Warren Buffett, known commonly as the “Oracle of Omaha,” constantly drops advice on everything from accounting to entrepreneurship and investing. He also loves to drop the ages of the managers he works with.
Perhaps that’s because by 2025, Buffett himself is 95 years old and preparing to finally hand over the reins at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) to incoming CEO Greg Abel. Perhaps it’s because late business partner Charlie Munger lived until 99 – and spent his final years still leading the company he helped transform.
As Buffett puts it, it’s all about “self-interest.” In a 1996 shareholder letter, he elaborated that “it’s difficult to teach a new dog old tricks. The many Berkshire managers who are past 70 hit home runs today at the same pace that long ago gave them reputations as young slugging sensations.”
This speaks to everything Buffett believes in – age of the manager aside.
Buffett prizes managers whose experience has compounded like capital. Leaders who’ve navigated multiple market cycles know how to grow and protect a business through booms and busts. Their long records of sound decision-making create an institutional memory and discipline that can’t be learned in a few years or from a textbook.
This respect for veteran operators fits seamlessly with Buffett’s leadership style of trust and autonomy. He buys companies and lets their leaders run them largely as before, confident they’ve already earned their stripes. For instance, in 1996, he wrote about recent-acquisition FlightSafety’s 79-year-old CEO Al Ueltschi, that he was “our kind of manager.”
For Buffett, it’s about investing in people as much as businesses. Seasoned leaders offer the same stability and predictability that define his investment philosophy. Their decades of proven judgment mirror the durable competitive advantages he seeks in every Berkshire holding.
So, in short, Buffett quips that if you want to get a job at Berkshire Hathaway, “just employ the tactic of the 76-year-old who persuaded a dazzling beauty of 25 to marry him.” How did the fellow in question get lucky? He told her he was 86.
