"Success has nothing to do with IQ, it's about reason."
"As a leader, I have to create a sense of crisis."
"I'll be working for about five years after I die."
The above golden sentences are all from a wonderful dialogue at the University of Washington in 1998. The two people in the dialogue are Bill Gates and Buffett, who have always been the top two richest people in the world.
In this historic and peak conversation, the two millionaires shared their respective understandings of success and innovation, the reasons why they traveled to China in 1995, and their choices in the same technological revolution. the opposite path.
In this more than 2 hours of wisdom dialogue, the most not to be missed 10 questions.
"Success is not about IQ, the key is reason"
Q1: How did you get to where you are now and become richer than God?
Buffett: As far as I'm concerned, the answer is very simple, success has nothing to do with IQ, it's about sanity.
I have always regarded IQ and genius as the horsepower of a car, and the final output depends on reason. Many people drive 400 horsepower cars and only make 100 horsepower. The "sweet spot" should be: A 200-horsepower car is 100 percent at 200 horsepower.
First of all, don't create obstacles for yourself. I have a little suggestion: first choose a person you admire the most, and write the reasons for your worship and the strengths in him; then choose the person you hate the most, and write what disgusts you.
After a period of practice, the merits of the object of your worship will gradually become your own, and over time, it will all become your own.
The shackles of habit are at first imperceptibly light, but later they are too heavy to break free.
"At my age, I can't change any habit anymore. But in fact, 20 years from now, as long as you start to practice firmly, you will develop a certain habit."
Gates: I totally agree with what Buffett just said about habits. Fortunately, I was introduced to computers at a very young age, which is probably the reason and secret of my success.
Although computers were very expensive at the time and their functional development was limited, it was fascinating. Some friends and I, after several discussions, agreed that this amazing chip technology will develop into something that everyone can master.
Based on this "foresight", we entered the field when the computer first started, and put a lot of effort into it, so that the company we created was able to become the mainstay of this sea-shaking change. Fortunately, this revolution is still in its infancy.
Q2: How do you define success?
Buffett: Success is happiness, and happiness is the foundation of my life. I'm glad I spend every day doing what I love, working with people I admire, and I don't have to work with people who disgust me. I tap dance to work, and when I get to the office, I always feel like I'm lying on the sofa and painting the ceiling.
This is simply too much fun. The only thing I don't like about work is that I occasionally have to fire someone, which happens every three or four years.
Some people say that success is getting what you want, and happiness is being content with what you have. I don't know which one applies more to me in this sentence, but I do know I'm not going to do anything else.
I want to advise you that when you go out to work, work with people you admire and work in their organizations because it will excite you.
I always worry about these people, they always say, "I'm going to do 10 years first, even though I don't really like the job. Then I'm going to do this..." It's kind of like storing your sexuality It's really not a good idea to leave it to old age.
I've turned down some deals that would have been acceptable because I didn't like the feeling of having to work with certain people. I don't want to meet anyone who is pretentious, and I don't want to be entangled with people I don't like. It's like getting married purely for money.
It's probably a terrible idea anyway. But if you're already very wealthy and doing this, it's definitely a nerve problem, isn't it?
Gates: I agree, it's all about whether you have fun doing what you do every day. For me, the fun is working with very attractive people, working on new problems.
Whenever we solve a new problem, we feel like, "Hey, we've had a little more success." We're quite careful not to dwell too much on what we've accomplished because we're demanding more and more of ourselves. high.
Make 20 investment decisions and become very wealthy
Q3: What was the best business decision you made?
Buffett: The best business decision is basically to get involved in a partnership. One of the nice things about investing is that you don't need a lot of trades to be successful.
If you graduate from business school and each get a punch card with 20 holes and use up one hole for every investment decision you make, that hole is all you'll get. If you can make 20 good investment decisions, you can become very rich, and you don't need 50 good ideas at all.
Gates: Over breakfast this morning, we were still discussing which investment decision was the worst Buffett ever made. It's not an easy task, but we ultimately decided, based on some metrics, that buying Berkshire Hathaway was probably the least desirable one.
Warren Buffett: This is what I often call the "picking up cigarette butt" approach to investing. You see the cigarette butts on the ground. Although it is dirty and unsightly, it still has a breath left, and it is free. That's what happened when Berkshire Hathaway was bought: it sold for less than working capital, but it was a terrible mistake.
