Bulletin No. 1, 2015

26   Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2015 The highlight of the meeting was the much anticipated question- and -answer session, during which the CUHK group asked Buffett what he thought of the Alibaba Group and tech-oriented companies as a whole, and what he learned from the worst business decision he has ever made. To the first question, Buffett’s reply indicated the little interest he ha s i n t he e - comme rce giant—in line with his stance toward social media giant s and the difficulty he sees in estimating their future value. To the second question, Buffett mentioned two bad deals he made while at Berkshire. One was not buying Microsoft early on. The other was when he bought a company called Dexter Shoe Inc. for US$433 million in the mid-1990s using Berkshire stocks rather than cash. Despite these mistakes, Buffett was quick to point out the futility of reflecting on ‘what might have been’. ‘For the mistakes I have made in past I don’t spend any time looking back. It is part of the game,’ he told the students. Buffett shared his investment philosophy with the students: Treat investment as a long- term objective. Marie Li , a full- time MBA student and a former investment analyst at a leading private equity firm in mainland China, recalled from his speech: ‘From Mr. Buffett’s perspective, investment and learning are long-term objectives. He focuses on the future earning power of portfolios and never changes his opinion about a stock because of the economic environment.’ As a successful business leader, Buffett also shared many useful tips with the future business leaders in the audience. Some of the take-home advice includes: Be confident, love what you do and do what you love, work hard on communication skills, trust people, be gracious, and give credits where credits are due. Gaurav Bhatnagar , a full-time MBA s tudent and a former business system analyst, re﹣ membered how Buffett’s advice on communication came in the form of an interesting anecdote: ‘While discussing the importance of good communication skills, he s aid, “I went through a terrible period myself. I was totally unable to speak when I was in public. When I was in high school I would do whatever to avoid reading. I went down one evening to enrol in Dale Carnegie’s course. I gave them a check. I came back, totally lost my nerves and cancelled the check. When I came back to Omaha I was 20 years old. Somewhere I knew I have to go in front of people and talk. I went again to enrol in the course, handed $100 in cash to them this time and took the course. It changed my life in a very big way…. One week during that course I proposed to a woman who would become my wife. She accepted. In my office it is the only diploma hanging on the wall.”’ Investment and Leadership Tips Burning Questions