hello my name's kid Martin and I'm a
senior finance major here at the
University my question is how do you
instill ethical leadership throughout
your organization and to begin with how
do you know that the management one
level below you is making decisions that
would parallel your own we have all the
money we need you know we'd like to have
more but we can afford to lose money but
we can't afford to lose reputation not a
shredder reputation and therefore I ask
the managers I ask them to judge every
action they take not just by legal
standards although obviously that's the
first test but also by the tests what I
call the newspaper test how would they
feel about any given action if they knew
it was to be written up the next day in
their local paper to be read by their
family by their friends by their
neighbors written by a smart but kind of
unfriendly reporter and if it passes
that test it's okay and I tell them if
anything is close to the lines it's out
and they can always call me if they
wanted to check something but if they
call me there's something wrong with it
probably anyway and that's about it
in Microsoft's case our top management
team the majority of them joined us as
right after whatever degree they got if
any now our business in in many ways is
kind of simple it's about writing
writing great software we sit down every
year to go through the various things
that people have to be careful about we
have products that have high market
share we do business all over the world
so there's some particular dictates how
you work with suppliers gifts they might
come forward with but it's it's mainly
the scene these people in action that
that make us confident about their
behavior I should mention that that I am
the only college grad up here
yeah I'll be taking my Harvard shirt off
pretty soon because I didn't complete
the whole color so I didn't think I
should leave it on the hall though they
don't allow you to work hi I'm Terry
Steinbach I'm also a senior finance
major at the University and this is for
mr. gates since you joined the board at
Berkshire Hathaway
have you considered possibly taking over
for mr. Buffett when he retires yeah
yeah this this being on the Berkshire
Board is a real honor for me and and I
just joined the board last December I
have to say it's not very remunerate 'iv
I can't couldn't even make the flight
out here on my Berkshire director speed
but but Berkshires been organized in a
very unique way and of course very
different from my business experience
which is all really related to software
and what goes on there so I'm looking
forward to being a good adviser making
sure that Berkshire is grooming people
for whatever succession eventually has
to take place but it won't be me
Berkshires got a lot of great people and
they they understand the unique system
there and I'll step step up to it
we pay our board our directors $900 a
year and I really would like to pay him
more but bill so far ahead of me on that
Forbes list already
and seriously we're very very lucky I
mean there were there are people that
would pay anything to have bail on their
board and it's a real act of friendship
that he has come on the Berkshire board
it takes a lot of time if the rewards
are there they're only psychic but it's
it to have him there you know was the
small difference in our ages makes me
feel very good I'm the older actually
I've just explained it makes me feel
very good to know that I've got people
of both of the quality and the
experience and everything else to make
that decision when I'm not there the
next morning so I'm very grateful Thank
You Erica yeah he's got bring out his
high school
I'm Brian poppy I'm a junior actuarial
science major my question for you is how
did you two meet the first time is there
like some sort of billionaires
conference that I don't know about her
yeah we have these things we don't talk
about him now I met Belen on July 5th
1991 and I was out in Washington as a
guest of a friend of mine who was in
editorial page editor of the Washington
Post and and she knew bills parents and
said we're going down to this place on
the Hood Canal but to meet the the
senior Gates's and and and Bill may show
up and I would they'll take it from
there well it was a funny event because
my mom was very sociable and always you
know getting people together and I at
this time didn't believe in vacations
you know I was totally focused on my job
and so when she said to me you've got to
come out and meet it was a Warren and
Katherine Graham and a couple other
people I said mom I'm busy you know and
she's know this this would be great and
I thought well I'm not sure you know I'm
into this software thing and I don't
know much about investing and I hadn't
hadn't thought about it much but I went
out and so Warren and I met and I'd
actually come out in the helicopter I
was planning to go back a few hours
later but then by the end of the day I
was there you know just talking with
Warren and so it began a you know really
unbelievable friendship for me and you
know I could tell that even though he
came from different directions the kinds
of things that fascinated us and that we
thought were important were were very
much the same and so you know for the
last 14 years we found every excuse
possible to get together whether it's
you know bridge or golf but really it's
about talking about the world and
thinking about what's going on in it
that that's at the core of it
the morale that is listen to your mother
Mark Smith's a senior actual science
major could you tell us a little bit
about a your typical workday and how you
manage your time - a lot for like
playing hail it to you and that kind of
