Strategic Discipline Blog

Verne Harnish’s newsletter of May 9^th provided a 7-minute video of a young man asking Warren Buffet a curious question, “If you had one more day with Charlie, what would you do with him?”

Verne suggested going to 6:57 for the true insight.

Choose who you would like to spend a day with and start meeting them now, or tomorrow, and find a way to spend more time with them and not others you’re spending time with. Who is that person for you?

This 7-minute video provides his lengthy answer to if he had one more day with Charlie, what he would have said/done. Warren Buffet: If I Had One More Day With Charlie Munger (2024 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting)

Charlie Munger through Chet Holmes

My discovery of Charlie Munger came through Chet Holmes The Ultimate Sales Machine, Turbocharge Your Business With Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies. Charlie Munger called Chet Holmes, “America’s greatest sales and marketing Executive.” I shared my experience with Chet Holmes in Pigheaded Discipline and Determination - Chet Holmes - New Orleans Growth Summit.

Chet Holmes's “Dream 100” idea helped generate leads for my business.

The biggest impact Chet had on my life was his passing in 2012. Holmes and I both had Leukemia in 2012. At the time Chet Holmes passed, on August 12, 2012, I hadn’t quite conquered my journey through Cancer. I was well on my way there after a clinical trial miraculously eliminated it, despite the doctors estimating I had less than a 2% survival. Two weeks after his passing I shared my reaction in One Thing – Chet Holmes Passing of Leukemia. It is humbling to realize I was delivered from AML when someone like Holmes succumbed to it.

Chet Holmes inspired me. Charlie Munger must have inspired Chet.

Warren Buffett is a regular fixture on rich lists, while Charlie Munger rarely appeared on them.

Munger would have been worth over $10 billion if he kept all his Berkshire Hathaway stock.

Munger sold or donated more than 75% of his shares since 1996.

Warren Buffett’s 2023 Shareholder Letter
In Verne’s March 1^st Newsletter he recommended reading the one-page tribute to his long-time partner Charlie Munger, which opens Warren Buffett’s annual letter to his shareholders, released last weekend. He refers to Munger as the architect of Berkshire Hathaway and recalls the advice Munger provided on how to fix the dumb mistake Warren made in buying Berkshire – buy better companies for a fair price instead of fair companies for a better price! Much wisdom in that one-pager. Then read the 16-page letter for more wisdom including his admonishment of financial pundits.

Reading just the first page of Buffet’s annual letter to shareholders, tell me if you don’t your takeaway doesn’t include this advice I received from a good friend last week:

FIND YOURSELF A CATO “We can remove most sins if we have a witness standing by as we are about to go wrong. The soul should have someone it can respect, by whose example it can make its inner sanctum more inviolable. Happy is the person who can improve others, not only when present, but even when in their thoughts!” —SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 11.9

Charlie Munger was Warren Buffet’s CATO!

Do you have a friend who never reminds you of your mistakes?

Meet Them Through Books
Back to the question this young man asked Warren Buffet. Buffet reversed the question, asking him, whom he would like to learn more from, and whom he should ask to lunch.

Buffett emphasized that Charlie felt he had “met” everyone he ever wanted to meet – including Ben Franklin. No, Charlie wasn’t that old, but Buffett noted that Charlie did it through books.

Ask yourself, Who do you want to learn from?

My pursuit of learning didn’t begin until I started my career in radio sales. It’s allowed me to meet and learn from famous people like Abraham Lincoln who I shared in Team of Rivals – Lincoln’s Leadership Genius

Chet Holmes, Verne Harnish, Shannon Susko, Steve Jobs, Jim Collins, these are a few of the names of authors, leaders, influencers, and history makers I’ve learned from, and continue to learn from as I develop my skills in coaching and helping the businesses I work with develop and grow their businesses.

In How to Defeat Adversity & Achieve Your Goals I shared how Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet invest an excessive amount of time reading. The reason they do? To prevent them from making the same errors and suppositions others have.

Who can you learn from?

Can a coach be your witness to prevent you from making mistakes?

To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact Positioning Systems to schedule a free exploratory meeting.

Let’s help you to turn your business into a growth organization!  

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Successful business leaders seldom have all the answers. That’s the lesson from What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential, by Harvard Professor Robert Steven Kaplan. 90 percent of the battle is being able to step back and take the time to ask the right questions—questions that help you figure out how to gain insight, regroup, and move forward. Next blog we explore What to Ask the Person in the Mirror.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $500M+) businesses Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – What to Ask the Person in the Mirror