Warren Buffett Shares the Career Advice He Gave His Children, Inspired by Emerson

Like many others, Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, followed a professional path similar to his father’s: his father ran a stock brokerage firm before entering politics.

There is no doubt that the younger Buffett persisted in the field of investing and achieved remarkable success. By the time he stepped down as CEO at the end of last year, Berkshire Hathaway’s market capitalization had surpassed $1 trillion. However, a crucial point is that Buffett emphasizes his father never pressured him to follow in his footsteps.

“He made it very clear to me—and this was very important—that he had no expectation whatsoever that I would go into his business. That was it,” Buffett told Becky Quick of CNBC in the program “Warren Buffett: A Life and a Legacy.”

Instead, Buffett recalled that his father shared a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”: “The power which resides in a man is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”

In other words, one must find their own calling. Buffett noted that he passed on this same advice to the next generation in his family.

“I told my kids… go to work every day for a job that you would take if you didn’t need the money,” Buffett said. “That’s essentially what my father told me.”

Buffett’s Most Valued Career Advice

Buffett often says he discovered his lifelong passion for making money at a very young age.

“I figured it out when I was five,” Buffett remarked. As a child, he sold gum, delivered newspapers, and engaged in other small ventures, buying his first stock at age 11. “It was fun for me—far more than it was for my father.”

For those still growing up and searching for their purpose, Buffett acknowledged that finding a job one would do without pay may require repeated attempts, and sometimes it’s necessary to take jobs just to make ends meet.

“I recognize that economic realities may interfere with your search for the ideal job,” he wrote in his 2021 letter to shareholders. “Even so, I urge young people never to give up the quest, because when you find that job, you’ll never ‘work’ a day in your life.”

Buffett suggested that a sensible approach is to actively seek out and associate with people you genuinely admire and enjoy working with.

“Who you associate with matters enormously,” he stated at Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting in May. “You won’t get it right every time, but your life will be largely shaped by the people you work with, admire, and choose as companions.”