stuff well I don't get to play my cello
- I have to say when I played with my
colleagues at work I get slaughtered so
fast it's unbelievable when I'm on an
Xbox Live Project Gotham Racing I'm a
little better at it's nice to have a job
where gaming is a serious pursuit and we
get to think about that and you know in
playing around the latest technology
whether it's you know new PCs looking at
new software sitting down with
researchers it's it's why I think my job
is the best Warren thinks his the best
but I'm I'm sure I'm right anyway I'm in
meetings a lot my calendar gets very
full with those and then at night after
the kids have gone to bed I'm on email a
great deal I get messages during the day
that's my chance to give long responses
and then over the weekend I send a lot
of mail as well as well I take two weeks
a year to just go off and read and think
where I'm not interrupted by work or
anything else I'm just solidly trying to
think about the future and people get to
send me things to read as part of that
so-called think week so it's nice mix of
things about 25% of the time then I'm
out traveling around meeting with
customers Europe Asia and that sort of
helps me think okay do we have the right
priorities what what are people
responding well to and what would they
they like to see us do better I'm on
think week about 50 weeks year you'd be
surprised at at my days I mean they are
they're very unstructured no meetings
none I mean I don't like meetings and
I read a lot I wish over a faster reader
you know I get more done but I do read a
lot and I I I'm on the phone a moderate
amount our businesses run themselves
basically out there my job is allocating
capital and and I that's what I'm
thinking about but I don't like to have
things all packed hour an hour an hour
and and though I are both
extraordinarily lucky I mean we really
get to do what we like to do the way we
want to do it with people that we choose
to be around then they're terrific I
mean we we've really got everything our
way and it's a we're very fortunate and
in his world he has some he has a
different kind of pace than I have but
we both love it the way we do it and and
my guess is that were each the most
productive in that particular mode too
because it it it fits our personalities
and and and aptitudes my name is Topher
Voorhees and I'm a senior finance major
my question is uh after the Xbox 360
where do you see video games going well
Xbox 360 is pretty good step it's sort
of the first of a generation what we
call High Definition games where the the
realistic vision that you get is is
almost like reality the other big thing
is we want gaming to be more social so
this idea of live where your friends can
get on and you can have spectators and
contests and make it into a very social
activity but we think we can draw in
people who are older people who are
younger more women into it by having
more variety of these game types now
every four or five years there'll be a
new game so after Xbox 360 I don't know
what we'll call it you know 720 or
something obvious like that you don't
have to go out much further until the
visual realism is so good that it's like
trying to improve CD audio and you know
there there are ways of encoding audio
with more resolution than a compact disc
but people can't tell the difference
so a lot of it will come back to the
creativity of those game developers we
will start to have cameras and speech
recognition so you'll be able to talk to
the game instead of just using the
triggers you'll be able to take you know
a bat or a golf club and our camera will
watch what you're doing and so it'll be
a bit more like a virtual reality thing
in terms of reacting and then it it's
seen exactly how to respond to that
I'm a senior marketing major here at the
University and if you guys decided to
drop a hundred dollar bill would you
bother going back to pick it up or would
you let a lowly college student like
myself go get it if he drops ten cents
off the floor as he walks out or he
doesn't pick it up I'll pick it up
next Warren Buffett and Bill Gates give
world-class advice to the students about
good habits making mistakes and keeping
their inner scorecard in check and I am
a senior Business Administration major
here at the University and I was just
wondering what is the best piece of
advice you've ever been given and how
has it impacted your personal or
professional lives what did I tell you
that impressed you the most first I met
Warren we were talking about getting
together and doing something again he
pulled out his calendar and the pages
were so blank and I said wow you know
you've managed to avoid getting tied in
to a lot of kind of meaningless activity
and you know Warren said yeah you have
to be good at saying no and picking the
things that really make a difference and
that's one of many things I've learned
from warm but that's one of my favorites
and I so I can blame it on him whenever
I'm turning things down actually I I
told him that was it the truth is I
don't get invited anyplace
I think that and I got an awful lot of
good advice from my dad and he didn't he
didn't lay it on me I mean he just you
know you you picked it up from him but
that was never any of this you know do
this do that type of thing at all but
but I think he really taught me that
it's more important in terms of what's
on your inner scorecard than your outer
scorecard I mean some people get in a
position where they they're thinking all
of the time of what what the world's
gonna think of this or that instead of
what they themselves think about and if
if your inner score card if you're if
you're comfortable with that I think
