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Today marks the end of legendary investor Warren Buffett’s epic 60-year reign as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. It’s Buffett put his trust in his successor, Greg Abelwho will lead a $1.2 trillion empire. But the Oracle in Omaha leaves behind a wealth of knowledge, past learnings, wins and losses—and sage career advice.
A piece of lasting career advice from Buffett came during the 2004 annual meeting of shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, when a 14-year-old boy from California asked.
“What advice would you give to a young person like me on how to be successful?” asked Justin Fong, a young shareholder at the time.
Buffett offers a simple, but thought-provoking answer: “It’s better to hang out with people who are better than you. Choose associates whose morals are better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
This follows other common leadership advice: surround yourself with people you admire. But Buffett took the advice a step further, saying that young professionals should spend time with people who are “better” than them, though he didn’t expand on exactly what that meant.
However, Buffett’s former business partner and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger echoed the sentiment.
“If it gives you a little bit of temporary unpopularity with your peer group, to hell with ’em,” Munger said.
Buffett said his final shareholder letter this fall he will “go quiet” after his retirement, but his timeless career advice will live on.
What other executives and researchers are saying about Buffett’s advice
Many other executives and successful entrepreneurs have given the same advice to the younger generation: spend time with people you want to follow.
Billionaire Virgin Atlantic cofounder Richard Branson wrote in 2023 LinkedIn post that people should surround themselves with people who are “smarter than you.”
“Give them everything they need to thrive, and your business will thrive,” he continued.
Apple Cofounder Steve Jobs also gave similar advice in a 1992 lecture, saying it makes sense to hire smart people.
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do,” he said.
Academic research also shows that it can be beneficial for working professionals to surround themselves with high achievers. A 2017 study by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management found that sitting within 25 feet of a top performer improved the speed or quality of coworkers by up to 15%, generating an estimated $1 million in annual revenue per company.
“The beautiful part of this is that when we put these people together, they don’t suffer materially in terms of strength,” said Dylan Minor, one of the study’s researchers and a former Kellogg faculty member. “They will only improve in their area of weakness.”
Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 technology workers for the study, and called this phenomenon “positive spillover,” but also warned that it can also work in the opposite way.
“Once a toxic person shows up next to you, your risk of becoming toxic yourself increases,” Minor warns. With toxic workers, “we see their mark and negative impact all over the floor.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
