His Time is Past

Warren Buffett on how to prevent corporate scandals:

So, at Berkshire, let's start with what is legal, but always go on to what we would feel comfortable about being printed on the front page of our local paper, and never proceed forward simply on the basis of the fact that other people are doing it.

I first read Warren Buffett’s quirky missives during the late1970’s. His life is a good example of the persistence of character. He always charted an independent path and owned up to his mistakes, yet never lost faith in his judgment, which he backed with cold, hard cash. Infusing all his actions is a humility born from his religious beliefs and the chastening lessons of a long life.

Warren Buffett says that the fact that “other people are doing it” doesn’t make it right, echoing the words of millions of parents. But really, how are people these days supposed to chart a moral path? Most of the issues facing us are colored with shades of gray, like whether to answer truthfully to an employee that he might be on a layoff list, or how much financial assistance you should offer your adult child, or whether you should object to an off-color joke told by one of your friends, or whether you should give a dollar to a plainly drug-addicted mendicant.

The best defense against venality is virtue, said the ancients. We know that enforcing good behavior through the passage of laws and hiring of cops is costly. We know that doing the right thing should be voluntary and not prompted by the fear of punishment. Yet, as the authority of religion subsides, our culture acknowledges no higher power than itself. “Other people are doing it” is in fact the truth behind the power. Poor Warren Buffett: his time is past. © 2006 Stephen Yuen