you're gonna have a pretty happy life
and I think the people that strive too
much for the outer score card sometimes
find that it's a little Hollow when they
get all through I'm Mary riser I'm an
accounting major I'd like to know we all
concern you to be the financial business
experts and we look to you and follow
your lead but when you need advice and
feedback about an idea or decision I'd
like to know who do you go to well
usually I look in the mirror
the nature of what I do means I have to
think pretty much independently because
if I take a poll in effect I'm gonna do
what everybody else is doing and I don't
think much of that usually in
investments and so I have to have an
environment and I have to have a temper
but personally that lets me think for
myself and I've got a terrific partner
fellow named Charlie Munger and you
can't find anybody any smarter any
better quality of anything but we think
a lot alike and we do talk things over
occasionally but we don't talk him over
very often because I know how he thinks
he knows how I think he's what he's
taught me a lot you know and and you
know why should I pay for a phone call
but my boys gonna say so if I need to
get a cabinet around to make decisions
or anything like that I probably
shouldn't be running the place and that
doesn't bothered me to have the
responsibility for it but I I just don't
want to put it up to a vote because I've
seen too many particularly investment
world as you get larger and larger
groups making the decisions they get
more and more homogenized and I don't
think you will ever get brilliant
investment decisions out of a large
committee for me probably the most
important decisions I make or a lot like
when I pick what technologies the
company's going to bet on those are a
bit like warrants where you really have
to be willing to be contrary to leave
some things aside and go into some
places that aren't aren't very hot if
you get out of side of that technical
realm you know I'm super lucky I have
Steve Ballmer who's now CEO of Microsoft
and we're in each other's offices almost
every day he you know he's more of a
business type think or I'm more of a
technology type thinker but we a little
bit have learned what the other one's
going to say or over the years so we can
give each other a hard time about the
positions we expect outside of that if I
had some really tough decision I talked
to my dad I talked to Warren
I had talked to my wife Melinda so I
have enough people that know me and
actually know where my judgment isn't
its strongest where I might get
overexcited about something or you know
forget to think about something and so
they're good at correcting particularly
good at correcting whatever those blind
spots are and I think it's good to
encourage your friends and advisers to
really give them that license you know I
can go to a party and forget to say
hello to various people or something
that's a very minor example of my blind
spot a small number of people that you
can turn to on on certain key things is
a great great asset and incidentally it
at Berkshire still has an integrated
business we have this diverse group out
there but we have 40 managers and I
really encourage them to be doing the
same thing I mean they they run their
businesses and they don't how to do it
they're gonna make some mistakes but
they basically make the calls and they
don't have to check with us it's it's
amazing how decentralize we are in that
respect but but you know we bet our
brains and we bet on people with energy
and brains and integrity and and and
they're gonna call most of them right
and I think we would lose an awful lot
by having all kinds of layers of
committees to review that they had to
check whether that sort of thing I'm
Caitlin Poulter I'm an actuarial science
major and I'm a junior and you both have
several managers working under you so I
was wondering what are some steps that a
new entrant into the job market can take
to accelerate their journey towards an
upper level management position yeah
well one thing I will tell you that I
didn't realize when I was getting out of
school is how much the unusual person
will jump out at you I mean you know and
it isn't because they got 200 IQs or
anything like that it's really because
it's just how they behave you know what
they bring the energy they bring the
commitment they bring the quality of how
they do things how they treat the people
around them all kinds of things but you
will jump out much more than you might
anticipate
things you would want to be sure to do
is whether you like it or not get very
comfortable it may take a while with
public speaking for example I mean that
that's a an asset that will last you
fifty or sixty years and it's a
liability if you don't like doing it and
are uncomfortable doing it but also will
ask you fifty or six years and it's a
necessary skill but a lot of the skills
are just human skills if you get the
best out of people around you that's a
rare talent and it doesn't it doesn't
correlate with IQ it correlates with a
you know an attitude then they don't
toward the world and toward other people
and it's a talent that if you work at
early and you're really conscious about
it you know you don't have to show up
other people you know you're not a smart
Ernie or anything you want to bring out
the best in them it will pay huge
dividends certainly in the the business
Microsoft is in the opportunity of an
employer after they've been with
accompaniment say three years people can
start to rise they can rise because
they're good at strategy and that's
mostly writing things they can rise
because they're leaders of people they
