Source: Qilehui
This article is the transcript of Charlie Munger's speech at the graduation ceremony of Southern California Law School in 2007, where Munger shared four universal principles that encompass the wisdom and philosophy of his life with the graduates:
If you want something, make yourself worthy of it;
Hide your wisdom until others discover it;
Get rid of selfishness and prejudice, jealousy, resentment, and self-pity;
Have your true abilities rather than just knowledge that mimics others.
One
Now I will introduce those principles and attitudes that have been most useful to me. I do not believe they are perfect for everyone, but I think many of them have universal value, and many are 'tried and true' principles.
If you want to achieve something, then you must make yourself worthy of it.
I was very fortunate to understand a principle at a young age: the most reliable way to get what you want is to make yourself worthy of it. This is a very simple principle, the golden rule.
In general, people who have this spirit can gain many things in life, and what they gain is not just money and fame. They also earn respect and, rightly so, the trust of those they deal with.
Sometimes, you will find that some villains die with both wealth and fame, but the vast majority of people around think they deserve to die. If the church is full of people attending the funeral, most of them are there to celebrate that this guy has finally died.
This is not the outcome you want; a life ending with such a funeral is not the life you desire.
One very important principle is that you must commit to lifelong learning. Without lifelong learning, you will not achieve very high accomplishments. Relying solely on existing knowledge, you will not go far in life.
The methods that made Berkshire Hathaway a lot of money in this decade may not work as well in the next decade, so Warren Buffett has to become a learning machine.
A lower level of life has the same requirements. I continually see some people getting better in life; they are not the smartest, and not even the hardest working, but they are learning machines. Every night when they go to bed, they are a little bit smarter than they were that morning. This habit will be very helpful, especially when you have a long way to go.
Alfred North Whitehead once said a very correct statement, he said that only when humanity invented the 'method of invention' could human society develop rapidly. He referred to the enormous growth of per capita GDP and many good things that we have come to take for granted today. Human society only experienced significant development a few hundred years ago; before that, the development in each century was almost zero.
Human society can only develop after inventing the 'method of invention'; similarly, progress can only be made after you learn the 'method of learning.'
Take Warren Buffett as an example; if you observe him with a timer, you will find that he spends half of his awake time reading, and most of the remaining time in one-on-one conversations with very talented people. Sometimes it's on the phone, sometimes face-to-face, those are people he trusts and who trust him. Upon closer inspection, Warren resembles a scholar, although he is very successful in the secular world.
Of course, after mastering these principles, you must practice them. It's like a pianist; if one does not practice continuously, it is impossible to play well. So I have constantly practiced that interdisciplinary approach throughout my life.
This habit has helped me a lot; it has made life more enjoyable, allowed me to accomplish more, made me more constructive, and made me very wealthy, which cannot be explained by talent.
But this habit can also be dangerous because it is very useful. If you use it, when compared to experts from other fields (even your boss), you may easily hurt yourselves. You will often find that your knowledge is richer than your boss's and you can solve the problems he faces. When he is at a loss, sometimes you will know the correct answer.
Encountering such situations is very dangerous because your correctness makes someone with status feel embarrassed, but I have yet to find a perfect way to avoid being harmed by this serious problem.
Two
Hide your wisdom until others discover it.
When young, not very good at concealing my thoughts, did not make a cautious effort to disguise my ideas, so I always offended people. It is advised not to learn from me, it is better to learn to hide your wisdom.
I have a colleague who graduated first in his class from law school, once worked at the US Supreme Court, and was a lawyer when young. At that time, he always appeared to be very knowledgeable.
One day, a senior partner from his superior called him into the office and said: "Listen, Chuck, I want to explain something to you, your job and responsibility is to make the client feel he is the smartest person in the room.
If you have any energy left after completing this task, you should use it to make your senior partner seem like the second smartest person in the room. Only after fulfilling these two obligations, can you show yourself.
If you memorize knowledge for the sake of getting good grades on exams, this knowledge won’t be of much help to you. You must master a lot of knowledge and form a framework of thinking in your mind to apply them automatically in subsequent days.
If you can achieve this, I solemnly assure you that one day you will realize without knowing: "I have become one of the most efficient people among my peers."
In contrast, if you do not strive to practice this interdisciplinary approach, many of the smartest people among you will only achieve mediocre results, or even live in the shadows.
