First public account: No. 22 Soul
"Buffett turned out to be a feminist?"
When I watched Buffett's speech before, I thought he was an extroverted, humorous and confident person. When I watched Buffett's documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett", I found out that Buffett's nature is not like this, it was shaped by him after many years of hard work.
Laoba was a quiet child when he was a child, not very outstanding in the crowd. He's very smart, and in his puberty, he came across as a very intelligent, but gregarious genius (or a freak). He likes to deal with numbers, but he doesn't like to deal with people, because he said that the answer can always be found in the numbers. Human beings are really incomprehensible, especially girls. Does he feel a bit like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory?
Later his personality changed a lot as he met his first wife Suzy. He always said that his wife was a woman of sound personality and very good character. They raised three children, all more like their mother than him. Most of his time, he is immersed in his own world, thinking about various problems.
The appearance of his wife had a huge impact on him. Because Buffett is so famous, his wife Susie is overshadowed by his light, and many people don't know who she is and what she does. But after watching the documentary, I have a lot of admiration for this great woman. She is simply the light of humanity, and she is an uncompromising good person.
Suzy is an affirmative action fighter. She was involved in the black affirmative movement and took Buffett to a speech by Martin Luther King. After listening to this speech, Buffett was deeply inspired to realize that all men are created equal, and that blacks and whites are equally equal.
Of course, affirmative action is definitely not just between blacks and whites, she is also actively involved in the feminist movement. Buffett's attitude towards women is also extremely advanced. Buffett said this to his wife, he said, when will women in the world realize that they are all black slaves in this world. He said that his sisters, like him, are extremely smart people, but unfortunately they all got married and had children in the end. They could only help their husbands achieve careers, but they could only be confined to their families. He believes that this is caused by social culture. 50% of the people in this world have not exerted their ingenuity. This is a huge loss. If 50% of women in the world can shine, the world will be a better place.
The above words are the original words of Buffett in the documentary. When I saw this, I thought Laoba was a great person, definitely not because he made a lot of money, but because he was very advanced and open in his ideas. He's just a feminist
He himself practiced the idea of affirmative action for women. He recruited a large number of female employees and provided them with jobs without gender discrimination.
How important a good wife is. In addition to influencing Buffett's views on women, Susie also influenced Buffett's attitude towards money. Before, there was a huge difference in their views on money. Regarding the use of money, Buffett has made a lot of money. Buffett is passionate about money making money. He believes in the great effect of compound interest. He wants to invest all the money he earns and make more money. Susie founded a foundation. She is keen to participate in various public welfare activities and wants to use the money to help the poor.
At that time, they couldn't reach an agreement on viewpoints and separated (later there was an open relationship, small gossip). At that time, the children had grown up, and Suzy devoted herself to all kinds of public welfare activities. Laoba continued to make money and became prosperous.
After his wife died of a stroke, Buffett went through a very difficult time. Not long after Susie passed away, he made a very big decision. He decided to donate the vast majority of his fortune to charity. He donated a large sum of money to the foundation of Bill Gates and his wife, and to Susie's foundation for charity. When you fall in love with someone, you are willing to change for her, even after her death. When Susie was alive, Buffett did not do charity. After Susie died, Buffett decided to do charity. He wanted to use this way to commemorate his wife.
Next, share a letter Buffett wrote to women.
There's been a lot of writing about women and work lately, but in my opinion, there's a related and extremely important issue that hasn't been brought up. It's about America's future. And I'm not a qualified optimist about America's future. I've said something similar before, and now I'm going to make another point: a big reason why our prospects are so good is women.
Let me start by saying that since the founding of the nation in 1776, the progress of the United States has been astonishing and unprecedented. The secret is that under the political and economic system of the United States, human potential has been greatly released. As a result, Americans today enjoy an abundance of products and services that were unimaginable just a few centuries ago. But Americans are less than half, or almost half, at their potential. In many cases, the U.S. has used only half of its domestic talent on the way to success. No matter what abilities women have, most of the time in the history of the United States they have had to stand on the sidelines. It is only in recent years that the United States has begun to correct this mistake.