can rise because they're an individual
contributors and we try to have career
paths that are good for each of those
things well the ideal person to be frank
is somebody who's good at all three of
those things and as you get high up in
the organization the jobs really demand
great individual thinking skills being
great with people and great with
strategy it's always stunning to me
given how many smart people there are
and in these individual buckets there's
there are quite a few people but when
you want that combination it's rare and
I don't know why it is it's possibly if
you're a good individual contributor
that you're given so much slack that
you're never encouraged to reach out to
other people and get their ideas but the
the people who have that right
combination or if they if they're not
good at one of those things they partner
up with someone and draw that missing
piece out those are very rare so
whenever we're looking at top spots you
know if we could find more people like
that we it'd be a fantastic thing my
name is Ryan McGlinn I'm from Omaha
Nebraska
I'm a senior accounting major and my
question mr. gates is I received an
email a couple weeks back from you and
it said if I forward it to 20 people and
get I'd get $10,000 I still don't see
the money yet how do you think you got
to be number one on that list yeah I get
a lot of that spam email myself my
favorite was they offered to cover my
legal costs for just dollars a month
trying to track those people down in all
seriousness when you were just beginning
your career what what sort of things do
you think were made a big impact on your
success what habits did you develop and
kind of what what sort of things could
you pass on to us as younger people
I had one habit that I developed when I
when I was at college it was actually
very bad habit which was I like to show
people that I didn't do any work and
that I didn't go to classes and I didn't
care and then at the very last minute
like two days before the test I get
serious about it and and people people
thought that was funny you know that was
my positioning the guy who did nothing
until the last minute then when I went
into business that was a really bad
habit and it took me a couple years to
get over that nobody praised me because
I would do things at the last minute and
I tried to reverse to student side
actually I didn't think that highly of
who were always organized and had things
done on time I'm I'm still working on it
but procrastination is not a good good
habit bill can change clothes in the car
I mean that's why we don't Sherman
Sherman Geico isn't Italy but
he has a little that habit like so but
they haven't you development and so I go
back the other thing is have the right
heroes I mean I've always been lucky in
that respect and then if you know if you
the people you look up to are going to
form your vision of what the world you
know how you want to be in later life
and the one mile give you two pieces of
advice I'd invest as much in myself as
you can I mean you're you're you're your
own biggest asset by far I mean you've
got you've got all kinds of potential
all the people in this room you know
you're lucky to be in this country got a
good education but most people go
through life using up a very very small
part of their potential and so anything
you do that invest in yourself is that's
the best investment you can possibly
make and then I would I would follow my
passion I mean whatever turns you on you
know I I found I was lucky I found
something early that that turned me on
but but you don't want to take a job
just for the money you don't want to
take a job for an organization that you
really don't feel good about or work for
people that you don't feel good about
you know you really want to be excited
when you get out of bed every morning it
won't necessarily be the job that you
have ten years later but you'll be
learning so much as you go along and you
know I I took a job with Ben Graham my
hero and and that you know I never asked
the salary and I found at the end of the
month when I got my first paycheck what
I was earning because I just knew it was
the right thing to be to be doing so I
would I would I would follow follow your
passion I'm a senior marketing major I
guess my question is hearing about the
globalization of business being a small
business owner myself I wonder how you
see that affecting the small business
sector I don't think most small
businesses as I think of them I don't
think it's going to have that much
effect on what you do I mean if you're
bringing something to your customer that
they want at a price that makes sense
for them you know you're not going to be
undercut by whether somebody's doing
something in China Indiana small
business I mean when I think of a small
businesses I deal with they do not have
a problem with with globalization if
you've got a major textile business or
shoe business or
you know furniture business you're going
to be very much affected by what's going
on around the world in terms of
production cost globalization is
important to track because it's changing
the rules of the game as warren said it
doesn't directly affect a small business
because usually the fact that you're
there locally doing a very
differentiated product means that
somebody far away can't do exactly what
you do
the biggest change agent globalization
is the what's going on in China where
they are in a sense even more
capitalistic than we are in terms of how
they're they're letting businesses
develop and keeping things very
efficient and so I think it's very
important what no matter what career
everybody here is going into to look at
