In his recent interview with Charlie Rose, Warren Buffett explains why he’s gotten dumber but wiser. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
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Buffett: I’ve gotten dumber but I’ve gotten wiser.
Host: That’s a nice phrase but what does it mean?
Buffett: It means that I can’t add a group of numbers remotely as fast as I used to be able to. I can’t remember sometimes when I walk up stairs, but while I’m walking up the stairs I’m thinking about something else. So by the time I get the top of stairs I don’t know why the hell I walked up the stairs.
It means I forget names so easily. It means that I can’t read as fast as I used to read. I am a decaying machine that still feels wonderful, but I can’t hear as well. I can’t see as well. My balance isn’t as good, but it doesn’t interfere with my happiness, my work, anything.
Host: Especially your work. Well, then clearly your happiness, but that doesn’t you know…
Buffett: It doesn’t interfere with anything. I can get on a plane and go any place. I can do anything as long as you don’t ask me to dance or jog or even remember you know who’d I meet yesterday.
Host: But in terms of doing the job that you do, allocating capital.
Buffett: I can actually do that as well as ever. Yeah, that sounds awful.
Host: But better than that, do you do it today better than you did it 20 years ago?
Buffett: Yeah. I’ve got a different set of opportunities.
You can watch the entire interview here:
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Article by The Acquirer’s Multiple.