I've made all kinds of terrible mistakes and paid hundreds of millions of dollars for them. I never regret not buying Microsoft because I don't know the company, and I don't know Intel. However, there are a few companies I know about, and Fannie Mae is one of them.
Although I made the decision to invest in this company, I did not execute it at all. We could have made tens of billions of dollars, but we didn't. Traditional bookkeeping does not record the money we should have earned.
Gates: The decision to start a business with Paul Allen was probably the best business decision I've ever made, followed by hiring a friend -- Steve Ballmer, who has been my main business partner.
It is very important to have someone that you completely trust and are loyal to, that you both have similar visions and that he has a variety of different skills who can also put a check on you.
Buffett: I've had a partner like this over the years, and he's Charlie Munger.
You have to get used to Munger's way of saying it, though. Munger often says that everything I do is stupid. The reality, however, is that if he says, it's really stupid, I know he's telling the truth; but if he just says it's stupid, I'll take him for a vote.
"As a leader, I have to create a sense of crisis"
Q4: Creating a new company is extremely risky. How do you determine the best time to start a new company?
Gates: When I started Microsoft, I was so excited that I didn't consider any of the associated risks. I could go out of business, but I have a very specialized set of skills that would make it easy for me to get a job if the company went out of business.
In any case, if you're going to start a company, you need to have enough energy to give you the confidence to overcome the consequences of taking a risk.
At the same time, I don't think it's necessary for you to start your own company at the startup stage. You will benefit greatly from working for a company and learning how they do things.
In our own case, Paul Allen and I were always afraid of being one step ahead of us, but as a result, we were delayed year after year. In fact, a lot of things didn't start earlier because of some lag, but it seemed to be very important for us to be more prepared at the starting line.
Q5: Both of you are innovators in your respective industries. What is your definition of innovation?
Buffett: Actually, I don't really innovate much in my job. I only have two responsibilities: one is to allocate funds, and the other is to help 15 or 20 senior managers get to work with great enthusiasm without any financial concerns. If I do these two things, then what they do is innovation.
Gates: There are many twists and turns in the technology industry. Perhaps the root cause is that it's such an interesting industry that no company is going to rest on its laurels. IBM will always have the technological edge over any company, but it has missed several turning points on the technology road.
So you should wake up every morning thinking, "Well, we have to do everything we can to not miss an important turning point in today's technological path."
However, sometimes we do feel caught off guard. For example, when the Internet came along, we made it a fifth or sixth priority.
But then we realized that the Internet was growing faster and deeper than our strategic plan. So, as a leader, I have to create a sense of crisis.
Such crises happen every three or four years. You have to listen carefully to all the smart people inside Microsoft. That's why companies like ours must attract many employees with different mindsets. We must tolerate many different opinions, and we must identify the right ones and support them.
In a technological revolution, looking for the constant
Q6: The arrival of the information age has brought revolutionary changes to society. Which countries and companies do you think are best prepared for this?
Buffett: Come to think of it, 15 years ago, this country even had an inferiority complex about its competitiveness in the world.
Gates: But now, the United States is in a very leading position, and the first beneficiaries of the entire information technology are Americans.
In countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Scandinavia, people are adopting information technology at roughly the same rate as us.
In South Korea, as well as many parts of China, we are seeing incredible influx of computers into low-income households because people there firmly believe that computers are a tool to help their children succeed.
The whole world will greatly benefit from the popularity of computers. The foreseeable change is that your income level will depend not on which country you come from, but on your level of education.
Buffett: I didn't realize at first that this was going to be a huge technological revolution. This technological revolution will change the world in exciting ways, and fast. Ironically, however, our approach to the technological revolution is diametrically opposed to Gates.
I look for business opportunities in the technological revolution. The center of my attention is the constant. For example, the way I look at the Internet is to try to determine how an industry or a company can be harmed by the Internet, or how it can be changed by the Internet. Then, I will try my best to avoid this from happening.
But that doesn't mean, I deny that I can make a lot of money from this change, I just don't think I'll be that person.
Take Wrigley Gum, for example. I don't think the Internet will change the way people chew gum. And I don't think the Internet is going to change that Coca-Cola is going to be one of people's favorite drinks and whether or how people shave.