China as a change agent think about
globalization and then thinking about
these indirect effects on the
opportunities for the the companies you
work for I think that will be very
important I'm Marissa pond I'm a senior
management major obviously as a public
what we hear most about are your
successful investing in ventures are the
new products that you develop that work
out I was just wondering what is what
would you consider to be the worst
investment you've ever made the worst
investment I ever made how long do you
have well I I've made some very bad ones
but that doesn't really bother me I may
bother the shareholders but that's
another question you know you're gonna
make you're gonna make mistakes in life
I mean there's no question about it you
don't want to make them on the big
decisions you know who you marry and
says some things like that so there's no
way I'm going to make a lot of business
and investment decisions without making
some mistakes I may try to minimize them
I don't I don't dwell on them at all I
don't I don't look back
the biggest mistakes are the ones that
actually don't show up they're the
mistakes of omission rather than
Commission we've never lost that much
money on any one investment but it's the
things that I knew enough to do that I
didn't do we have we have missed profits
of as much as you know maybe ten billion
dollars in things that I knew enough to
do and I didn't do now the fact they
didn't by Microsoft way back
is not a forgone opportunity because I
didn't know enough to make that decision
but there have been other investments
where I didn't know enough to make the
decision and for one reason or another I
either didn't do it at all or I did it
on a small scale I was sucking my thumb
when I should have been writing checks
you know basically and and you know
those don't show up
yeah there's no place where it shows
missed opportunities but I've I've
missed some big ones the triumphs in
life are partly trying to because you
know that everything isn't going to be a
triumph and and and I would never get
too hung up on mistakes I know a lot of
people that really agonize over them and
and it it just isn't worth it I mean
tomorrow's another day and you live it
forward and just go on to the next thing
I think in in Microsoft's case the
biggest mistake is where we miss
something that's coming along is going
to be huge and for us if we get in too
early like the idea of delivering TV
over the Internet
IPTV we got in probably five years
before we needed to it's just now
starting to happen I don't I don't feel
bad about that at all there's a few
things like understanding direction say
the internet search would go where we go
we're playing the tiny bit of ketchup on
that let's you know let's work some
overtime on this little problem here
people are kind of under estimating our
ability to move to the front of the pack
there and we've had that in many cases
we had that when the internet came along
and became this big phenomena that we
needed to really push the company into
that we had that one IBM broke off its
relationship with us and went in to
competition with us that was a very big
challenge but we don't want to have
anything that comes along some
breakthrough in terms of how software
has done that we haven't gotten the best
people in and are putting that together
with the work we're doing so it'd be
missing something like that that that'd
be our worst mistake hi my name is
Moreau axe and I'm a freshman
international business major how much
money as you guys be in both
billionaires do you guys carrying a
wallet in a given time
how much we got in our wallet well I can
answer that because we're going to go to
this evening we're gonna get in a poker
game
okay and it's a $500 buy-in so I made
very sure that I had a fire at least
$500 in my wallet
and I have a little more than that but I
don't carry around a lot of buddy bill
no actually a lot of times it's weird I
don't carry a while at all I do what I
do carry his bridge problems so that if
I get in in a line or things are slow or
even driving I like to have something to
mental to work on he dollars tonight I'm
ready for the game as the event nears
its end students ask questions about how
they can change the world and Warren
Buffett and Bill Gates offer surprising
insight into the true nature of success
I'm a senior economics major a lot of us
are pursuing higher education because we
want to leave the world a better place
than the one we found it and as one
person at the end of the day who can
actually affect tremendous amounts of
people and ideas how do you make your
decisions you're you're changing the
world every day I mean if you if it's
nothing but the children you have I mean
you know you are forming their view of
the world and everyday and you do it
every day so you are a teacher but with
the people around you one of the best
things in life to do is to surround
yourself with high grade people because
you will behave as the people around you
do but they in turn are getting it from
you it's kind of like a planetary system
and and you will try promise you you
know you will change the world in some
way and my guess is you'll change it
very much for the better and and but you
can't expect to see something dramatic I
mean it's not it's not one of those
Shazam boom you know moments or
something of the sort but you you by how
you're behaving
are are affecting other people setting
an example for other people than you you
will find ways to leave a better world
than you entered that one thought I'd
have an honest
I think it's very important as young as
possible to get a broad exposure in this
country to people who are are less
