WARREN BUFFETT - SIX TRAITS THAT LED THE GREAT MAN

 Warren Buffett stepped down on September 18, 2026 as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway at 96, a journey he began in 1970.  Early in Buffett's career, a member of a prominent Omaha family predicted over lunch that the young upstart would be broke within a year. Seventy years on, Bershire is up 6099.294%. The returns were the by-product. The character was always the point.

These are the six traits that made him great.

1.Rejection is not a verdict

Buffett was  certain of a seat at Harvard Business School. He had urged a friend to join him there, before he had even been accepted. A 10 minute interview ended it. He later called Harvard's rejection the pivotal episode of his life as it had guided him to his hero Benjamin Graham's classroom at Columbia.

Rejection today arrives faster and more publicly. Peers announce promotions you didn't get. Layoff lands by email.

Buffett's example is, a closed door is a measure of the target, not the archer, so re-aim

2. Audit your mistakes

He learned it at a very young age. 

Don't anchor on your purchase price. Don't grab a small profit to quiet your nerves.. Don't manage other people's money unless you are certain. Most of the people treat a  loss as bad luck and move on. Buffett treated it as tution and kept the notes.

3. Keep an inner score card

His father, Howard, judged himself only against his own standards. Buffett called him "a 100% inner scorecard guy" warning that anyone who lives for the world's opinion "will wind up with an Outer Scorecard."

The outer  scorecard displays, likes, followers and a screenshot of gains on the stock you .skipped.

He didn't get into the dotcom boom. He was ridiculed for that. After two years he was proved right.  In an era that rewards looking right, he optimised for being right.

4. Want less; be patient

The Buffett family motto might have been "spend less than you make" and "don't go into debt." He lived for decades in the house he bought in 1958. He took a hamburger over anything fancier.

It isn't a statement on thrift. He never converted future income into present obligations. A man who needs little money is never forced into a bad decision to get more of it. Desperation is expensive. Someone carrying fixed costs cannot afford to wait, and waiting was Buffett's entire edge.

5. Be sceptical of incentives

Buffett remembered a question put to him, "What stock do you like," forever. The rule he framed for himself was,"praise by name, criticise by category." He was sceptical of incentives. "Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut," was a line that had been most useful to him. His principle was to listen politely and then ask who gets paid if you say yes to those who solicit business promising quick returns

6. Find your Charlie Munger

Everyone needs at least one sparring partner sharp enough to say "that's a dumb idea," and trusted enough to be heard.

Buffett's most valuable partnership began with long phone calls to Charlie Munger, lawyer at    Los Angeles. When Munger's wife asked why he paid such attention to this Omaha fellow, Munger replied,"That is no ordinary human being."

For six decades, Munger's real job was not to agree with Buffett. It was to tell him when he was wrong. Buffett credited him with the habit of studying failures, instead of admiring successes. 

Krishnan Ranganathan writes in The Times of India of October 1, 2026.