Why We Work: The Warren Buffett Edition
Warren Buffett announced recently that he will step down from the CEO position at Berkshire Hathaway by the end of the year. Buffett is 94 years old right now and has been working in the same field basically forever.
So why did Buffett work so long? Why didn’t he retire earlier? What gave him the drive to work for almost all of his adult life (70+ years)?
Direct answers to these questions are hard to come by. But people have speculated. And the speculations point to two main reasons. First, Buffett loves what he does. Even if he retires, he would end up doing what he does now to pass time. So “work” doesn’t feel like work to him. Second, Buffett feels a sense of obligation towards Berkshire shareholders to continue working and giving them the best returns his company can.
So what does it mean for our quest to find why we work? I believe we found two new reasons: 1) Craftsmanship and 2) Obligation
Craftsmanship
When people spend their life perfecting a skill, it is hard to let go. They derive satisfaction from using their skill (and continuing to improve on it) to do something in the real world. But note the difference. Doing something because you enjoy doing it is not the same as doing it just because you have been doing it so long that it is tied to your identity, you have become good at it and you are getting paid a ton to do it. A true craftsman would enjoy the craft even if it doesn’t pay well, it doesn’t help his/her ego etc. I would put Warren Buffett and the legendary sushi chef Jiro Ono in this category.
Obligation
A friend of mine, who is a leader in a big firm, told me that he works because he cares about his team. He wants to make sure the team has a good mentor, has someone who has their back and who is invested in their growth. In other words, he feels obligated to do well by them as long as he can. He had good mentors early in his career and he feels obligated to do his part.
But obligations can come in other forms. Obligation can be towards your immediate or extended family, which can cause people to work longer than they would otherwise need to, because they need to have a larger financial cushion.
Like Buffett, I am sure you know other founder CEOs who have lingered in their companies long after it made sense. Obligation is a noble reason to work, but it is also a double-edge sword. If the work for obligation, will you do as good a job vs if you were working for other reasons?
We covered a lot of ground on why people work in this post and the previous one. What else is missing?