During the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, Warren Buffett reflects on the responsibility of public figures, particularly wealthy individuals, when sharing opinions on public policy.
He acknowledges his own involvement in issues like campaign finance reform and taxes but tries to limit his public commentary to avoid the perception of “I’m rich, therefore I’m right.”
Buffett finds it unattractive when celebrities or wealthy people express opinions on everything, fearing overexposure and loss of credibility. While he admits to having strong opinions and occasionally sharing them, he believes it’s important to maintain a balance and not overstep into areas outside of one’s expertise.
Here’s an excerpt from the meeting:
Buffett: On the public policy question, what I did on September 11th, when Jack Welch and Bob Rubin and I went on there, you know, I will do those things occasionally. I’ve written some op-ed pieces. I think — and I get tempted very often, in fact I’ve written some that I haven’t sent in.
But I do think that there’s something unattractive about a very rich guy that pops off on everything. And you may think, by listening to us today that you’ve got two guys up here that do like to pop off on everything. And we do have opinions on almost everything.
But I just think there are some things I get — you know, I wrote on campaign finance reform, and I’ve written on taxes. And I will do more of that, but I do try to hold myself in check, somewhat, because there’s a little bit of, you know, this, “I’m rich, therefore I’m right”-type stuff that I don’t think sits very well.
And I know when I see it in other people I don’t like it that, you know, “I’m a celebrity therefore, you know, you got to listen to me on everything that I say.”
It just — it turns me off at some point. But like I say, I have done it, and there could be occasions — and there will be occasions — I’m sure, when I’ll cross my threshold level and figure I really want to say something and people can ignore it or otherwise.
And — but I think there’s some danger of overexposure on that sort of thing, and I think you’ve seen it with certain people.
You can watch the entire discussion here:
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