Particularly with the advent of AI, strong communication skills have become even more critical to success in business. Even some of the biggest tech- and AI-focused companies in the world are shelling out million-dollar pay packages for people who can lead communications efforts at a high level.
And it’s a key skill Warren Buffett, one of the most legendary investors in history, firmly believes in.
“You’ve got to be able to communicate in life, and it’s enormously important,” the Oracle of Omaha said during a 2013 interview with Levo League, a career website for young women. “Schools, to some extent, under-emphasize that.”
Early in his career, at age 20, Buffett set out to conquer his fear of public speaking by enrolling in a Dale Carnegie course, which still exists today. Before the public speaking course, Buffett said he and the other students in the class were “terrified of getting up and saying our names.”
But over the course of his 60-year career at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became a prolific communicator and public speaker. In fact, his voice became one of the loudest in the finance world and had the power to move markets.
