Hi Everyone,
As I sit down to draft this email, an obscure quote from Dances with Wolves kept going through my mind, “Now why don’t he write?” I apologize for my delayed writing of this email – I promise to make it up in both quality and quantity in the coming months. There are a tremendously amazing updates I wanted to share with you all.
First, let me thank everyone for reaching out and asking for ‘official’ and unofficial updates on my life. I can’t say enough how blessed I feel to have a huge support network of friends and family who are interested in and care about my life. Secondly, if your request for an update was intended to be sarcastic, I totally missed and you are going to get the update anyway!
Warren Buffett – What a bust!
To be fair, the trip had a number of amazing highlights – it was the MBA equivalent of the “Beiber Fever” for teenage girls. However, I had hoped to convince him to adopt me and take me on his sole heir and successor, which (sadly) did not happen. On an incredibly positive note, the trip was truly amazing. Twenty classmates and I were able to visit 3 of Omaha-based companies that Berkshire Hathaway owns (Nebraska Furniture Mart, Borsheim Jewelers, and Oriental Trading Company). But the highlight was sitting through a 2 hour Q&A session and having lunch with Warren (notice, we are now on a first name basis).
- Did you actually get to meet him?
Heck yes! After the Q&A I had the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him I thought he was “insightful.” Which is sort of like telling Michael Jordan he is athletic.
- Were you able to talk to him?
At lunch, I happened to sit down at his table. I (swear to God) had no idea he was at the table when I sat down (3 seats away). Part of the biographies were true…
No, he did not eat a cheeseburger for lunch.
Yes, he did have Cherry Coke.
Yes, he had a giant root beer float for dessert (it was easily twice the size I was given).
Yes, he paid!
During the lunch he was talking with the people around him and it dawned on me that it was my ONE chance in life to ask him a question. While I had spent hours formulate the ‘perfect’ question, it was a bit to complicated to convey over the din of everyone eating and chatting. So I asked,
“What do you think were the key factors in sustaining a successful partnership over 50 years?”
And he had a very insightful response that I barely heard because I was excited that once he started talking I just started hearing a dull ringing sound in my ears, sounded a lot like:
“MMMMmmmm mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm mmm”
Later a friend recapped his exact advice which was, “Trust, honesty, you need to do things without expecting something in return, realize that they have your best interests at heart and never hold mistakes against each other. “
If you were wondering, the question I wanted to ask was:
“Berkshires & [Buffett’s] investment strategy has focused on investing in companies with easily understood business models, resulting in [Buffett] passing on high-tech opportunities like Google. Given the rapid evolution of technology and the creation of more sophisticated business models, how would [Buffett] propose investors continue to follow this strategy? Should investors struggle to stay on the bleeding edge of technology or, instead, invest in mature, semi-dated technology firms?
- Were there any ‘dumb’ questions?
Yes! The worst… far and away… was an MBA student from Chicago-Booth asked “When you are valuing a company do you use a Discounted Cash Flow? If so, what rate do you use?” For the non-finance readers, this amazing chef how finely they dice onions – likely, he doesn’t do that work anymore and if he did, it would be subconscious, not an active decision.
I wanted to share the photo evidence of the event – while I know it can be confusing who is who because both Warren and I have gray hair, he is the one the front row surrounded by the ladies.
While there have been a number of other exciting events happening, I thought I would call this email done so you all aren’t overwhelmed by the reading. I hope you all are doing great and I hope to hear from more than a few of you!
Mid-west peeps, try to get rid of that snow sometime before I start my internship this summer. Everyone else, don’t live in the Midwest. J
Nick
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