On Monday, at age 95, Warren Buffett released his final shareholder letter for Berkshire Hathaway. While he says he’s “going quiet,” the legacy he leaves is incredible. Obviously, he built a solid company and brand, but I like to focus on the kind of leader he’s been. He always seems to have some subtle wisdom, and this letter was no different.
Of all the things Buffett could have shared, he chose to focus on the kind of person a true leader should strive to be. These few sentences resonated with me:
“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.”
For anything you do in life, the end result is not the only measure of success. The way we treat people in the process matters. Buffett also says that he feels better about the second half of his life than the first. To me, that kind of growth is the real achievement.
