I've been sitting on this for a week. Thinking. Reflecting. Asking my reptile brain amygdala (thanks fight/flight response!) to take a break so that my frontal cortex could chime in with some empathy and connected mammalian ideas. I've slept on it – several times. I suggest you do the same. And then we must resolve "to be" in the time we have remaining before "not to be" comes for all of us. Our society will not recover or improve without us.

The video evidence is no more or less disputable than the Rodney King footage. A masked man deputized by our federal government shoots an unarmed mother of three while she sits in her car trying to move out of harm's way at slow speed.

There is no sense to be made of this, or of politicians' lack of decency and humanity in response. So how should we respond? In our country, success is often defined by wealth, so maybe we should take a lesson from one of the richest men in America.

Warren Buffett has retired, mostly. After sixty years on the job, at 95 years old, Buffett is still chairman but no longer CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest corporations in the United States and the first non-technology company to be valued at more than a trillion dollars.

When financial journalists and business school professors describe Buffett, they unfailingly point to his down home folksy persona and unassuming lifestyle as models for success. Buffett's loudly understated values have supported his ability to accumulate wealth. Staying with one spouse in one house – in Nebraska, no less – for decades proved to be a great way to save money and build wealth over time.

But that's not how Buffett's tenure at Berkshire Hathaway started.

Buffett took the job away from someone else because he got angry.

The tiny town of Adams (population 8,166) in Berkshire County, Massachusetts is the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony. The town doesn't have much claim to fame. Or maybe it has deeply held principles. For one reason or another, it built an entire museum in Anthony's honor even though she only lived there until she was six years old.

Around the time Anthony was born, the population of Adams doubled. The War of 1812 stimulated the American textile industry – British textiles were no longer available. Adams became a textile town. The farms along the Hoosic River were replaced with mills.

In 1888, William and Charles Plunkett opened Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, which merged in 1929 with Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island to form Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. The company survived the Great Depression and did very well after World War II, merging in 1955 with Hathaway Manufacturing Company, which had been founded by Horatio Hathaway in New Bedford, Massachusetts, about 150 miles from Adams, also in 1888. The new entity became known as Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett didn't care about the history.

What Buffett cared about was that Seabury Stanton broke his word.

Warren Buffett got interested in Berkshire Hathaway because it was failing. As mills closed, Buffett figured there would be a tender offer and he could make a profit on the stock. In 1962, Buffett started buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway for his investment fund at $7.50 per share. By 1964, Buffett had accumulated enough Berkshire Hathaway shares to own 7% of the company. He offered to sell his shares back to Berkshire Hathaway at $11.50 per share. Buffett spoke with Berkshire Hathaway Manager Seabury Stanton and the two men made a deal.

But when Buffett received the tender offer in writing from Stanton, the share price offered was $11.375 per share. Buffett still has the letter, and as he read it during an interview 48 years later, he remembered how it made him feel: "He (Stanton) chiseled me for an eighth... This made me mad." Buffett bought even more of the stock – at a higher price – to take control of the company and fire Stanton.

Over the years, Buffett has said many times that this was a poor business decision. In 2010 Buffett told CNBC that his action cost him $200 billion over the long run: "I committed a major amount of money to a terrible business."

So what motivated him? Why did he decide to go after Stanton and take Berkshire Hathaway for himself?

Buffett's easygoing, self-deprecating style and his chuckle at the memory make it easy to forget that one letter led him to fire two generations of a family, change life for hundreds of employees, and launch a company that changed the course of American finance. But his lesson is clear: When someone breaks their word, get angry and take their job.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

_________________________

Have you ever gotten mad enough at a perceived injustice to do something about it, even if it cost you something important? Drop me a line – I’m curious!

_________________________ 

Open-Source Learning is yours. Free. Get the white paper here. Use what works and customize whatever you need, however you want. I’m here to help.

_________________________

Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click HERE to unlock your free membership subscription. 

Here is a taste of what I’m doing, reading, watching, and thinking about.

What I’m Listening To –

Public Enemy Fight the Power. The Isley Brothers Fight the Power, Pts. 1 & 2.

