Warren Buffett says the most important lesson he learned from his father was to judge himself by his own values, not by public opinion.
Buffett Explains Power Of The Inner Scorecard
Answering student questions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005, Buffett recalled, "I got an awful lot of good advice from my dad. He taught me that it's more important in terms of what's in your inner scorecard than your outer scorecard.”
"Some people get into a position where they think all the time what the world is going to think of this or that, instead of what they themselves are going to think about it," he added.
Life Success Measured Beyond Money And Recognition
Buffett explains the "inner scorecard" as living through values that are important to you, while the "outer scorecard" reflects what others can measure. If you can find peace and comfort with your inner scorecard, he says, "you're going to live a happy life. But people often subscribe to the outer scorecard."
The idea has resurfaced in many of his remarks. Buffett has told audiences that "the amount you are loved is the ultimate measure of success in life," and urged people to take work they would still choose if money did not matter.
Friends And Family See Philosophy In Practice
Investor Guy Spier, who paid for a charity lunch with Buffett and later wrote "The Education of a Value Investor," argues that philosophy is visible in how Buffett carries himself. "One of Buffett's defining characteristics is that he so clearly lives by his own inner scorecard," he writes, according to a CNBC article from 2019. "It isn't just that he does what's right, but that he does what's right for him."
As Spier observed, "There's nothing fake or forced about him. He sees no reason to compromise his standards or violate his beliefs."
Buffett's first wife, Susan, offered a similar view of his motivations. "It wasn't the money itself … It's all mental with him; the money is his scorecard," she said, describing how investing became a way to test his judgment more than to fund a lavish lifestyle.
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