In the 1994 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting, Charles Munger discussed the idea of keeping your thinking simple. Here’s an excerpt from the meeting:
WARREN BUFFETT: Some businesses are a lot easier to understand than others. And Charlie and I don’t like difficult problems. I mean, we — if something is hard to figure, you know, we’d rather multiply by three than by pi. I mean it’s just easier for us. (Laughter)
Charlie, you have any —?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, that is such an obvious point. And yet so many people think if they just hire somebody with the appropriate labels they can do something very difficult. That is one of the most dangerous ideas a human being can have.
All kinds of things just intrinsically create problems. The other day I was dealing with a problem and I said, this thing — it’s a new building — and I said this thing has three things I’ve learned to fear: an architect, a contractor, and a hill. (Laughter)
And — if you go at life like that, I think you, at least, make fewer mistakes than people who think they can do anything by just hiring somebody with a label.
WARREN BUFFETT: We don’t comment — excuse me, go ahead.
CHARLIE MUNGER: You don’t have to hire out your thinking if you keep it simple.
You can watch the meeting here:
Berkshire Hathaway 1994 Shareholder Meeting
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