Aswath Damodaran: Don’t Put Great Investors On A Pedestal!

In this short Q&A session, Aswath Damodaran discusses a number of topics including why you should not put great investors on a pedestal. Here’s an excerpt from the session:

I tell people that the person you need to most understand to be a good investor is yourself. I tell people read less, think more, understand where you’re coming from, what makes you uncomfortable, what makes you comfortable.

So are there people I admire?

There are dimensions of people I admire. I admire Warren Buffett’s core philosophy… that he’s been faithful to that philosophy.

If you look at George Soros I admire his macro focus. There are things that people do that I admire. I admire Mike Mauboussin’s bringing together different disciplines. I admire people you know parts of what people do but there are other parts that I feel open about disagreeing with.

I can admire Warren Buffett and also say he was wrong when he sold airline stocks based on what I thought was very empty reasoning.

So I think you can admire people and disagree with them, don’t put them on a pedestal!