What I’m Reading –

I'm rereading one of my favorite books, Heart of the World by Ian Baker. My own trip to Tibet changed my life forever. Baker's journey to the Tsangpo Gorge is a reminder that the places we explore are out there, but our ability to explore them – or even see what's right in front of us – are the direct result of the work we do in here. From a 2006 review in The Independent: "Ian Baker has lived in Nepal for over 20 years, and dedicated much of that time to Tibetan Buddhism. He understands the teaching - that to gain access to paradise one must seek out the beyuls, or hidden-away lands. The more inaccessible the beyul, the more illuminating the paradise it conceals. And it seems that at the eastern end of the Himalayas, obscured by a vast waterfall in the remote Tsangpo Gorge, lies one of the greatest of all such sanctuaries. After much time spent interviewing lamas and leafing through obscure Tantric texts, the author at last located the bottom of the forbidding gorge - and so discovered, he tells us, the legendary grail of both Western explorers and Tibetan seekers. Thus he completed a journey begun more than a hundred years earlier."

What I’m Watching –

I was glad to see The Pitt come back for a second season on HBO. I like The Pitt because it reminds me of what good TV can do. Apparently I'm not alone, as Sophie Gilbert reports in The Atlantic (gift article): "There’s simply no way to watch The Pitt and feel good about the way society is currently functioning. Which is the point. The show can be funny, the camaraderie among the characters is gratifying, and the doctors are extraordinarily good-looking in the way only TV doctors can be. But in a moment when most series seem intent on keeping us mindlessly half-engaged and monetizing the minutes we watch, there’s something inherently satisfying about a series that actually wants us to think. And, even more crucially, to care."

Quote I’m pondering –

The heaviest weight at the gym is the front door.

- Ed Latimore

Thank you for reading! This publication is a lovingly cultivated, hand-rolled, barrel-aged, ad-free, AI-free, 100% organic, anti-algorithm, zero calorie, high protein, completely reader-supported publication that is not paid to endorse any political party, world religion, sports team, product or service. Please help keep it going by buying my book, hiring me to speak, or becoming a paid subscriber, which will also entitle you to upcoming web events, free consultations, discounted merchandise, and generally being the coolest person your friends know:

Best,

Know someone who is also Curious AF? Please share this edition with them!

David Preston

Educator & Author

​https://davidpreston.net​

Latest book: ACADEMY OF ONE

I've been sitting on this for a week. Thinking. Reflecting. Asking my reptile brain amygdala (thanks fight/flight response!) to take a break so that my frontal cortex could chime in with some empathy and connected mammalian ideas. I've slept on it – several times. I suggest you do the same. And then we must resolve "to be" in the time we have remaining before "not to be" comes for all of us. Our society will not recover or improve without us.

The video evidence is no more or less disputable than the Rodney King footage. A masked man deputized by our federal government shoots an unarmed mother of three while she sits in her car trying to move out of harm's way at slow speed.

There is no sense to be made of this, or of politicians' lack of decency and humanity in response. So how should we respond? In our country, success is often defined by wealth, so maybe we should take a lesson from one of the richest men in America.

Warren Buffett has retired, mostly. After sixty years on the job, at 95 years old, Buffett is still chairman but no longer CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest corporations in the United States and the first non-technology company to be valued at more than a trillion dollars.

When financial journalists and business school professors describe Buffett, they unfailingly point to his down home folksy persona and unassuming lifestyle as models for success. Buffett's loudly understated values have supported his ability to accumulate wealth. Staying with one spouse in one house – in Nebraska, no less – for decades proved to be a great way to save money and build wealth over time.

But that's not how Buffett's tenure at Berkshire Hathaway started.

Buffett took the job away from someone else because he got angry.

The tiny town of Adams (population 8,166) in Berkshire County, Massachusetts is the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony. The town doesn't have much claim to fame. Or maybe it has deeply held principles. For one reason or another, it built an entire museum in Anthony's honor even though she only lived there until she was six years old.

Around the time Anthony was born, the population of Adams doubled. The War of 1812 stimulated the American textile industry – British textiles were no longer available. Adams became a textile town. The farms along the Hoosic River were replaced with mills.

In 1888, William and Charles Plunkett opened Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, which merged in 1929 with Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island to form Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. The company survived the Great Depression and did very well after World War II, merging in 1955 with Hathaway Manufacturing Company, which had been founded by Horatio Hathaway in New Bedford, Massachusetts, about 150 miles from Adams, also in 1888. The new entity became known as Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett didn't care about the history.

