Sample Essay On A Famous Person You Admire Essay : Warren Buffet

The person I admire most in this world is Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Holdings. He is among the three wealthiest people in the world with a net worth estimated at more than $87 Billion (Loudenback 2018). My admiration for Mr. Buffet is based on his long and prosperous career in investments, his discipline, philanthropy, and leadership. A brief history of Warren Buffet shows a determined man who uses his business acumen to revolutionize the idea of investments and transform a rundown textile mill, Berkshire into the largest holding companies in the world (Finkle).

Buffet was born during the great depression in 1930 to Leila Stahl Buffet and Howard Buffet in Omaha, Nebraska. Even at a young age, he had enthusiasm for business and investments. He began working at his grandfather's grocery store and started saving the money. In 1945, he opened a small business in Omaha with one pinball machine and expanded it later into an arcade (Loudenback 2018). The profits from this venture allowed him to buy forty acres of land, which he leased for more profits. He did not have a passion for education, but his father pressured him, and after being rejected by Harvard University, he completed his graduate degree at Columbia University.

His investment model and career began hereafter he interacted with his then professor and mentor, Benjamin Graham. Many in the business community regard Benjamin Graham as the father of value investing (Finkle 2). However, after learning from him, Buffet was dissatisfied and sought to improve on the concept of value investing. His solution included understanding the business model, processes, and management. He stipulated that there is more to a company than the value of assets, especially, the value of management and the company's competitive advantage (Finkle 2).

He began his private business by building partnerships with his friends and family to mitigate the loss of investment funds. Throughout the early years, he remained disciplined and reinvested the profits taking home a modest salary. At age 30, he decided to merge all his partnerships, and this made him a millionaire. In 1962, he joined with one of his friends, Charlie Munger and bought a dying textile mill, Berkshire Hathaway. He employed his business acumen, financial resources, and leadership to make the mill profitable. However, he realized that manufacturing in America was doomed and began correcting course. Parts of the company were sold gradually, and by 1987, Berkshire Hathaway had sold off all the textile mills and taken up insurance provision (John 184).

Some of the best investments he made were buying a 12% stake in Salomon Incorporated and became its largest shareholder, steering it through tough times in the 1990s. He also acquired a 7% stake in Coca Cola for $1.02 billion, and this has grown over the years to make him billions. He also bought a stake in the Washington Post for $11 million and held on despite the hard times only to sell it four decades later for $1.1 billions of dollars (Loudenback 2018). Mr. Buffet is no stranger to failure, but his values and leadership inspire his employees to achieve better results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Warren Buffet is known to value honesty and transparency in all affairs, and he owns up to his failures. Most of all, he believes in the concept of autonomy to give people room for growth. In all companies he acquires, he studies the management, and their competitive advantage then allows them the independence of operations (Northouse 195). It is because of this that Berkshire Hathaway has managed to remain successful for decades. Another thing to admire about him is his pledge to donate 85% of his wealth to charity (Finkle 10). He is an inspirational man who has achieved more than would be expected of anyone in a single lifetime.

Work Cited

Finkle, Todd A. "Warren E. Buffett: Entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist." (2017).

John, Waseem. "The Deals of Warren Buffett: The First $100 m."FIIB Business Review7.3 (2018): 184-185.

Loudenback, Tanza. "24 Mind-Blowing Facts about Warren Buffett and His $87 Billion Fortune.”Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Aug. 2018, 

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Sage).

 

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