Warren Buffett’s Formula for Success: One Good Decision Every Five Years

I am quoted in the Wall Street Journal:

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland’s business school, rattled off some more, from railroads (Burlington Northern) to razors (Gillette). But at the top of his list was the transformative investment that Mr. Buffett has called his first business love. 

This romance began in 1951, when Mr. Buffett learned that his professor and intellectual hero Benjamin Graham was chairman of Geico and rode the train from New York to Washington to visit its corporate headquarters. He arrived on a Saturday morning only to discover that Geico’s employees weren’t in the habit of working on Saturday mornings. Finally, a custodian heard Mr. Buffett pounding on the doors and not only let him inside but introduced him to the other person in the office, which is how the eager young student found himself receiving an education in the insurance business from the CEO. 

The compassion of a weekend janitor would alter the course of business history, as Mr. Buffett’s investment in Geico began his lifelong fascination with insurance.