Warren Buffett on Elon Musk: Genius or Overconfident? | Berkshire Hathaway 2023
[Transcript]
MAX JOA
I have a question for Charlie regarding a statement you made in the past.
You once mentioned that you’d prefer to hire someone with an IQ of 130 who believes it’s 120, over someone with the IQ of 150 who thinks it’s 170.
I understand that you are referring to Elon Musk. (LAUGHTER)
Given the recent success of his ventures, such as Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink, I’m curious to know if you still hold the view that Elon Musk overestimates himself. Thank you so much. (APPLAUSE)
CHARLIE MUNGER
Well, yes. I think Elon Musk overestimates himself. But he has a — he is very talented. So, he’s overestimating somebody who doesn’t need to overestimate to be very talented.
WARREN BUFFETT
There’s a Bill Maher program, about a week old, maybe two weeks old.
But he interviews Elon. And Elon does a terrific job toe-to-toe with Bill Maher. It’s worth watching.
And Elon is — he’s a brilliant, brilliant guy. And I would say that, you know, he might score over 170.
But he — you know, it’s — he dreams about things. And his dreams have got a foundation.
CHARLIE MUNGER
He would not have achieved what he has in life if he hadn’t tried for unreasonably extreme objectives.
He likes taking on the impossible job and doing it. We’re different, Warren and I. Warren and I are looking for the easy job that we can identify. (LAUGHTER)
WARREN BUFFETT
Yeah. If we can do it playing tic-tac-toe, we’ll do it, you know? (LAUGHS)
CHARLIE MUNGER
We have a totally different way of going about it.
WARREN BUFFETT
But we don’t want to compete with Elon in a lot of things.
CHARLIE MUNGER
We don’t want that much failure.
WARREN BUFFETT
Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Yeah.
And it takes over your life in a way that it just doesn’t fit us. But there are going to be — well, there have been important things done by Elon already. And it requires — fanaticism isn’t the word.
CHARLIE MUNGER
Yeah. It is the word.
WARREN BUFFETT
OK. (LAUGHTER)
Well, it isn’t quite the word. But it’s a dedication to solving the impossible. And every now and then, he’ll do it. But it would be torturous to me or Charlie. And I like the way I’m living. And I wouldn’t enjoy being in his — but he wouldn’t enjoy being in my shoes, either.
Watch the Bill Maher interview.
(Source: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2023-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/)
~ Please visit the site above for full video of Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.
[YAPSS Takeaway]
There is a different path to success, find one that best suits you.
