Icon among icons

Nature abhors a vacuum, but the world is about to discover that some voids are genuinely impossible to fill. The void created by the investing stalwart Warren Buffett when he hung up his boots as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway last week is one such. Just as in cricket, where any batting great in the last three-quarters of a century could at best earn the moniker 'the best after Bradman', so could be the case in the investing world from here on. While his shareholders reaped the returns, and beneficiaries globally gained from his gigantic charitable initiatives, a posterity of investors can reap success from his wisdom. Buffett's greatness is not just about the fact that an investor who backed him and bought shares of Berkshire Hathaway when he took over in May 1965 would be around 120 times wealthier today compared to the S&P 500. It is as much about the fact that in an investing career that has spanned nine decades (he started investing at the age of 11), 96-year old Buffett's rare record spans not just performance, but longevity combined with consistency and a remarkable lack of controversy. In fact, it was his reputation and goodwill that saved the large investment bank Salomon Brothers from annihilation after it got embroiled in the Treasury bond market-rigging controversy in 1991. Faced with a complete ban from the US Treasury markets that would have forced it into bankruptcy, Buffett, as the largest shareholder, took over as interim Chairman and turned things around. His famous message at that time to the employees of the bank to be uncompromising on ethics with the words, 'lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless', still ring strong. He made it clear through his life's work that being an investing genius is 1 per cent knowledge and 99 per cent discipline. It is the discipline to never invest without providing for an adequate 'margin of safety' (a phrase he considered the three most important words in investing); to stay within one's circle of competence by investing only in what you understand — and to plan for adversity. There were eight recessions and countless stock market crashes during his 61 years at the helm, yet not once was he caught on the wrong foot. Berkshire Hathaway was always positioned to capture the best bargains during crises — situations that Buffett termed as 'times when they will be the only persons willing to act'. As for knowledge, when students in an investing class once asked him how to prepare for a career, he recommended reading '500 pages like this every day,' referring to a stack of financial manuals. That knowledge is clearly affirmed by the troves of investment logic laid bare in his annual letters to shareholders over the last six decades. Spanning multiple market cycles, economic shifts, geopolitical crises, and technological disruptions, these letters serve as a treasure trove of guidance. As he hangs up his boots, he will be regarded as the icon among icons in the investing world. Published on September 25, 2026