It all started last summer. Jeremiah Shackelford (class of 2008) received an invite from Mr. Warren Buffett’s team in response to his written request for meeting with the Oracle of Omaha. Jeremiah was kind enough to request the meeting on behalf of the Smeal and when his wish was granted, he sent an excited email to the class of 2009 asking to sign up for the 27 spots available (9 of which had to be women). This was the opportunity of a lifetime; to spend a whole day in Omaha, have a Q&A session with Mr. Buffett and go with him for lunch. Jeremy Reeh (class of 2009) and Ralph Vartan (class of 2008) helped plan the logistics and a batch of 27 students embarked on the dream journey to Omaha to meet the renowned Mr. Buffett.
After reaching Omaha (Feb 5th 2009), we huddled as a group and made a list of the possible questions that we had come up with and put them in numeric order to better conduct the Q&A. The visit on Feb 6th 2009 began with a trip to the Nebraska Furniture Mart, one of Mr. Buffett’s businesses. After being impressed with the Furniture Mart’s unique concept of maximizing selection while keeping prices low, we were ushered into Berkshire Hathaway’s office to see the Oracle. I cannot express my anxiety and restlessness as my heartbeat accelerated and my mind raced in anticipation of finally seeing Mr. Buffett. There were six other schools with 30 or so students from each school and the room was packed to capacity. Mr. Buffett welcomed all of us and got into the Q&A in round robin fashion. He helped soothe anxious nerves, showed confidence in the government, the FED’s anti-depression tactics, and the economic stimulus package and said that the economy would bounce back slowly but surely.
Soon after the Q&A, we were asked to join Mr. Buffett to lunch at the Piccolo’s (Steak house in Omaha) which is one of Mr. Buffett’s subsidiaries. Mr. Buffett also asked one student each from 4 schools to ride with him…in his Cadillac (yippee). I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to ride with Mr. Buffett, thanks to my classmates. This was a total rock-star moment in my life. Here was my icon, in flesh and blood, sitting so close to me and having a candid conversation about life and family, including questions like “where all of us were originally from”, “what actors and sport-stars (including Tony Romo) Mr. Buffett associated with”. I had to make most of this opportunity while ably representing Penn State. I asked him two questions; one was how he handled disparity between meeting with groups of MBAs like us for free and meeting entrepreneurs from the rest of the world who pay him more than handsomely for his time. He said that he has the same conversations with everyone, and the money ultimately goes to charity. At some point I asked him if he had any prophecies about the next big investment, the next big growth oriented sector. Although he did not answer that question he did hint at keeping a track of the companies he is buying. The car ride was short but those few minutes will remain etched in my being forever. After a scrumptious lunch at Piccolos’ we were treated to photo opportunity with Mr. Buffett. Finally the day concluded with a visit to Borsheim’s jewelers (Mr. Buffett’s subsidiaries) and an evening of excited banter amongst the group.
The most important take away for me from the trip was that Mr. Warren Buffett displays extreme humility in spite of being the world’s richest person and the smartest one too. He drives his own car, lives in the same house as he used to 50 some years ago, he spends one whole day every couple of months or so with a host of students and talks to them like they were his family. I am not sure if I will be 1/100th as successful as he is at his age but I hope I can have the same compassion, simplicity and honesty as Mr. Buffett has. As I mentioned before, Mr. Buffett took individual pictures with all 150-170 students that came to meet him and that too as many pictures as one wanted and however they wanted it. Never once did he flinch or show any attitude. Although he is 78 years old, he was standing in the sun smiling and taking pictures with us and that to me is amazing in itself.
-Amishi Patel
Smeal MBA Class of 2009