Leadership

Leadership Qualities: Styles, Skills, and Traits of Warren Buffett

by Richard Andrew

Warren Buffett- The Leader

Born and brought up in Omaha, Nebraska, young Buffett wouldn’t have thought that he would end up being the one of the finest investor in the whole world. Or little did he knew that he will be the 4th richest man in the planet. Warren Edward Buffet is an American Investor, Business Tycoon and philanthropist. He is the current CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He has been the major stake holder of that company since 1970. (1) His company owns a lot of brands and business ventures. Also it invests in various phenomenal companies like Coca Cola Ltd., Apple Inc. and many more.

Leadership Qualities: Styles, Skills, and Traits of Warren Buffett

Leadership Qualities of Warren Buffett: There are certain qualities that reflects on the personality of the business leader, Warren Buffett. These leadership qualities makes the man invincible in his respective field and people should take vital lessons from the man’s skills and dedication. Here are some of his skills:

Optimistic: An Optimistic leader always brings a positive vibe to the team. Positive attitude and never giving up behavior does takes the moral of the team on a higher note. Despite his aging, Warren Buffet is a very jolly personality. He brings a significant sense of humor and eases the nerves of his employees. This makes him a good leader, always up for anything.

Great Mentorship: A leader’s first and foremost quality should be that he will have to have the ability to guide his troops to the right path. In order to achieve a certain goal, the team leader should be one of the greatest influencer for the employees. Fortunately, Warren Buffet is a great mentor and influencer to his company and employees. Thus making proper decisions and leading the company towards greatness has been the sum up of his life.

Deep Thinker: Warren Buffett is known to be a critical analytic and a deep thinker. He is often seen thinking about something with a composed approach. Thus he can see the hidden potential of a certain business venture. For example, he has dropped a huge amount of share in IBM and considered to increase the share by 3% in Apple Inc. (2) This truly reflects that he observes the market pretty up-close and acts according to it.

Adaptive Nature: Speaking of adaptive nature and approach in the business, Warren is a quick learner who learns from his mistakes and changes according to that. That reflected when he failed in various ventures like investing in Waumbec Textile Company. (3) This was a failure, which taught him and he embraced it gladly.

Appreciates People’s Efforts: Warren Buffett has the most unique character in the business. Despite being the 4th richest man in the world, (4) he is still down to earth and often seen appreciating his employees and associates for their triumphs and achievements.

Leadership Style of Warren Buffet – Transformational Leader

Judging by the traits and the style of approaching his employees in the leadership style of Warren Buffett is considered to be a transformational leadership. A transformational leader is a strong leadership style. This type of leader always walks ‘with’ the employees. They motivates and encourages the employees to make a call. He even celebrates the achievements of his employees and comforts them in their failures. All these qualities adds up to be evident in the characteristics of Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett is supportive and a thinker who always pushes his employees to be successful in their respective working sector.

Leadership Characteristics and Traits of Warren Buffett

There are several traits that successfully portrays the true leadership of Warren Buffet. These are describes as follows:

Confidence: Confidence is the main weapon of any leader. He should have the belief that he can achieve the goal. He should have the faith in his employees and associates. This reflects on the business tycoon’s character.

Thinks Ahead of Time: A good leader should have a vision that will allow him to see the future. He should have the sense to judge the outcomes of his business and work according to that. Berkshire Hathaway has been such an investing company that thinks ahead of time. Thanks to the leadership of Buffett.

Being Accountable & Responsible: There will be countless times where you will make mistakes. But a great leader accepts his mistakes and learn from it. He takes the full responsibility of his teams and also faces the consequences with a cool head. Buffet has been one of them.

Other Leadership Traits and Characteristics of Warren Buffet: A true and successful leader has to have all the qualities that takes to be a worthy pathfinder. He should have the power to influence his associate to the similar passion and run towards the goal. Qualities like acting swiftly, appreciating innovation, be creative, be an effective communicator, have a healthy relationship with the associates are some of the good leadership traits that are present in Warren’s leadership.

Leadership Skills of Warren Buffet – What He Achieved and What He Applied

Warren Buffett has always been one of the most shining stars in leadership. But what made him so desirable? Simple Answer. Honesty and dedication. He was a leader from an early age. But what he did and how he did made him the man who he is today. These are the four accomplishments or learnings that made him the business role model:

Hiring People with Potentials: He always sees three things before hiring someone; “Integrity, intelligence and Energy”. This has made him successful in choosing the right man for the right position. (5)

Risk Taking Mentality: In an interview, Warren says that you might have the best grades in the class. But that does not make you a good leader or a better businessman. A businessman should learn how to take calculated risks and also have the metal strength to face the consequences.

Be Humble and Kind: Warren Barrett is perhaps one of the most down to earth person who has appreciation and acceptance for moral values. He is kind to his employees and also a believer of employee satisfaction bringing greater heights for the company. This has been learned over the years in his illustrious career.

Bottom Line

Warren Buffet is a great example in the world of business and leadership. The amount of experience and the decision making capabilities which he brings on to the table is beyond comparable. We can learn an awful lot from his lifestyle, his business decisions and also his speeches. His quotes are truly very helpful if you want to earn the actual meaning of leadership. The world is in safe hands as long as we have inspiring personalities like Buffett in the driver’s seat. We should learn not only from their triumphs but also from the mistakes they have made over the course of their career.

Related

Reference Links

  • https://www.biography.com/business-figure/warren-buffett
  • https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/07/07/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-owns-913-billion-worth-of-apple-stock
  • https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/warren-buffetts-failures-15-investing-mistakes-he-regrets.html
  • https://www.britannica.com/topic/Berkshire-Hathaway
  • https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/billionaire-warren-buffett-to-mba-students-this-is-the-key-to-success.html