What Separates Successful People From Everyone Else Comes Down to 3 Words
Warren Buffett (forbes)
Warren Buffett shares another classic piece of advice on becoming successful
In a 2019 interview with Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer, Warren Buffett shared that achieving success comes down to three words: Invest in yourself.
Buffett says investing in growing yourself is the sure way to become worth 50 percent more one year from now. More specifically, Buffett said it’s investing in mastering your written and verbal communication skills.
The Oracle of Omaha said: “If you can’t communicate, it’s like winking at a girl in the dark—nothing happens.” In other words, you can be super smart and talented, but you won’t get as far as you want if you can’t communicate effectively and persuade people with the spoken word.
“Everybody has potential they haven’t used yet”
Buffett understands the importance of investing in mastering communication—especially public speaking, which he once found terrifying. However, everything changed for him after he took a Dale Carnegie Training course in public speaking. Here’s his explanation in Forbes:
Invest in yourself. Address whatever you feel your weaknesses are, and do it now. I was terrified of public speaking when I was young. I couldn’t do it. It cost me $100 to take a Dale Carnegie course, and it changed my life. I got so confident about my new ability, I proposed to my wife during the middle of the course. It also helped me sell stocks in Omaha, despite being 21 and looking even younger. Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself—and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet. If you can increase your potential 10%, 20% or 30% by enhancing your talents, they can’t tax it away. Inflation can’t take it from you. You have it the rest of your life.
I’d say he’s cashed in pretty well on that $100 investment. And likewise, your communication skills may just be your own ticket to success.
As an executive coach, I’ve observed many self-destructive habits in intelligent and well-meaning managers who struggle with communication.
I’m not only talking about speaking in public, in front of a team, or on a stage, although that’s important too, depending on the role you play. Communication takes many forms, and we need to examine the obstacles to enhancing our communication ability, especially when it comes to interpersonal communication. Here are a few common problems I’ve seen:
• Lacking all the necessary information or failing to ask the right questions before making decisions.
• Communicating condescendingly—viewing colleagues as mere objects, rather than as valuable partners sharing a common goal.
• Speaking too quickly and impulsively, interrupting others, and neglecting their viewpoints in our haste to express ourselves.
• Failing to do regular check-ins to sit down with employees and assess their experiences.
• Avoiding the sharing of information. Information is power, and it’s one of the best ways to communicate openly and build trust in people.
The return on your investment
Think about the return on your investment if you decide to commit to better communication. Can you see the upside? Maybe research will nudge you forward. Several studies link financial success to how well you communicate. The Carnegie Institute of Technology conducted one piece of research I’ve cited in the past. It found that 85 percent of a person’s success comes from their “human engineering”—the ability to effectively communicate, negotiate, and lead, both when speaking and listening.
Another study published by the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice journal set out to find what small-business owners believed were the key factors in successful entrepreneurship. The top-ranked characteristics cited were oral communication and listening. The latter, by the way, is an area of communication severely lacking in remote work settings.
Let’s wrap up by returning to where we started. Warren Buffet’s lifelong pursuit of investing in himself and his communication skills should be an example to leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere. It might just be the secret sauce of your success.
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