successful in the kind of conditions
they're living in and what kinds of
things are holding them back you know is
education working to tap into people's
talents and given them the equal
opportunity we believe in and then
ideally to get in many places in the
world where living conditions aren't
nearly what they are here in the United
States it's one of these things when you
first learn all of this it's a little
easy to be down because you think geez I
didn't know it was like that things are
improving and the opportunity for
capable people to jump in whether it's
helping with medicines helping with
education
small number of people can actually make
a very dramatic difference hello I'm
Daniel D Loretto from Reno Nevada my
question is our society or our
generation Generation Y we face a lot of
issues what do you think of some of the
most important or most challenging
societal issues that we face and what
can we do as future leaders to ensure
that we create a better society in the
future I think the issues of equity that
we have whether it's between countries
or even within our country are pretty
serious issues and if you get too far
out of whack on that then you get a
divide and and you don't get the
fluidity and the sense of opportunity
that this country has stood for so I
think you know we really got to renew
our commitment to the ideals around
equality and I think there are there's a
lot of actions that that suggest we
should be taking to invest in the long
term that certainly at this stage where
we're not taking right now I can't say
it better than Bill but we we got lucky
tickets in life I mean you know got a
ticket said American we got a ticket
that said intelligent we got a ticket
you know that that said that this time
rather than 200 years ago one the same
talents but not a produce much so we got
a very lucky to get life
a lot of people don't get lucky tickets
you know we were over in China together
ten years ago and we saw some people
that would make any difference but what
their brain power was or anything else
they weren't going to have a chance at
least for a long long time I think we've
got to do a much better job of not only
taking care of the people to get the bad
tickets in this country but in doing
what Bill and Melinda have done which is
going around the world and and helping
those people have things that we regard
as absolute you know Givens in our
society I mean bill has taken vaccines
to people around the world but the diet
very young ages and families that get
destroyed in all kinds of things there
are things that we could do something
about those are the things that we
should be working on in your generation
I'm Jarrett Carlson a senior management
major my question is if you could have
one superpower what would it be and why
one superpower extending extending one's
one's lifetime would be a reasonable
thing yeah I know I don't think being
able to get rid of competitors that
wouldn't be much fun
that'd be like hitting a hole-in-one all
the time being able to read super fast
yeah that'd be nice well Bill can reads
where I'm he reads about three times as
fast and just think of I mean he I
probably wasted ten years reading slowly
no if you thought about granting a wish
I mean what you would with the type of
thing I mean what you really would hope
is that somehow you could reduce the
threat posed by nuclear knowledge in the
world I mean that is that's going to be
the great problem of mankind in your
lifetime and you know the the knowledge
is out of the bottle of the genies out
of the bottle on that and you have a lot
of evil people in the world them and the
question is how do you prevent intent of
evil people coupled with knowledge which
has now gotten more widespread to
interact in a way where huge amounts of
damage or done the people throughout the
world and that I mean that if I could I
think that's the most intelligent thing
to work on philanthropic Lee for example
but I don't know how to do it very well
we do a little but that's you know that
would be the wish but the reason that's
the reason it's just kind of a dream is
because the problem is so tough hi my
name is Kristen Lovegrove I'm a senior
finance major in our society that's so
material and you and your families are
so well off how do you ensure that your
children value things that aren't
material and things that will truly make
them happy in the end well I was a
little lucky in that respect in that my
kids didn't think I was rich and I
wasn't rich for a while I mean but but
even even after I was that you know we
lived in the same house that they only
there's only one house they've known in
their life in terms of a primary home
and they went to public schools in Omaha
and and we lived in a neighborhood where
and we still knew where they where the
average incomes probably is more or less
average for him for almost so they they
really didn't have that problem my kids
didn't even know what I did I mean
because I partly because I couldn't
explain it very well but they did not
grow up in a rich environment now those
situations different and and I'm just in
terms of you know being a celebrity and
all of that sort of thing and that that
came late enough with me that it didn't
didn't really pull pose problems for the
family but it it has to be a it's a
significant factor in I'll turn over the
bill I couldn't I can verify what Warren
said about his house
I was very excited to go visit you know
I think what has he done what amazing
things is he gonna have and I went into
his dining room he didn't even have
seats on the chairs and he didn't even
know they were missing either so there's
no hurry on these things I think it is
