Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

ARE YOU A STAR PERFORMER OR JUST AVERAGE? 29
Nebraska for his B.A. He later received a M.S. in Economics from
Columbia University.
Buffett’s initiative, confidence, and interest in business were
apparent at an early age. He fi led his first tax return at 13 while
working in his grandfather’s grocery store and deducted his watch
and bicycle as expenses for his newspaper route. At 15 years old
he and a friend paid $25 for a pinball machine to be placed in a
barbershop, and within months they had three pinball machines in
different barbershops. Buffett uses his history as a measuring stick
to determine a manager’s passion for business. He says he can tell
more about a manager’s success if he had a lemonade stand as a
child than by where he went to college. This is an indication of passion
and love of business for him. 24
To amass his empire Buffett fi rst had to gain partnerships and
trust with other companies and then manage those under him. Buffett’s
ability to accomplish these tasks demonstrates many of the
competencies of Emotional Intelligence. Early in his career he took
a Dale Carnegie course, considered one of the first true leadership
training programs and full of EI concepts and skills. Buffett credits
this training with giving him the confidence and people skills to
teach investment principles at the University of Nebraska to people
twice his age. (Building Bonds)
One of the competencies that Warren Buffett is known for is
his hands-off management style. It is his belief that if you fi nd the
right managers and deal with them correctly, companies can run
themselves. Buffett knows that the people who run the companies
he owns understand the social and logistical makeup of those companies
better than he does. They were hired to run them due to
their aptitude for running the type of companies that they are in
charge of. When Jim Kilts came out of retirement to turn Gillette
around as its CEO, Buffett paid what Kilts considered the ultimate
compliment. He resigned from Gillette’s board and said, “If you have
the right person running the business then you don’t need me.” 25
(Developing Others)