Buffett Explains Why Communication is So Important

Last week Fox Business ran a special named Buffett U which brought together a bunch of business school students from the top schools across the country to Warren Buffett’s headquarters in Omaha. I searched the Fox Business site for the video from the event but all I found was a couple of very short clips.

During the event one of the students asked what Buffett would change in business schools with regards to the education provided to the students. Buffett explained that he believed that communication skills (both verbal and written) aren’t taught to grad school students because he believes the institutions believe it’s, "beneath them". He went on to say, "your ability to convey your ideas to others will be an enormous determinant to your success".

I completely agree with Buffett regarding how important communication skills are. I required all of my staff over the past 15 years to spend time speaking in public – to clients, to our team, etc. Typically I would get pushback from developers who said that they were just sitting behind a desk coding and didn’t need to learn how to properly communicate. That excuse never held water with me because while a developer may sit behind a desk today, what about tomorrow?

Look at how many people are losing their jobs on a daily basis lately. What if that developer loses his/her job tomorrow and needs to find a new job. How important are good communication skills when you are trying to beat out 10,000 other developers for a job? Or what about when you want to pitch your startup to investors? How important are communication skills (again, written and verbal) at that moment?

Buffett explained that he took a Dale Carnegie class when he was very young because he was very afraid to speak in front of people (he actually met his wife at the class). Another popular course for public speaking is Toastmasters. There are also plenty of courses at local colleges around public speaking in the evenings or on the weekend. The ability to communicate with an audience is something that will return benefits for the rest of your life.