Becoming Warren Buffett

They broke the mold.

You watch these documentaries so you can be like them, pick up little tips that will help you on the path to success. But watching this film you realize Buffett is the other, a sui generis businessman who in many ways is unique yet ultimately is no different from you and me.

As in we’re people on the planet in America.

Oh, it could be much worse. We could live in a third world country. A war-torn nation. But we were lucky enough to be born in the U.S.A. with a modicum of opportunity and…

This is not about getting ahead, this is about living.

Used to be almost no one was rich and famous. It was kind of like being an astronaut, everybody knew their name but there were very few of them. But the internet has flipped the game and reality TV gives us the impression if we just want it bad enough, we can be known too. And if we cut corners, screw a few people over, we can become rich too. But most of us never do. Most of us are honest and forthright and would never cross anybody. We’re offended that others do. We are like Warren Buffett.

So he grew up in Omaha. I’ve been there, a long time ago, on my way back from Philmont, in a bus, with 39 other Boy Scouts. And one thing was for sure, it was far away. You can get there by plane these days, something we could not afford, but really Omaha is now like everywhere else, except maybe New York and L.A. As in it’s a backwater. Not as much as it used to be, cable TV and the aforementioned internet go everywhere, but the truth is most of us are cornpone outsiders doing our best to get along. There’s a cadre of hipsters telling us they’re better than we are, and a bunch of hucksters promoting themselves, while we sit on the sidelines and wonder where we’re going.

Where are you going?

Warren imparts a number of lessons in this movie. And they’re good ones. But the truth is you’ve got to make your own map, decide where you want to go. And in an ever more difficult world where money is everything, that’s hard to do, especially since so many walks of life barely pay the bills. It’s one thing to be poor and uneducated, it’s quite another to be a college graduate and walk into the wilderness on a journey that no one is paying attention to that has no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Used to be that was a worthwhile excursion, but now it’s seen as a waste.

But Buffett doesn’t care about the rules. That’s another thing about America, everybody’s so worried about what others think of them. They’re afraid to be unique. Berkshire Hathaway has no general counsel, doesn’t speak to analysts and all we hear from public companies is what a pain in the ass it is to comply and report.

Maybe not, if you’re in it for the long haul.

And speaking of the long haul, Warren’s wife abandoned him. She just couldn’t take it anymore. He was too removed. So you think money will solve all your problems but…

So you’re watching this flick and finding it incredibly enjoyable. Because it’s not what it appears. You know that without being so rich no one would care, and that they’re gonna put Buffett on a pedestal and make you feel inadequate. But making money is just his work, and he’s a nice loner with as many issues as you and me, maybe more.

So we’ve got the titans of industry, who flaunt their wealth, telling us they’re better than we are. That’s one thing that’s irritating, all the rich people who act like they got tablets from God and know better when the truth is they don’t.

And Warren was lucky he had an inspiring father, not all of us possess one.

But his first wife changed not only his politics, but his outlook on life in so many ways.

But you couldn’t really change him. A guy who skipped a grade but then got C’s when the family moved to D.C. and the teachers were terrible.

We’re all looking for stimulation, we’re all looking for excitement, it’s just that Warren Buffett found his in money.

Find yours. And know that no one cares what you do and nobody will be remembered. We’re all just regular Janes and Joes, nobody is that special, there are 24 hours in a day, how are you gonna kill them?