What Buffett cared about was that Seabury Stanton broke his word.

Warren Buffett got interested in Berkshire Hathaway because it was failing. As mills closed, Buffett figured there would be a tender offer and he could make a profit on the stock. In 1962, Buffett started buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway for his investment fund at $7.50 per share. By 1964, Buffett had accumulated enough Berkshire Hathaway shares to own 7% of the company. He offered to sell his shares back to Berkshire Hathaway at $11.50 per share. Buffett spoke with Berkshire Hathaway Manager Seabury Stanton and the two men made a deal.

But when Buffett received the tender offer in writing from Stanton, the share price offered was $11.375 per share. Buffett still has the letter, and as he read it during an interview 48 years later, he remembered how it made him feel: "He (Stanton) chiseled me for an eighth... This made me mad." Buffett bought even more of the stock – at a higher price – to take control of the company and fire Stanton.

Over the years, Buffett has said many times that this was a poor business decision. In 2010 Buffett told CNBC that his action cost him $200 billion over the long run: "I committed a major amount of money to a terrible business."

So what motivated him? Why did he decide to go after Stanton and take Berkshire Hathaway for himself?

Buffett's easygoing, self-deprecating style and his chuckle at the memory make it easy to forget that one letter led him to fire two generations of a family, change life for hundreds of employees, and launch a company that changed the course of American finance. But his lesson is clear: When someone breaks their word, get angry and take their job.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

_________________________

Have you ever gotten mad enough at a perceived injustice to do something about it, even if it cost you something important? Drop me a line – I’m curious!

_________________________ 

Open-Source Learning is yours. Free. Get the white paper here. Use what works and customize whatever you need, however you want. I’m here to help.

_________________________

Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click HERE to unlock your free membership subscription. 

Here is a taste of what I’m doing, reading, watching, and thinking about.

What I’m Listening To –

Public Enemy Fight the Power. The Isley Brothers Fight the Power, Pts. 1 & 2.

What I’m Reading –

I'm rereading one of my favorite books, Heart of the World by Ian Baker. My own trip to Tibet changed my life forever. Baker's journey to the Tsangpo Gorge is a reminder that the places we explore are out there, but our ability to explore them – or even see what's right in front of us – are the direct result of the work we do in here. From a 2006 review in The Independent: "Ian Baker has lived in Nepal for over 20 years, and dedicated much of that time to Tibetan Buddhism. He understands the teaching - that to gain access to paradise one must seek out the beyuls, or hidden-away lands. The more inaccessible the beyul, the more illuminating the paradise it conceals. And it seems that at the eastern end of the Himalayas, obscured by a vast waterfall in the remote Tsangpo Gorge, lies one of the greatest of all such sanctuaries. After much time spent interviewing lamas and leafing through obscure Tantric texts, the author at last located the bottom of the forbidding gorge - and so discovered, he tells us, the legendary grail of both Western explorers and Tibetan seekers. Thus he completed a journey begun more than a hundred years earlier."

What I’m Watching –

I was glad to see The Pitt come back for a second season on HBO. I like The Pitt because it reminds me of what good TV can do. Apparently I'm not alone, as Sophie Gilbert reports in The Atlantic (gift article): "There’s simply no way to watch The Pitt and feel good about the way society is currently functioning. Which is the point. The show can be funny, the camaraderie among the characters is gratifying, and the doctors are extraordinarily good-looking in the way only TV doctors can be. But in a moment when most series seem intent on keeping us mindlessly half-engaged and monetizing the minutes we watch, there’s something inherently satisfying about a series that actually wants us to think. And, even more crucially, to care."

Quote I’m pondering –

The heaviest weight at the gym is the front door.

- Ed Latimore

Thank you for reading! This publication is a lovingly cultivated, hand-rolled, barrel-aged, ad-free, AI-free, 100% organic, anti-algorithm, zero calorie, high protein, completely reader-supported publication that is not paid to endorse any political party, world religion, sports team, product or service. Please help keep it going by buying my book, hiring me to speak, or becoming a paid subscriber, which will also entitle you to upcoming web events, free consultations, discounted merchandise, and generally being the coolest person your friends know:

Best,

Know someone who is also Curious AF? Please share this edition with them!

David Preston

Educator & Author

​https://davidpreston.net​

Latest book: ACADEMY OF ONE