording is allowed.
Despite the high cachet of the event (I walked past Bill Gates without realizing it until I heard a commotion behind me), any shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway can attend by filling out a form in the annual proxy statement. I’m only four hours from Omaha, so I decided to make the trip.
I’m sure glad I did. The event is a one-of-a-kind networking opportunity. More importantly, Buffet and Munger’s willingness to answer questions is priceless. I was fascinated by their emphasis on people and relationships and took away three key lessons.
1. People skills are critical and take a lifetime to master.
Buffett learned how to invest at 19 from his mentor Benjamin Graham. His method hasn’t changed since. Any one of us can learn Buffett’s method by going to the library and picking up Benjamin Graham’s seminal classic The Intelligent Investor. What has taken Buffett a lifetime to figure out is how to understand people. When Buffett first started out, he placed a heavy emphasis on quantitative data. Despite being the third richest man in the world, Buffett feels he would be richer today if he started paying attention to the people side of investing sooner. Read more →
Relationship Roundup - some suggestions for getting relationships off to a great start, managing relationship priorities, and picking the right atmosphere to develop them.
The success of any business, small or large, is heavily dependent on innovation. But so many people make the mistake of equating innovation with a product or device that changes the world. Heads up: You don’t have to create the next Facebook in order to innovate successfully and grow.
The president of SAP North America, Robert Courteau, and I recently sat down to talk about exactly that – innovation in today’s global age. By the end of our talk, it was very clear that the most innovative companies have a solid foundation of talent at their core.
The foundation of any business is its people. With all the competition around, we need to retain our best talent by keeping our people engaged and challenged — or they’ll be gone, just like that, either because we’ll have to lay them off because things aren’t getting done, or because they’ll find somewhere better to work. Read more →
I met Garrett at Summit Series and was so impressed by his success story launching his nonprofit (buoyed by advice from NEA!) that I asked him to contribute a blog. Audacity and the power of a great idea are the big drivers here. - KF
I was a college student when I co-founded SEE College Prep, a non-profit that has helped more than 1,300 low-income high school students improve their SAT scores an average of 200 points and become the first in their families to go on to college. At the time, I had no idea what it meant to raise large amounts of money, or the kinds of relationships I would need to build to do so.
Fortunately, a friend clued me in to Keith and Never Eat Alone and that wisdom has supported me ever since. It has been an extraordinary learning curve: in a short period of time, I went from not knowing a single person who could donate more than a few hundred dollars, to raising nearly $2 million in 18 months.
I followed my heart, risked embarrassment by asking simple questions, and found the courage to ask for people’s time and eventually money. I was empowered by the mission of what I was trying to achieve, and since I had a calling I knew that no request was too silly or too bold. I reached out to mentor after mentor—first professors, then non-profit leaders, then heavy hitters like Stanford University President John Hennessy and billionaires John Fisher, John Morgridge, and Laurene Powell Jobs. Not all of these conversations were successful, but I saw first-hand how little I knew and how much people were willing to help. Technology has helped people like me: many of the most impressive people I’ve met have agreed to meet following a cold e-mail; some of those people are my closest mentors and advisors today. Read more →
MyGreenlight is gearing up to launch Course II: The Relationship Action Plan, so I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at one of my favorite resources in the new course.
In this video, I describe the relationship strategy that transitioned me from CMO of Starwood to CEO of an innovative startup of its day. Hope you enjoy it!
I spent several hours with former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt recently, and he told me some great stories. When he led the house he held a daily meeting on the hill with a broad set of 60 leaders. Sometimes it was an hour, sometimes much longer, but the stated purpose wasn't to argue and win, it was to LISTEN. He knew that if he started the meeting with an agenda to convince folks all they'd get out of the session was more contentious debate. Instead he asked everyone to listen to each other. He encouraged and coached high degrees of candor, and what he found is that the increased listening and empathy pushed people to collaborate, and to give where they would normally take.
Consider this when you run meetings, or are looking to defuse conflict. Don't immediately push toward a particular solution - spend time listening first, and see where it takes you.
Keith's Never Eat Alone co-author has a great blog on his interview with Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't. Check it out!
Life can get stressful at times. When you get stressed, you will tend to focus intently on your stressor. That focus can lead you to lose perspective on things that might be much more important.
Your mission is to create a simple reminder that will help you regain your perspective. Choose something that is a personal memory and something that has solid emotional meaning for you. It can be the birth of a child, the loss of a loved one, or a major life event. It could be a simple phrase you’ve heard someone important to you use when they were stressed (e.g., “this isn’t rocket science.”). Just make sure whatever trigger you choose has deep personal meaning to you.
Once you’ve chosen that reminder, practice using it when things get stressful. If you’re having a bad day at work, remembering what’s really important in life can make your present situation less stressful. So go ahead – pick your reminder and start putting it into practice in stressful situations. It will reduce your stress, help you regain perspective, and improve your performance.
what he learned. - KF
