"When others were acting and reacting to the stock market, Buffett was standing strong in his decisions."
This is a continuation of the last post on Warren Buffett, in that it talks about self discipline in the area of business leadership. Most people in leadership do far too much, whereas inactivity can most the time be the wisest choice to make.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) was built more from doing nothing, than it was from doing something.
We'll take this to the level of those that react to the endless number of scenarios that come their way throughout the day. Life may be full of endless drama for some, but in business leadership it shouldn't be. The more activity there is, the less foundation there is that has been laid.
Business leaders must have an iron stomach. We can't follow every wind of disapproval and idea that enters into the fray. If we did (and many do), we would be all over the place in our businesses.
Once a decision is made, based upon the best information available, we should then stick to it so hard that only a huge space in our thinking or information would cause us to change. And even there we must be cautious in how much.
The key to all of this is in trusting we've done our homework, and the decision we made based on it. Once that's locked in, only the most extreme of circumstances, or someone possibly seeing a hole in our thinking processes or available information, should allow us to change our minds.
Most of the time, the original decision we make is the right one. I've seen this proved time after time with a variety of busienss leaders. Even when they've eventually been convinced they made a decision that needs to be changed, they usually will slowly, stubbornly come around to making the change. This is as it should be.
Of course there can always be the occasional exception where people hold onto something out of pure stubborness, and they go down with the corporate ship. But that is usually a character flaw, not a normal way of doing business.
For great business leaders, they take the available information and input, and make a quick decision. Once it's made, it takes extraordinary circumstances to get them to change. The great majority of time that's a healthy thing for business.
We need to stand in our decisions in order to give them a chance to work. That simply takes time, there's no way of getting around it.
Other Buffett Resources:
Warren Buffett: The trouble with being a legend
Warren Buffett: 'I told you so'
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