The Color of Charlie
“He spoke on stage for three hours. I was hooked on every word. And he is ninety years old.” The excited words of a friend who attended the annual Berkshire Hathaway conference in Omaha and had the rare opportunity to listen to Charlie Munger speaking.
Munger is Warren Buffett’s long-time business partner. The lesser known of the two, Munger is equally impressive. He never took a single course in economics, business, marketing, finance, psychology or accounting, yet he became one of the financial world’s most recognizable figures over the last five decades.
Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of Charlie Munger’s advice given in speeches and round-table talks. In his talks, he shows wit, rationality, and originality. Here are a few quotes and extracts, in the straight forward style that is Munger.
Any year that you don’t destroy one of your best-loved ideas is probably a wasted year.
Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.
Invert, always invert. Many hard problems are best solved only when they are addressed backwards.
Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.
Above all, never fool yourself, and remember that you are the easiest person to fool.
It’s great to have a manager with a 160 IQ – unless he thinks it’s 180.
Always take the high road, it’s far less crowded.
The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.
You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long time.
In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.
If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, then to hell with them.
No wise pilot, no matter how great his talent and experience, fails to use a checklist.
People are trying to be smart—all I am trying to do is not to be idiotic, but it’s harder than most people think.
Assiduity. I like that word because to me it means: Sit down on your ass until you do it.
There is no way you can live an adequate life without making many mistakes.Charlie Munger
Munger gives an anecdote on knowing everything, based on the behavior of bees.
“When a bee finds nectar, it comes back and does a little dance that tells the rest of the hive, as a matter of genetic programming, which direction to go and how far. So some clever scientist stuck the nectar straight up. Well, the nectar’s never straight up in the ordinary life of a bee. The nectar’s out. So the bee finds the nectar and returns to the hive. But it doesn’t have the genetic programming to do a dance that says straight up. So what does it do? What it actually does is to dance this incoherent dance that gums things up. And a lot of people are like that bee. They attempt to answer a question like that. And that is a huge mistake. I try to get rid of people who always confidently answer questions about which they don’t have any real knowledge. Nobody expects you to know everything about everything."
And he tells this story about the value of true partnership.
“Two partners that I chose for one phase in my life made the following simple agreement when they created a little design, build and construction team in the middle of the great depression: “Two-man partnership,” they said, “and divide everything equally. And, whenever we’re behind in our commitments to other people, we will both work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, until we’re caught up.” Well, needless to say, that firm didn’t fail. And my partners were widely admired. Simple, old-fashioned ideas like theirs are almost sure to provide a good outcome.”
Munger is ninety-two years old now. Here is his view on legacy:
“It is unworthy that an old man would work to improve only what he would live to enjoy. For him the only life worth living is dedicated in substantial part to good outcomes one cannot possibly survive to see.“
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Comments
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #21
Thank you for reading and commenting Jean. Also for recommending "The Tao of Charlie Munger" - looking forward to reading it as I find Munger's advice and anecdotes timeless in its insight.
Ali Anani
6 years ago #20
. Thank you Gert Scholtz and. I accept your suggestion.
Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee
6 years ago #19
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #18
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #17
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #16
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #15
Thank you for your words David. Much appreciated that you shared and stopped by!
Lisa Gallagher
6 years ago #14
Ali Anani
6 years ago #13
CityVP Manjit
6 years ago #12
Jerry Fletcher
6 years ago #11
David B. Grinberg
6 years ago #10
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #9
Debasish Majumder Good to know you enjoyed it and thank you for sharing Debasish.
Debasish Majumder
6 years ago #8
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #7
Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸
6 years ago #6
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #5
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #4
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #3
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #2
Ken Boddie I guess that is one of the challenges of knowledge – to know what you don’t know. I like your insight that mentoring is one way to invest in something of which we may not fully experience the fruits. Thanks for reading and commenting Ken. Now to find that video!
Ken Boddie
6 years ago #1