Warren Buffett Says All Successful Leaders Have One Thing In Common
Warren Buffett has always found a way to get his words across. The biggest investor this generation has ever seen gave us countless advice to inspire us.
In a letter from Warren Buffett to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders in 2015, he outlined in a few words how one must achieve leadership’s greatness:
Much of what you become in life depends on who you choose to admire.
This was a reference to exceptional leader Tom Murphy, who taught Buffett everything he knew about running a company. Murphy founded Capital Cities Communications, transforming it into a telecommunications empire. In 1995, he sold the company (renamed Capital Cities / ABC) to Disney for about $ 19 billion.
3 things you can implement from leaders you admire
A CEO has to play many roles. The most important thing is to set a vision and set its direction. Then, being in a situation that inspires the workforce to achieve their goals.
Buffet got the best management practices he adapted to his companies from Murphy.
1. Give Initiative To Employees
The initiative should be given to employees to make instant decisions. In highly developed organizations, employees are not allowed to act solely on the decisions made. They are actively encouraged to go beyond the traditional scope of their work and to work independently when they have sufficient information and accurate data.
Both Buffett and Murphy adhere to a decentralized management philosophy. The important thing is to always hire the right people, train them well, pull down the decisions made in the organization and then resist the temptation to get involved in the details. Putting this trust and strength into the hands of employees is essential for success.
2. Empower Effectively and Intelligently
Once you feel comfortable with increasing initiative throughout the organization, it is time for empowerment, the first pillar of successful management. Two-way trust must be established so that a leader feels comfortable in delegating and sharing responsibilities.
While effectively delegating tasks requires some patience, it leaves employees feeling helpful, empowered, and integrated into the functioning of the organization. Murphy was a manager who, by empowering his managers heavily, held his managers accountable for performance. Like great leaders, you must have both. Because empowerment without accountability is a futile exercise.
3. Hire for honesty and common sense.
Over the years, Buffet has repeatedly advised leaders to weigh accuracy on every feature when starting a company.
When recruiting people, we look at three things:
Intelligence, energy and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, the first two traits will kill you, because if you’re going to get someone dishonest, you want them to be lazy and stupid.
Murphy made an interview with Harvard Business School in 2000:
Another characteristic that leaders should consider is common sense.
These days, employees are tired at Zoom meetings that begin one after another, and in an environment where bureaucracy is stifling innovation and business agility. And managers seem to be using their logical minds in the wrong direction. While not every manager demonstrates common sense, employees have the opportunity to improve their daily decision-making processes by admiring and applying the logical habits of managers who have it. The first rule to follow, of course, is to learn to exercise good judgment and make the right decisions consistently. Your employees will thank you.
Source: https://www.inc.com/
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