Another principle I discovered is contained in a story, where a villager says: "As long as I know where I will die, I will never go to that place." Although what the villager says sounds absurd, it contains a profound truth.
For complex adaptive systems and the human brain, if reverse thinking is applied, problems often become easier to solve. If problems are thought about in reverse, it usually leads to clearer thinking.
For example, if you want to help India, the question you should consider is not "How can I help India?" On the contrary, you should ask: "How can I harm India?" You should find the things that can cause the greatest harm to India and then avoid doing them.
Now I will use a little reverse thinking. What could lead to our failure in life? What should we avoid? Some answers are simple; for instance, laziness and being untrustworthy will lead to failure in life.
If you are untrustworthy, no matter how many strengths you have, you cannot avoid a tragic end. Therefore, you should develop the habit of keeping your word; laziness and being untrustworthy are obviously to be avoided.
Three
One should possess true abilities, not just parrot-like knowledge.
I often tell a joke about Marcus Planck.
After Planck received the Nobel Prize, he gave lectures across Germany, and the content he discussed was mostly the same, all concerning the new theories of quantum physics. Over time, his driver memorized the lectures.
The driver said, "Professor Planck, it's quite boring for us to keep doing this. How about this, let me speak in Munich while you wear my driver's hat and sit in the front row. What do you think?"
Planck replied, "Sure." So the driver went on stage and delivered a lengthy speech on quantum physics. Later, a physics professor stood up and asked a very difficult question. The speaking driver said, "Wow, I really didn't expect that in such an advanced city as Munich, I would encounter such a simple question. I would like to invite my driver to answer it."
I tell this story not to praise the protagonist's cleverness. I believe the knowledge in this world can be divided into two types: one is Planck knowledge, which belongs to those who truly understand it.
They have put in the effort and possess that ability. The other type is driver knowledge. They have mastered the technique of parroting, they might have beautiful hair, their voices are usually pleasant, and they leave a deep impression on people.
But what they actually possess is driver knowledge disguised as real knowledge. If you want to strive to become a person with Planck knowledge in your life, while avoiding becoming someone with driver knowledge, you will face this problem. At that time, many tremendous forces will work against you.
If you really want to excel in a certain field, you must have a strong interest in it. I can force myself to do many things quite well, but I cannot excel in things I do not have a strong interest in.
In some ways, you are quite similar to me. Therefore, if given the opportunity, you should find ways to do the things you are strongly interested in.
Moreover, you must be very diligent. I really admire diligent people. The partners I have met in my life were all extremely hardworking. I believe the reason I could partner with them is partly because I strive to be worthy of them, partly because I wisely chose them, and partly due to my good fortune.
In my early business, I had two partners who jointly established a construction design and Construction company during the Great Depression, reaching a very simple agreement: "If we do not fulfill our commitments to the client, we both have to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, until it’s done."
Needless to say, you all know that this company was very successful. My two partners were highly respected. Their simple old-fashioned concept almost certainly yielded great results.
You may encounter heavy blows in life, unfair blows. Some people can withstand it, and some cannot. I believe the attitude of Epictetus can guide people to make the right response.
He believed that every misfortune in life, no matter how unfortunate, is an opportunity for training. He thought that each misfortune is a good chance to learn.
People should not drown in self-pity, but should use every setback to improve themselves. His viewpoint is very correct and has influenced the best Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, as well as countless others in the many centuries that followed.
Due to the numerous programs and bureaucratic red tape in the industry you are about to engage in, the last lesson I want to share with you is that complex bureaucratic procedures are not the best system in a civilized society. The best system is a seamless, non-bureaucratic web of trust. There should not be too many odd procedures. Just a group of reliable people who have the right trust in each other.
So when you become lawyers, never forget that although you have to follow procedures in your work, you don’t always have to be led by procedures. You should strive to cultivate a seamless web of trust as much as possible in your lives.
If your proposed marriage agreement is 47 pages long, then it is better not to get married.
Alright, that’s enough to say at the graduation ceremony. I hope the nonsense from these elders is useful to you. Finally, I would like to conclude this speech with what the truth swordsman from John Bunyan's great work 'Pilgrim's Progress' might say in his old age: 'My sword is passed on to those who can wield it.'
Editor/Jeffy