tough and perhaps particularly so when
children grow up and have a very nice
house and they think you know what are
the real limitations I do think there's
some very basic things around giving
them an allowance at a young age and
sticking to that and having them decide
okay you want to buy a candy bar today
that means you can't buy one in in the
future and start to figure out that
there are real limits I do think we're
lucky that our children will get to go
to Africa and Asia and see how people
live in and even from a young age
understand that the United States is in
statistically an aberration that the
lifestyles we have we should wish that
many decades in the future that the
world at large can live in these same
ways and you know hope that people treat
them in a normal way and treat them for
what they're actually good at that you
know would bother me a lot if they were
being approached because somebody
thought they could influence something
you know it's an awful thing every kid
should be evaluated based on on who they
are and what they're doing our kids are
rich are going to be rich by the
standards of the world they don't think
they're going to inherit a significant
portion of the portions of either of us
I mean 99% of what I have a will it will
go to philanthropy one way or another
and and and Bill has the same attitude
basically that we are not going to turn
out some super wealthy super super
wealthy because they'll be wealthy I
mean there's no question about that and
that's but the idea of dynastic fortunes
you know I find it turns me off on that
I don't think it's what America's about
I don't think if you talk about it
quality of opportunity in this country
and really having everybody with talents
having a fair shot at getting the brass
ring and all of that the idea that you
that you hand huge positions in society
on simply because someone came from the
right womb you know that I find that I
just think it's almost on American my
name is Mathew bode I'm a senior from
Elgin Nebraska several Eastern European
countries have successfully enacted a
flat income tax and now there is growing
pressure in Western Europe to do the
same
would you support the United States
adopting a flat income tax and why or
why not
well I wouldn't support it I you'd be
amazed how flat it is already if you
look at both the payroll tax which is
over 12% now and that applies on the
first 80 or 90 thousand dollars of
income so bill and I pay practically
none of that in relation to our income
the people that work force it's a big
big tax so if you take the tax that my
assistant or you know the anybody in our
office pays they've got 12% on that
first eighty or ninety thousand dollars
and then they have the income tax and
their tax rate literally in many cases
is not well it's it's it's the same and
maybe even higher than my own tax rate
since they cut the rate on capital gains
to fifteen percent and dividends to
fifteen percent so what has gone on in
this country in the last well in very
recent years is a huge benefit to the
very rich and and not that much relief
to people down below and people when you
read about tax rates that you usually
leave out the payroll tax and they don't
they don't refer this twelve and a
fraction percent so we have come in my
view to a taxation system that's much
too flat in this country and and frankly
I think that that bill and I should have
a higher tax rate on the income we get
we pay a lot of taxes but but it's
really at a very low rate and it's a
rate that's less than half the tax rate
that I was paying twenty five years ago
when I was making
a lot less money they have really taken
care of the rich yeah I go along with
that wholeheartedly I think we probably
need a more progressive system as we
look to balance the budget that at some
point I think people will recognize that
needs to be done probably one of the
ways that'll be done is is that the rich
should bear us slightly a somewhat
higher proportion of the burden than
they do today very large fortunes are
never go through an income tax maybe
it's a little ironic but both Warren and
I would say things in several aspects of
the tax system should be more
progressive I could spend the rest of my
life and I could have done this 20 years
ago and actually pay no federal income
tax because I could have taken my
Berkshire Hathaway stock borrowed some
money against it every year to live on
and when I died you know then the estate
would would pay off the debt on it but I
could have gone through my life a good
bit of my life without paying any income
tax whatsoever and and it's I frankly
think it's it's very unfair hi my name
is Dan Sam I'm a senior finance major my
question is the Forbes 400 put your
collective net worth at 91 billion
dollars by comparison that figure
exceeds the combined gross domestic
product of the bottom 70 nations in the
world how do you feel that your immense
wealth contributes to the balance of
global prosperity
yeah well the wealth in effect is a
bunch of I mean the the prosperity comes
about through the products that
Microsoft turns out I mean they're
changing the lives of millions and
millions of people in the process you
get these eventual claim checks on
society's output these little pieces of
paper that I've gotten a vault called
stock certificates no can be turned in
at some point to to get goods and
services of one sort or another
basically the money is going to go in a
way that we think will have the most
impact beneficial impact on society
viewed on a global basis not just on a
national or regional basis it will go
we hope until as intelligently as we can
