My time with Warren Buffett

Well, it happened. On Monday, March 31st, 2008, I had the enormous privilege and extreme pleasure to share in the company of the world's richest man for a few hours. Here is the story, in chronological order, but before I begin, it should be noted that Ivey didn't have to share the day with any other business school, save for the added inclusion of a some Communications students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Monday started bright and early as I woke up at 5:00 AM, to organize my things, get ready for the day, enjoy a healthy breakfast, and read the 2007 Annual Letter to Berkshire Shareholders as well as the Owner's Manual for Berkshire Shareholders. Omaha was grey with pouring rain and some lightning, but the taxis all showed up on time and ushered us down Dodge to Nebraska Furniture Mart for 8:30 AM. There, we were hosted by Bob Batt, VP of Sales & Marketing and grandson of the Mart's founder Rose Blumkin, who gave us a tour of the furniture, mattresses, rugs, and electronics areas of the 77-acre campus. Most notable was "the Warren" mattress that is exclusively sold by NFM under its line of Berkshire Collection mattresses, with apparently very high volumes and margins.


At 9:30 AM, everyone headed to the coaches that had thankfully arrived under dry skies. I was a bit worried about Arrow Stage Lines' commitment to provide two more buses for us, but sure enough, they were there with a smile on too. By the time everyone loaded onto the buses, we arrived 40-blocks later at the Kiewit Building at 10:00 AM, where Berkshire Hathaway has its headquarters, for all 19 people that run the small empire. The Cloud Room, on the 15th floor, was set up for us with chairs and bins at the back for us to deposit our books, for Mr. Buffett to sign at a later date. I met Jackie, Mr. Buffett's assistant, who was extremely nice and clarified a few things for me, regarding logistics for the impending Q&A session and the way to Piccolo's for lunch.

After getting back to my seat on the left side of the third row, a side door opened to my immediate left and Mr. Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, almost walked right into me. That was the first moment of the day that froze time, for just a second, and it is ingrained perfectly in my mind. The following Q&A session started with my asking Mr. Buffett about the characteristics and nuances of his partnership with Charlie Munger. Following a few good anecdotes and some invaluable pearls of wisdom, Mr. Buffett proceeded to lace his commentary with countless jokes, and soon had us practically rolling in the aisles with laughter. No one expected him to be this funny, I can assure you, and it was a welcome surprise. The format of the session continued with two questions from Ivey students followed by one questions from the local students, until we were finished at 12:15 PM.

At the end of the Q&A session, our Professor, George Athanassakos, presented the Oracle with a gift of our appreciation, which was followed by thunderous applause. To everyone's next surprise, Mr. Buffett offered four spots in his car to students in need of a ride, to be selected by Professor Athanassakos and the faculty representative from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In the next moment, two months' worth of steady work paid off when Professor Athanassakos chose me to ride with Mr. Buffett, as the only MBA from Ivey, along with his top HBA student, to be driven over Piccolo's for lunch. After Mr. Buffett came down to the lobby where we were waiting, I quickly offered that the front passenger seat should be taken by one of the two ladies, which my HBA counterpart nicely gave to Talia from the U of N at O.

In the car, which happened to be a new Cadillac with a glorious smell of fresh leather, Mr. Buffett asked for a quick biography from each of us, and by the time the fourth person answered, we had arrived at Piccolo's. What I remember from the ride was Mr. Buffett's caution at the wheel, yet complete comfort as the steward of our fortunes. The metaphor couldn't have been more perfect, especially for me as a shareholder and value-minded person.

Once we arrived at Piccolo's, outside of which Mr. Buffett simply parked on the street about 10 car lengths from the entrance, I realized that we had beaten the coaches to the restaurant. Taking opportunity by the horns, I made sure to watch carefully as Mr. Buffett chose a seat at one of the banquet tables, so I could swiftly take the seat opposite to him. That way, I at least was guaranteed a few minutes of face time with the Oracle, to ask the remainder of my questions that I printed the day before and put in my pocket. Little did I expect for him to remain at our table for the entire lunch period, and right in front of me at that.

When the waitress came to our table, I ordered a Cherry Coke, to which he replied "Now we're talkin'!" For lunch, he ate the chicken parmagian while I had a steak (and the other two options were breaded sea bass and something else that might have been a vegetarian option). I got through all of my questions, took some notes, listened to every word he said, and was surprised at the humility, clarity, and complete honesty of all of his answers. While I tried to stick with investment and research-based questions, other people asked about his family life, the movies he likes, other aspirations and some philosophical questions. He answered every one, with or without his mouth full, and then devoured a double-sized root beer float for dessert. Of course, he ordered floats for everyone else as well, on top of already picking up the tab for the group.

The most valuable part of sitting across the table from Mr. Warren Buffett for that hour was his thirst for our knowledge as well as his demonstration of a vast and completely accurate pool of facts and figures, on which he bases the world's most profitable decision-making ability of modern times. It was completely surreal to be sitting face-to-face with the Oracle of Omaha, for the simple fact that, for all of his net worth, the only thing he really wanted to do was learn more, find new value opportunities, dig deeper, and at the end of the day, go home to a loving and happy family.

As far as secret insights or possible hints into his next moves, he was far smarter than to reveal anything like that. When I asked about how he struck a balance between his passion for digging through Moody's Manuals every hour of every day with his love for his wife and family, and if there were any specific commitments or schedules that he maintained to keep the balance, he struck the idea down and said with remarkable confidence, "you never want to have a contract with your family." I was impressed.

After lunch, Mr. Buffett emerged from Piccolo's amidst a throng of keen students and stood in front of the restaurant for pictures. As one might expect, people crowded him immediately on the basis that his time was limited. But when it was communicated that he would stay as long as it took to get a picture with each of us, things calmed down and an ad hoc but methodical process was developed to ensure that everyone took at least one picture with the fun and photogenic Mr. Buffett. Now, at this point I thought there was little he could do to impress us further. But, when asked to do creative things with people for their pictures, he was all for it. Popped collars, Blue Brothers poses, wallet grabbing, funny faces, kisses on the cheek from the ladies, cell phone calls, you name it, were all acted out for the benefit of us students. And just as he had committed, when everyone was satisfied he took one last bundle of Berkshire Annual Reports from me to be signed for a group of us and strode off back to his car, did a u-turn, and headed back to the office.

I still don't really know how to interpret my time with Warren Buffett. I'm typing this entry much too late on a school night, simply out of fear that I'll lose parts of my memory and ruin a priceless experience by not scrambling to scribe every detail. Yet, none of what he said hasn't been captured in other interviews, on television, in Annual Reports, or in his soon to be released biography (September 29, 2008) already. So, I'm pretty sure that the true value of my experience will reveal itself over time. Ultimately, the overall morale that he taught us was for all the riches in the world, they're nothing if you can't stroll the streets of your home town as did you when you were a kid.