You Can’t Succeed in Life If You Don’t Have This Distinct Trait, Says Warren Buffett

That Warren Buffett is a billionaire, who has lived quite a long life by today’s standards, is enough to qualify him as a sage.

The man is famous for his wise quotes, and although a lot of his advice is almost always about business ventures and investments, we can all agree that at 88 years old he must know a thing or two about wading through the murky waters of life.

All About Integrity

For as long as the entrepreneur has been in the public eye, Buffett has always been all about integrity.

According to him, among the most important things we can do in life is cultivate relationships with ethical and honest individuals. Such relationships, the man always says, are the stepping stone to your success.

Speaking to UF students, Buffett once asked them to single out a classmate they thought had the biggest chance of long term success.

He went on to randomly suggest the qualities that this individual would have, and they included a knack for leadership, honesty, generosity, and the ability to motivate others into productivity. According to him, the individual also gave credit whenever it was due. It turns out he was right!

Whichever way you may want to look at it, the billionaire’s advice is spot on. Leaders with such qualities often lead their teams to both overall and individual success.

Why So?

Why is that you may ask? For starters, selflessness is their mantra. Naturally, all leaders have an ego. What they do with it, however, is what determines the kind of person they become.

A self-interested leader will view the members of his team as a means to an end, while a selfless one will harness their ego, channeling it to the benefit of those under him.

Additionally, such individuals acknowledge the input of their staff, no matter the magnitude. The ripple effect of this recognition is that the staff put in more work, and they are happy doing it of their own volition. A selfish leader, on the other hand, may want to keep all the glory for themselves.

Although vulnerability has always been viewed as a sense of weakness in workplaces, the narrative is undoubtedly evolving.

Honest leaders open up to their employees in times of both success and failures and demonstrate that the members of staff should also feel free to do so. Emotional engagements in the line of duty have been shown to yield positive results.

Leaders worth this title also have another invaluable trait – they value anyone else’s time as much as they value theirs.

In setting time apart to spend with those close to them, be they their friends, family, or employees, such leaders demonstrate a high level of generosity. After all, they could spend all day in boardrooms holding endless meetings!

Valuing time is a trait Warren Buffett is well known for, and his long-time friend Bill Gates has confirmed as much. Both men acknowledge that despite being insanely wealthy, the one thing they can’t get more of is time. Why then, would they purposefully waste it?