make it go to change the lives of people
all over the world now there's two
factors in interned that's the amount
you leave or put in the charity and and
then how efficiently you do it build and
malenda in my view they run the largest
one but I would say they also certainly
among all the big ones there anybody
that I know about they run the most
efficient one they have literally said
to themselves how do we use this money
to change in a major way for the better
the lives of the most people in the
world what could be more rational so
they've combined what I would call head
and heart with huge sums of money and no
one's gotten result in my view like they
have yeah I think the key point here is
that owning in Warren owns a big piece
of Berkshire I own still a measurable
piece of Microsoft
that's not consumption what the limited
resource of society come up you hit
those limits as you consume and so
somebody who makes say 50 million and
chooses to you know just build mansions
and have things happen for them they are
diverting resources in their direction
instead of those resources being used
say to help out people are less
successful and so in fact if you can
accumulate some of society's well
through luck and skill and then make
sure it's used on behalf that the
consumption overwhelmingly goes to the
less fortunate and it's a little bit
like Robin Hood your recycling wealth
from that top part back and it's
incumbent on the people the higher up
that list you are the more in a sense
there's a responsibility to put not only
the wealth but your brainpower into
those activities
I am Alison maca senior marketing major
as college students for constantly
thinking and planning towards the future
where do you personally envision
yourself to be in 10 years I'm glad you
didn't ask my doctor
I'll be if I'm in decent health I'll be
doing exactly what I'm doing now because
I'm doing what I love now I mean if I
could do almost anything that doesn't
require any athletic or mental ability
and I what do I choose to do I choose to
jump out of bed every morning and run
down and work at Berkshire Hathaway and
I don't see anything that changes that
I'm doing what I love and you know
health will determine how long I can
keep doing it but I've told my children
that when I start going gaga and you
know spend my time spinning yo-yos and
things like that there to come to me and
and tell me that it's it's time to step
down but I've told them they better all
come as a group because if just one
comes I'm gonna take him out of the will
now ten ten years now I'll be turning 60
I have to say every every time the the
age ten years older than me always seems
like that's when I'll be old when I was
40 I thought fifty would be that mark
now that I'm very close to that no no no
that's that's not being old you know my
life's work in terms of creating and
companies is certainly around Microsoft
over the next ten years my balance
between the time I spend on
philanthropic things versus my my
full-time job will switch somewhat in
the favor of doing philanthropy spending
more time on that it does mean I need to
get one of the great young people at
Microsoft to sort of get on the hot seat
of setting the product strategy which is
a great part of my job I love my job
it's an amazing job and you know I'll
always be able to have some mix of
Microsoft and then than a bit more
philanthropy hello my name is Paul
Turnus I'm Senior Business
Administration and music major from
North Dakota originally I was wondering
what is your definition of success and
what has been your largest non-business
success in life well we've played ping
pong against a nine-year-old girl
two weeks ago her name's Arielle yeah
how many points did she got up bill got
more poise offer than I did I thought I
was pretty good this little
nine-year-old she's disgusting she
should have been in bed she totally
cleaned us though that was that was a
little humiliating and it's in my case
my my goal for success out outside of
work is is definitely raising a family
just getting started with that and I
think there's some unique challenges of
when a parent is very visible and has
money and things like that it's not easy
in any case to raise kids the right way
but I'd say I you know I I hope hope to
be successful at that so far I haven't
caused cosmetic damage they seem to be
doing okay we get a lot of people who
want us to adopt them he's working on
his children I'm working on my
great-grandchildren but otherwise we've
got the same approach I would say this
in terms of success this will surprise
you but I would say I've never known
anybody that got my age or close to my
age that had lots of people that loved
them that tell anything other than a
success I mean you have lived a
successful life if as you get older the
people that you love you knew and that
includes your dear family your business
associates all kinds of people and I and
the converse of that is that I know
people normally wealthy you know they
get schools named after them and they
get they get you know they get dinners
and their honor all that sort of thing
and the truth is that nobody thinks a
thing of them and I got it I have to
believe they know that and that
everything gets quite hollow in their
life at that point and they've got all
these markers and there's people on the
Forbes 400 you know that are in that
category and I won't name names but it's
I really I can't think of anyone I've
known and I've known some you know a lot
of people by this point my life I
I've seen them in very ordinary jobs of
all kinds of situations
that the people around them love them
they feel very successful thank both of
you so much we appreciate
