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>Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in an

>Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior. >I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman. >I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably – capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards. >Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better. God speed, dearest Oracle of Omaha.

plastic3169 1y ago
> Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman. Considering the Warren Buffett wisdom-industrial complex this might be the best place to share these nuggets. And I know his heart is in the right place, but the fact that you need to spell this kind of thing out is somehow extremely depressing.
- wang_li 1y ago
  The fact that he spelled it out does not imply that it needed to be said. There is no idea in that letter, that is not personal history, that hasn't been said before.
b3lvedere 1y ago
"Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman." Keep also in mind that the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company than an entire board of directors and managers ever will. It is also extremely beneficial to your own health to be nice and friendly to the people who clean, prepare your food and aid your medical well being. They will remember. They will decide how to help you when you absolutely need it. In general please always follow Wheaton's Law.
- piltdownman 1y ago
  //Keep also in mind that the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company than an entire board of directors and managers ever will. In Buffet's time maybe. Nowadays the sanitation staff more likely to be a contractor from some form of MSP on an exploitative contract with a 3-6 month lifespan. All the more reason to be nice, but don't expect an 'Inside Baseball' level of insight. That sort of thing is generally the realm of Executive Assistants in contemporary offices.
  - b3lvedere 1y ago
    Oh i was not referring to corporate or investments strategies here. I was talking about what is actually going on inside the building and who hates who. Always assume the highest-ups hate everything and each other, it is all fake, ever.
  - rwmj 1y ago
    That means they know way more about what's going on at many companies. Maybe listen to them for market tips.
    - ozim 1y ago
      But that’s what people do - they would wine and dine some low level employees to get inside info. You want to know when how much shit new GTA developers take by managers pressing them on deadlines - guy doesn’t have to spell it out he just needs to nag a bit here and there while having a beer. Then you can know if they are not pressing them all goes smooth and they really will release when they want - if they are pressed much most likely product is in shambles and they most likely will not hit any targets or promises.
- XenophileJKO 1y ago
  You should absolutely be a good human to people, but I don't think it is at all true to say "the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company" Truth is they generally don't and they also don't care. Why would they? They literally are not paid enough to care.
postalcoder 1y ago
Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G and Buffett came in to do layoffs at Tim Hortons was one of the most cold blooded things they've ever seen.
- csomar 1y ago
  Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired. Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That was wise.
  - unmole 1y ago
    > Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Find a better dictionary.
  - Balgair 1y ago
    The image machine for him really is something. Buffet is a bigamist. By all intents and purposes he lived with two wives. The legal status was not that of bigamy, to be clear. He married his other wife after his first wife died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett The personal section here is not exactly false, but is a great example of how one should not trust Wikipedia outright. A careful reading of it shows his lifelong relationships/marriage with two women at the same time. Look, I'm not going to yuck his yum. Do whatever you want man. But the homely aww shucks image is very intentional. And very much against his actual life choices. Homespun he ain't.
    - randyrand 1y ago
      To be clear, he had 1 wife and a mistress. I agree it's not in line with his traditional image, but it's not illegal.
sd9 1y ago
This is lovely writing. I need to go back and read some of Buffett's other letters.

plastic3169 1y ago

> Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman. Considering the Warren Buffett wisdom-industrial complex this might be the best place to share these nuggets. And I know his heart is in the right place, but the fact that you need to spell this kind of thing out is somehow extremely depressing.

wang_li 1y ago
The fact that he spelled it out does not imply that it needed to be said. There is no idea in that letter, that is not personal history, that hasn't been said before.

b3lvedere 1y ago

"Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman." Keep also in mind that the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company than an entire board of directors and managers ever will. It is also extremely beneficial to your own health to be nice and friendly to the people who clean, prepare your food and aid your medical well being. They will remember. They will decide how to help you when you absolutely need it. In general please always follow Wheaton's Law.

piltdownman 1y ago
//Keep also in mind that the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company than an entire board of directors and managers ever will. In Buffet's time maybe. Nowadays the sanitation staff more likely to be a contractor from some form of MSP on an exploitative contract with a 3-6 month lifespan. All the more reason to be nice, but don't expect an 'Inside Baseball' level of insight. That sort of thing is generally the realm of Executive Assistants in contemporary offices.
- b3lvedere 1y ago
  Oh i was not referring to corporate or investments strategies here. I was talking about what is actually going on inside the building and who hates who. Always assume the highest-ups hate everything and each other, it is all fake, ever.
- rwmj 1y ago
  That means they know way more about what's going on at many companies. Maybe listen to them for market tips.
  - ozim 1y ago
    But that’s what people do - they would wine and dine some low level employees to get inside info. You want to know when how much shit new GTA developers take by managers pressing them on deadlines - guy doesn’t have to spell it out he just needs to nag a bit here and there while having a beer. Then you can know if they are not pressing them all goes smooth and they really will release when they want - if they are pressed much most likely product is in shambles and they most likely will not hit any targets or promises.
XenophileJKO 1y ago
You should absolutely be a good human to people, but I don't think it is at all true to say "the cleaning lady and the receptionist usually know way way more about the insides of a company" Truth is they generally don't and they also don't care. Why would they? They literally are not paid enough to care.

postalcoder 1y ago

Warren Buffett is a great investor but nobody in finance buys his folksy image. Everybody knows he's an animal. I heard from folks in the room that the way 3G and Buffett came in to do layoffs at Tim Hortons was one of the most cold blooded things they've ever seen.

csomar 1y ago
Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Dude runs a rail and insurance monopoly while buying large top stocks for yield. He maintains a persona of this traditional and nice family dude who is old and wise. But this is the US, and people are ranked/valued by how rich they are regardless of how it is acquired. Still, he avoided political scrutiny (say comparing to Musk or Bezos) by maintaining this image. That was wise.
- unmole 1y ago
  > Warren Buffet is the definition of oligarchy. Find a better dictionary.
- Balgair 1y ago
  The image machine for him really is something. Buffet is a bigamist. By all intents and purposes he lived with two wives. The legal status was not that of bigamy, to be clear. He married his other wife after his first wife died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett The personal section here is not exactly false, but is a great example of how one should not trust Wikipedia outright. A careful reading of it shows his lifelong relationships/marriage with two women at the same time. Look, I'm not going to yuck his yum. Do whatever you want man. But the homely aww shucks image is very intentional. And very much against his actual life choices. Homespun he ain't.
  - randyrand 1y ago
    To be clear, he had 1 wife and a mistress. I agree it's not in line with his traditional image, but it's not illegal.

sd9 1y ago

This is lovely writing. I need to go back and read some of Buffett's other letters.