Susan Thompson Buffett’s Five Principles
By \ June 30, 2006
Several weeks back, I wrote about Bill Gates and his decision to step to the side at Microsoft and to focus his attention on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
This change seems drastic, but if you think about it, at some level, the two jobs are not all that different: he will continue to whip-up brilliant ploys to eradicate viruses.
So, yes, it is amazing that he is doing this. And the world has a lot to gain by this decision. But recent news of Warren Buffett’s gift of 37.4 billion bucks (that’s 85% of his fortune) to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes Buffett a modern day Robin Hood, and gives the Gates Foundation the teeth and claws to fight a good fight.
Anyway, an unexpected piece of information surfaced from this media swarm. It caught me off guard and it pleased me a lot. Susan Thompson Buffett, Warren’s late wife, was a visionary in her own right. Wow! 68th wealthiest person in America.
Her story was on NPR this morning. Warren’s granddaughter was interviewed and she said that Susan was her greatest inspiration. It turns out that Susan had five principles that she used to navigate her life:
1. Show Up
2. Listen Hard
3. Don’t Lie
4. Do Your Best
5. Don’t Be Attached to the Results
I love it! It’s so simple that I was able to immediately commit them to memory (good thing too because NPR.org’s search engine was not nice to me).
Think about a big recent accomplishment and cross-reference the experience to her principles – you might surprise yourself with the results.
Did I mention that both Susan and Warren are from Omaha? Omawhat? Omawhere?
Andrés isn’t like most founders. He’s responsible for the operations and direction of idfive, but he’s also the door-always-open, huevos-rancheros-making leader who’ll help you when the wifi isn’t working. A lifetime learner and multifaceted professional, Andrés has nearly 30 years of experience leading projects for clients in various industries. He believes in the power of research and data to create something beautiful that can do something good.