Collection: Charlie Munger - #129 'How Did The Army Influenced Him?'
[Transcript]
ANDY SERWER 00:00
So I want to ask you just a question or two about growing up. And you were at the University of Michigan. And you dropped out and joined the army, right?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:08
I certainly did. And we all did in those days.
ANDY SERWER 00:12
Yes, so how did that – did the army influence you?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:16
Well, everything influences you in your past life. Yes, of course that influenced me. I never wanted to be in a big bureaucracy. I was well toward the bottom. I finally got to be a Second Lieutenant in the Army. I was way down in the ranks. And nobody gave a damn what I thought about any subject. It just gave me a little job to do and I was supposed to do it. And of course, I didn't like that as well as having a freer rein to control my own destiny, and so on. So I am much better adapted to being a capitalist operator than I am to being a cog in a bureaucracy.
ANDY SERWER 00:55
Did you ever get in trouble in the army?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:57
Of course.
ANDY SERWER 00:57
Tell us about that.
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:59
Well, my senior officers could tell I thought they were wrong. And I tried to hide it. And they could still tell. And so, of course it – I never got in any serious trouble, but they – who in the hell likes a junior officer, you look over there and he's plainly indicating that he thinks you're an idiot?
ANDY SERWER 01:22
So that didn't work out too well.
CHARLIE MUNGER 01:24
Well, it worked out all right. I did my work well enough so they didn't bother me. But it was not a milieu where I was going to succeed.
ANDY SERWER 01:33
Right.
(Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/influencers-transcript-charlie-munger-105001910.html)
