Although I have mad respect for Warren Buffett I wasn’t expecting to enjoy his recent conversation with Charlie Rose as much as I did. “More snooze-fest boring wisdom on the American economy’s future,” right? Wrong. What I thought was going to be a predictable talk on economic issues turned into a fascinating glimpse into the life and evolution of one of the world’s richest and smartest investors.
Sitting across from Warren was his life-long friend Carol Loomis, the legendary and longtime Editor-in-Chief of FORTUNE magazine who first discovered Warren all the way back in the late 60s when Warren was a young pup in his mid-30s. Loomis tells the story of how her husband came home to New York one night after a trip to Omaha, and he told her: “I think I just met the smartest investor in the country!” Loomis joked that she initially — like most wives probably would — brushed off her husband as being “full of it”. Not only was her husband not full of it, Carol and Warren eventually did meet and they became life-long friends. All these years later and Carol and Warren still speak every single day on the phone about everything under the sun, and Warren even sends copy of his top secret Berkshire Hathaway reports to Carol for proofreading, revisions, and ideas. It is an incredible story, and it’s all part of the promotion for Carol’s brand new book on Warren Buffett entitled Tap Dancing To Work: Warren Buffett On Practically Everything (purchase on Amazon). You can watch the interview in the link below.
Warren Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century. Buffet is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and consistently ranked among the world’s wealthiest people. Carol Loomis (born June 25, 1929) is the longtime Editor-in-Chief of FORTUNE Magazine. In 1966, she coined the term “hedge fund” in FORTUNE, and in 1976, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Federal Consolidated Financial Statements. In 1980, she was one of six panelists at the presidential debates of Ronald Reagan and John Anderson. Loomis has had by far the longest tenure of any employee in FORTUNE’s history, having joined the staff in 1954 as a research associate. You can follow FORTUNE on Twitter.
