Role Models
“It does pay to have the right [role] models. I was very lucky, early, very early in life, that I had certain heroes — and I've continued to develop a few more, as I've gone along — and they've been terrific. And they never let me down. It takes you through a lot. And I think that it just stands to reason that you copy, very much, the people that you do look up to, and particularly if you do it at an early enough age…. I think that it beats a whole lot of other things in life to have the right models around…. It influences your behavior. I’m convinced of that. You will want to be a little more, or a lot more, depending on your personality, like the person that you admire.” —Warren Buffett
2022 continues to be a year of volatility. The S&P 500 fell over 3% last week, and the Nasdaq fell about 4%.
If you're an investor, how you're handling this volatility depends on many factors. Some of it is personality. Some of it is your net worth. Much depends on your allocation: were you in growth or value stocks? And a lot of it also depends on how well you prepared ahead of time for the inevitable ups and downs of markets and market cycles.
Part of that preparation comes from studying history, including the businesses and investors that have navigated years and decades successfully. We quote Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger a little (okay, a lot) because they've been great teachers, to us and plenty of others, in understanding both business and investing.
And similar to the quote from Mr. Buffett above, Mark Leonard, CEO of Constellation Software, gave a talk in March using one of his business heroes, Roy Thomson, as an example. In the publicly available summary, for advice about achieving business success, Leonard gave the following advice:
Find yourself some business heroes.
Learn to distinguish good and bad businesses.
Watch out for growth market / large market head fakes
Sometimes they work out… but often they don’t
Look for or create enduring advantage
Earn some secrets.
Do the work (remember Roy’s 9‐year apprenticeship with “The Press” in Timmins, Ontario).
Whether it's business, investing, or other areas, finding the right heroes can make all the difference. And if you’re still looking, reading the back catalog of letters from people like Warren Buffett or Mark Leonard, or reading a book like Poor Charlie’s Almanack, are great places to start.
“Choosing your heroes is very important. I tell that to the students when they come. You are going to gravitate toward the behavior of those around you. I tell people to be sure and associate with people who are better than you are. Marry up and hope you find somebody that doesn’t mind marrying down.” —Warren Buffett
Quarterly Investor Letter Summaries and Watch List
We’ve heard from our Premium Members that one good investment idea a year will pay for their subscription many times over. To provide that worthwhile return on investment, we’ve compiled a summary of some of the most interesting investment ideas we’ve come across in Q3 investor letters, interviews, and presentations. While we don’t make specific recommendations, we hope these summaries save you time, and introduce you to an idea that you might not have come across otherwise.
In addition, we update our “watch list” monthly on the Premium Member website.
Tweets of the Week
In Case You Missed it…
Graham & Doddsville: Fall 2022
Why Great Investors Build Networks and Never Stop Learning with Alix Pasquet III (video)
Ideas That Changed My Life - by Morgan Housel
Founders Podcast: The Founder of Kinkos — Paul Orfalea
The Business Brew Podcast: Bob Robotti - Searching For Improving Industries
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