"The Oracle of Omaha"

It was a whirlwind kind of weekend.  My wife and I drove down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Friday evening (it's an 8 hour drive) and met my daughter, who is a junior at the University of Alabama there for an impromptu "parent's weekend" with all of her friends and their parents.  We spent the afternoon and evening on Saturday watching the Crimson Tide "roll over" the Aggies of Texas A&M on the television, while enjoying a smorgasbord of food.  Thanks to Hurricane Nate, we left early Sunday morning and drove back through tropical storm winds and rain for the first few hours, and tropical storm rains for the rest of the way.  Our 8 hour drive turned into 9 hours.  It was a fun trip, even if the next time we decided that we will fly!

While we were in Tuscaloosa, we stopped for a quick lunch at the local Jimmy John's restaurant.  I happened to read one of the posters hanging in the restaurant - "Warren Buffett's Ten Rules" that I thought were pretty interesting.  Warren Buffett is known by the moniker, "The Oracle of Omaha" because he always seems to know which stocks to purchase and make the most money from in a deal.  I am going to take a little liberty here and apply his 10 rules to leadership.  Here they are:

1. Reinvest your profits.  It makes sense to reinvest the profits (i.e., the money that is left over after taking out all of your expenses from your revenues) back into the business, so that the business can continue to grow and earn more revenue.  Similarly, it makes sense to reinvest whatever "profits" (e.g., your team's success) you earn as a leader back into your team.  Turn small wins into big wins.  Use the momentum generated from early win's to build the inspiration, motivation, and confidence to generate additional wins. 

2. Be willing to be different.  Don't follow everyone else's lead.  As the poet, Robert Frost suggested in his poem, "The Road Not Taken", take the road less traveled.  Apple, Inc. used to have a slogan, "Think different."  Be different. Think different.  Be a leader, not a follower.

3. Never suck your thumb.  This one is interesting - when I first read it, I thought Buffett mean that you should be tough and not succumb to stress and pressure (in other words, if the going gets tough, don't crawl into a corner, assume the fetal position, and start sucking your thumb!).  But what he really meant was that you shouldn't waste time being idle.  Make decisions quickly.  If you have down time, use it productively. 

4. Spell out the deal before you start.  This one makes sense for picking stocks and being a leader - make sure that you have all the ground rules, the relevant facts, and the potential impact of any decision in front of you before making a decision or a deal.

5. Watch small expenses.  Recent trends in health care have focused heavily on reducing the cost of care.  Be wary of all the expenses, even the small ones.  Small expenses add up and eventually become big expenses.

6. Limit what you borrow.  Good advice - don't get overburdened with debt.  From a leadership standpoint, it is better to be on the giving end than the receiving end.  It's always good practice to repay kindness - but it is even better practice to never have to repay kindness.  Be kind to everyone.  Do something nice for everyone you meet.  Make more "deposits" of kindness than you make "withdrawals."

7. Be persistent.  Be resilient.  Be like Young.

8. Know when to quit.  Buffett suggests that there is a point, when making deals, of diminishing returns.  Don't go past that point.  From a leadership standpoint, know how much you can push your team to drive improvement.  But also know when enough is enough.  Know when your team needs a break, and let them have one when they do need one.  The use of so-called "stretch goals" can be a great motivational tool, but know your team's limits and do not exceed them.

9. Assess the risks.  There is a balance between being risk-averse and risk-taking - only you, as a leader, know how best to achieve that balance for you and your team.  When it comes to risk, the "Goldilocks approach" ("Not too hot, not too cold, but just right") seems appropriate.

10. Know what success really means.  Success doesn't mean being rich.  Success doesn't mean that you always win.  Define success for your team, and make sure that your definition of success aligns with your organization's mission, vision, and values.