xvPreface
A
lmost exactly twenty years ago, while training to become an in-
vestment broker with Legg Mason, I received a Berkshire Hath-
away annual report as part of the training materials. It was my
very f irst exposure to Warren Buffett.
Like most people who read Berkshire’s annual reports, I was in-
stantly impressed with the clarity of Buffett’s writing. As a young pro-
fessional during the 1980s, I found that my head was perpetually
spinning as I tried to keep up with the stock market, the economy, and
the constant buying and selling of securities. Yet, each time I read a
story about Warren Buffett or an article written by him, his rational
voice seemed to rise above the market’s chaos. It was his calming inf lu-
ence that inspired me to write this book.
The principal challenge I faced writing The Warren Buffett Way
was to prove or disprove Buffett’s claim that “what [I] do is not beyond
anybody else’s competence.” Some critics argue that, despite his success,
Warren Buffett’s idiosyncrasies mean his investment approach cannot be
widely adopted. I disagree. Warren Buffett is idiosyncratic—it is a source
of his success—but his methodology, once understood, is applicable to
individuals and institutions alike. My goal in this book is to help in-
vestors employ the strategies that make Warren Buffett successful.
The Warren Buffett Waydescribes what is, at its core, a simple ap-
proach. There are no computer programs to learn, no two-inch-thick
investment manuals to decipher. Whether you are f inancially able to