Today marks the end of the epic 60-year reign of legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is placing his trust in successor Greg Abel, who will lead the $1.2 trillion empire. But the Oracle of Omaha leaves behind a wealth of knowledge, past learnings, wins and losses—and sage career advice.
One piece of lasting wisdom from Buffett came during Berkshire Hathaway’s 2004 annual shareholders’ meeting, when a 14-year-old boy from California posed a question.
“What advice would you give a young person like me on how to be successful?” Asked Justin Fong, a young shareholder at the time.
Buffett offered a simple, yet thought-provoking answer: “It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours, and you’ll drift in that direction.”
This follows other common leadership advice: Surround yourself with people you admire. But Buffett took that advice one step further, saying young professionals should spend time with people who are “better” than them, although he didn’t expand on what exactly that meant.
Still, Buffett’s former business partner, the late Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, echoed the sentiment.
“If this gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, the hell with ’em,” Munger said.
Buffett said in his final shareholder letter this fall that he’d be “going quiet” after his retirement, but his endless career advice will continue to live on.
What other executives and researchers say about Buffett’s advice
Several other executives and successful businesspeople have given similar advice to younger generations: Spend time with people you wish to emulate.
Billionaire Virgin Atlantic cofounder Richard Branson wrote in a 2023 LinkedIn post that people should surround themselves with those who are “smarter than you.”
“Give them everything they need to grow, and your business will thrive,” he continued.
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs also gave similar advice in a 1992 lecture, saying it just makes plain sense to hire smart people.
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do,” he said.
Academic research also shows it can be beneficial for working professionals to surround themselves with high-achievers. A 2017 study from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management found that sitting within 25 feet of a high-performer improved coworkers’ speed or quality by up to 15%, generating an estimated $1 million in annual profits per firm.
“The beautiful part of it is that when we put these people together, they’re not going to materially suffer on the area of strength,” said Dylan Minor, one of the researchers on the study and a former Kellogg faculty member. “They’re only going to improve on their area of weakness.”
Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 tech workers for the study, and call this phenomenon “positive spillover,” but warned it can work in the opposite way, too.
“Once a toxic person shows up next to you, your risk of becoming toxic yourself has gone up,” Minor warned. With toxic workers, “we see their imprint and negative effect across an entire floor.”
