Alec Hogg from Moneyweb provides insight into some of Warren Buffet’s best investment advice. During the question and answer session at the AGM of his Berkshire Hathaway group Warren Buffet made the following comment regarding the best investment that you can make…
"The most important investment you can make is in yourself. Very few people get anything like their potential horsepower translated into the actual horsepower of their output in life. Potential exceeds realisation for many people…… Just imagine you’re 16 and I was going to give you a car of your choice today, any car you wanted to pick. But there was one catch. It was the only car you were able to have for the rest of your life. You had to make it last. So how would you treat it?
Well, of course you’d read the owners’ manual about five times before you turn the key in the ignition. You would keep it garaged; any little rust would get taken care of immediately; you’d change the oil twice as often as you were supposed to – because you would know it had to last a lifetime….
Then I tell the students you get one body and one mind. And it’s going to have to last you a lifetime so you’d better treat it the same way. You’d better start doing it right now because it doesn’t do any good if you start working on it when you are 50 or 60 and the little speck of rust has turned into something big… The best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be."
This is great advice from a truly great investor. Taking the time and energy to investing oneself, is the starting point for great leadership. Leaders invest in themselves in the following ways.
- Leaders surround themselves with great people: Successful leaders surround themselves with great people. Great people challenge our thinking and our behaviours. People shape us as much as we shape them. Leaders ensure that they are shaped by people who have demonstrated their competence and character.
- Leaders read great books: Learning is critical, it is the most powerful lever we have in life. Books challenge our thinking and actions. Books provide leadership insight and a foundation for leadership action. The most important point to remember when reading for personal development is to focus on digesting and applying what we read. It’s not about the quantity of books we read, but how much of what we read that is applied to our lives.
- Leaders have a personal growth plan: Growth does not just happen. Preparation is required for effective learning, growth requires deliberate practice and a conscious effort. One of the best things you can do is develop your own personal growth plan.
“The only difference between who you are today and the person you will be in five years will come from the books you read and the people you associate with” – Charles Tremendous Jones
Investing in oneself takes time and nobody has any extra time, leaders make room for what’s most important and personal growth and learning is most important to leaders. Remember, successful leaders are generally those people who are willing to do what most others aren’t willing to do. How much are you investing in yourself?
Technorati Tags: Growth, Learning, Books, Buffet, Investing, Warren Buffet, Leadership, Management, Business, Development
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I think that while it is great to get leadership advice from a guy like Buffet; it is important to take it with a grain of salt. Buffet is not main stream.
It is more helpful and more REAL to get leadership lessons from the everyday joe who is toiling and succeeding, and sometimes more profoundly…failing…at some of her/his efforts. What can we learn from that guy/gal (joe/jane) and as significant, how can we (as mainstreamers) relate?
Here is a webcast interview with a mainstream performer. It is called: ON PIGS, PILOTS and SURGEONS. Take a gander and drop some feedback.
http://checksixtv.blogspot.com
semper fi,
Boom
“”"”Investing in oneself takes time and nobody has any extra time, leaders make room for what’s most important and personal growth and learning is most important to leaders. Remember, successful leaders are generally those people who are willing to do what most others aren’t willing to do.”"” This is an excellent post. There is a reason that some companies continue to excel in struggling industries and thats because those people simply choose to work harder than everyone else around them. Today everyone is looking for that get rich quick idea and with the economy now in a mess people will have to do what worked in the past which is building some good old fashion sweat equity.