So what we're looking for is predictability, and that predictability isn't found in what Gates is doing. As a member of society, I approve of what he's doing; but as an investor, I've always viewed these technological changes with vigilance.
Gates: In this area, I agree very much with Buffett. I think a lot of tech stocks should be priced slightly below stocks like Coca-Cola and Gillette because we're going through a complete change in the rules.
Q7: Do you feel that the development of high technology has improved the efficiency of the business field, and are you willing to increase investment in technology?
Buffett: I am a firm believer that high technology is a huge driver of corporate efficiency.
Here's the thing, though: For example, I found a successful way to copy Jack Welch (the youngest chairman and CEO in GE history) and copied 499 "Welchs."
Welch continued to run his General Electric Company, with another 499 occupying the rest of the Fortune 500. Will such a Fortune 500 result in a higher ROE in 5 years?
The answer is not that simple. Because if you make 500 Jack Welchs, there's a kind of competition between them, and that could pull down the profit margins of the entire American business world.
However, it would have been very different if these guys weren't so savvy and there was only one Jack Welch competing against them. If the level of management is very different, then the probability of obtaining ultra-high profit margins is also greatly improved.
A lot of things in business, including the tech industry, are like a big band playing down the street, if you want to watch the show, you have to stand on tiptoe, and after 30 seconds, everyone else is on tiptoe, even though you His legs were so tired that they almost cramped, but it was still difficult to see the grand occasion that he wanted to see.
Capitalism seems to fail on its own when innovation progresses. This is awesome because it means everything is better. The real problem, though, is how to stand on tiptoe without anyone noticing you?
"I will be working for about 5 years after I die"
Q8: What will happen to your company if you are gone?
Buffett: I'll be working for about five years after I die.
Even if I die tonight, people won't run out of Coca-Cola, they won't give up on shaving, they won't eat less Shisi or Dili bars, or anything like that.
These companies have really good products and great managers, just make sure someone sits at the top of Berkshire Hathaway, allocates money, and makes sure the managers at all levels are appropriate. We've identified people to do these things, and our board knows who they are.
In fact, I've already sent out a letter explaining what should be done, and I'm preparing another letter that will be sent out at that time, which starts with "I died yesterday" and goes on to explain the company's plans.
Q9: What prompted the two of you to travel to China together in 1995?
Gates: We have many reasons to travel to China, but some are for rest and entertainment.
Microsoft is already investing in the Chinese market. Although about 3 million computers are sold in China every year, people don't pay for software. One day, though, they will pay for it. And if they want to use pirated software, we want them to pirate our software. Sometime in the next 10 years, after they get a little addicted, we're going to figure out how to collect money.
Buffett: I had a very good time in China, and it also confirmed one of my expectations that China would be a big market for Coca-Cola. I told everyone there that Coca-Cola works like an aphrodisiac.
Q10: How do you use your influence to infect those who are successful and even those who are not so successful to give back to the society?
Buffett: Let me offer another line of thought for reference.
Suppose it's 24 hours before your birth, and a gene appears and it tells you, "You look like a successful person. You can make economic laws, social laws, and whatever else in your life and that of your children. laws to be faced.
The condition is: you don't know if you're going to be born into a rich or poor, African American or white family, you don't know if you're going to be male or female, able-bodied or weak, smart or dull. "
All you know is that you're going to be one of 5.8 billion balls. You're up against a "uterus lotto" game.
It's going to be the most important thing in life for you, and there's nothing you can do about it yourself. Your fate is also far from being determined by your academic performance or other experiences in your life.
So, what kind of system do you want your laws to form?
The system you want should bring more goods and services. There are so many people in this world, you want them to live well, and you want your descendants to live better than you.
The system you want should be one that keeps Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Jack Welch working, even to their age when they shouldn't. You want the most talented people to work more than 12 hours a day.
At the same time, you also want your system to take care of those less-than-perfect, unlucky "balls." You don't want people worrying about what to do if they're sick when they're old, or dreading their way home at night. The system of your dreams is that, at some point, people are no longer afraid.
And what you do with your own money is another matter. As you go through the process, everyone can provide different opinions. So, I suggest you guys to play this little game.
Source: Smart Investor (Capital-nature), this article is excerpted from "Tap Dancing to Work". The information in this article is for reference only and does not represent the view of this WeChat account. Investment is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market.
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