Warren Buffett shared some refreshing advice for his younger fans at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. The 94-year-old businessman emphasized the importance of long-term relationships in business. “Who you associate with is just enormously important,” Buffett told Marie, a young woman from Melrose, Massachusetts.
“You are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people that you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Throughout his final annual investor day as Berkshire’s chief executive, Buffett made more than 30 references to his right-hand man, who died in 2023 at the age of 99. Buffett also spoke about his fateful first meeting with Lorimer “Davy” Davidson in 1951. Davidson, who later became the chief executive of Geico, spent about four hours answering Buffett’s questions about the insurance industry and the company.
This meeting inspired Buffett to become an investor in the business. In 1995, Berkshire Hathaway gained full control of Geico, which made an underwriting profit of $7.8 billion last year and was described by Berkshire as a “pivotal contributor” to its success. “You get a few breaks in life in terms of people you meet who just change your life dramatically,” Buffett said.
“If you’ve had a handful of those, you treasure them.”
The reminder from the veteran investor about the importance of human relationships in business comes as graduates and more experienced workers face pressure to prioritize generative AI skills to thrive in the future workplace.
Building long-term business relationships
While corporate America is investing heavily in AI to boost overall productivity, some experienced business leaders are skeptical about the focus on AI skills in the workplace.
Alisa Amarosa Wood, a partner in KKR’s private equity business, stressed the importance of building long-term and personal relationships. She mentioned that KKR’s co-founders still encourage employees to engage with new people daily. If you’re sitting at your desk, you’re not building personal relationships,” Wood said.
“Every day, you should be talking to three to five people you’ve never talked to before. That’s how you source deals. That’s how you build a Rolodex.
That’s how you build a pipeline. And I think that is a lost art in this world.”
As AI and machine learning begin to shoulder some of the most highly valued skills in recent years, the emphasis will shift back to skills that machines can’t replicate. Buffett’s lessons at the twilight of his career serve as a reminder that the importance of human relationships in driving business success, as well as workplace fulfillment, is not a new phenomenon.
“It’s not just what you know, but who you know,” according to Buffett, because “you’re going to go in the direction of the people you associate with.” He added, “It’s hard to really appreciate how important some of those factors are until you get older.”
Image Credits: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
