The end of 2025 also marked the end of the epic 60-year reign of legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is placing his trust in successor Greg Abel, who will lead the $1.2 trillion empire. But the Oracle of Omaha leaves behind a wealth of knowledge, past learnings, wins and losses โ and sage career advice.ย
One piece of lasting wisdom from Buffett came during Berkshire Hathawayโs 2004 annual shareholdersโ meeting, when a 14-year-old boy from California posed a question.
โWhat advice would you give a young person like me on how to be successful?โ asked Justin Fong, a young shareholder at the time.ย
Buffett offered a simple, yet thought-provoking answer: โItโs better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours, and youโll drift in that direction.โ
This follows other common leadership advice: Surround yourself with people you admire. But Buffett took that advice one step further, saying young professionals should spend time with people who are โbetterโ than them, although he didnโt expand on what exactly that meant.ย
Still, Buffettโs former business partner, the late Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, echoed the sentiment.ย
โIf this gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, the hell with โem,โ Munger said.ย
Buffett said in his final shareholder letter this fall that heโd be โgoing quietโ after his retirement, but his endless career advice will continue to live on.
What other executives and researchers say about Buffettโs advice
Several other executives and successful businesspeople have given similar advice to younger generations: Spend time with people you wish to emulate.ย
Billionaire Virgin Atlantic cofounder Richard Branson wrote in a 2023 LinkedIn post that people should surround themselves with those who are โsmarter than you.โ
โGive them everything they need to grow, and your business will thrive,โ he continued.ย
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs also gave similar advice in a 1992 lecture, saying it just makes plain sense to hire smart people.
โIt doesnโt make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do,โ he said.ย
Academic research also shows it can be beneficial for working professionals to surround themselves with high-achievers. A 2017 study from Northwestern Universityโs Kellogg School of Management found that sitting within 25 feet of a high-performer improved coworkersโ speed or quality by up to 15%, generating an estimated $1 million in annual profits per firm.ย
โThe beautiful part of it is that when we put these people together, theyโre not going to materially suffer on the area of strength,โ said Dylan Minor, one of the researchers on the study and a former Kellogg faculty member. โTheyโre only going to improve on their area of weakness.โ
Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 tech workers for the study, and call this phenomenon โpositive spillover,โ but warned it can work in the opposite way, too.
โOnce a toxic person shows up next to you, your risk of becoming toxic yourself has gone up,โ Minor warned. With toxic workers, โwe see their imprint and negative effect across an entire floor.โ
Written by Sydney Lake for Fortune as โWarren Buffettโs career advice for young professionals: โHang out with people better than youโโ and republished with permission.