While the Declaration of Independence asserted that "all men are created equal," patriarchy soon became central to the U.S. Constitution. In Chapter II of the Constitution, all 39 male signatories to the Constitution repeatedly used "him" to refer to the President, which is natural. When playing poker, people refer to this situation as "showing off." Finally, in 1920, 133 years later, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution downplayed discrimination against women by granting women the right to vote. But the amendment did little to change American attitudes and behavior. Affected by this, 61 years after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court welcomed its first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, and 33 men have held this position before her. During those 61 years, the Supreme Court's absence of female justice candidates has been questioned, and the standard answer is simply "no qualified candidates." The attitude of voters is probably the same. In 1942, when my father became a member of the House of Representatives, there were only 8 women out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives; there was only 1 woman in the entire Senate, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine.
Once their own interests are impacted by changes, those in power will naturally resist. Such self-preservation behaviors abound in business and political circles, even in religious circles. After all, who would want to double the number of contenders for the top job? But a stronger opponent for change is the ingrained notion that some people just can't accept that the world around them is different.
My home is an example. I have an older sister and a younger sister. Both our parents and teachers thought the three of us were about the same aptitude, and the IQ test actually proved it. Plus, they both had a much higher "social IQ" than me for a long time. (We haven't tested this, but trust me, the evidence is solid on this one.) But from the moment I hit the ground running, I had more opportunities than either of them, just because I was a boy, and They are not, although they are smart and good-looking. Our parents poured the same love on us and our teachers gave us similar grades. But they are always told that "a good marriage" for them is success. Of course, this information is conveyed more by hints than words. At the same time, all I hear is that every opportunity in this world is beckoning to me.
And just like that, the minimum of me became the maximum of them, and it wasn't until decades ago that no one thought of changing that. Now, structural barriers against women are crumbling, thank goodness. For women, there's still a hurdle in the fact that too many women are constantly framing themselves and persuading themselves not to reach their full potential. I also have some personal experience with this.
I knew dozens of brilliant and attractive women, including the late Katherine Graham. She was the controlling shareholder and chief executive of The Washington Post for a long time. Catherine knew she was smart. But she was brainwashed - I don't like the word, but it fits. Brainwashing her includes her mother, her husband, and all sorts of men who believe in patriarchy, especially when it comes to careers.
After Katherine's husband died, some of the men around her tried to convince her that she was justified in feeling incompetent because it was in their own interest to do so. The pressure these people put on Katherine made her miserable. Luckily, Katherine is not only smart, but also mentally strong. With this strength, she put the words of these people behind her, and did not pass on what she had inherited to them.
Catherine and I met in 1973 and quickly discovered that she had a different ability and personality. But she also does doubt herself for gender reasons. She knows this very well, but there's a voice in her heart that says, "Men will always know more about running a business than you do," and she hasn't been able to quiet that voice. I told Katherine that she had to throw away the fun-hung mirror that others put in front of her and look at herself through the mirror that reflected reality. I said, "That way, you're going to see a woman who can match anyone, whether it's a man or a woman." I wish I could say that I succeeded at this point.
The reality is, of course, in my favor: During Katherine's 18 years in power, the Washington Post's stock price has risen more than 40-fold, from $1 to $40. In retirement, she wrote a remarkable autobiography for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. But she still has some doubts about herself, which shows how deeply this view of women's worthlessness can affect people, even prominent people. To my delight, encounters with this kind of fun mirror are becoming less common among the women I've met. If I put a mirror like this in front of my daughter, she just laughs and smashes it. One thing women should never forget is that in the hearts of men who hold great power and look confident, there lives a wizard of Oz from "The Wizard of Oz"— He has all kinds of disguises, but he's really just a normal person. Behind the glossy exterior, you'll often find that they're not superhuman at all. (Just ask their wives to find out!)
So, fellow women, what does this teach us? Why should we care if the remaining barriers and fun mirrors against women have been broken down or thrown into the trash? I think The moral question itself is fascinating, but never mind it. Instead, let's look at your own interests. No manager wants to be operating at 80% efficiency if he can take steps to increase output. No CEO wants to see male workers grinding away if better training and working conditions boost productivity. So, taking it a step further, if there are clear benefits to helping male workers reach their full potential, why on earth would you not want to reach your full potential?
Ladies, take action. The more we can fully utilize the talents of our citizens, the more products and services the United States can provide. We've seen what our nation can achieve by tapping only half of America's workforce. If you can imagine the power of all human power, you'll be as hopeful as I am about America's future. (Translator: Charlie) Author's Words
Female friends, have you ever doubted yourself? Think you are a woman, so you are not good at financial investment? Think you can't learn math well, so you can't learn to invest? See what Buffett has to say about how he thinks women's talents are underutilized. Female compatriots, also try to learn about financial investment~
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