By George Giannukos ‘06

What do Fidel Castro and Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man, have in common? Probably nothing, but if it wasn't for Fidel Castro I would have never have had the idea of setting up a trip for 33 Aggies to meet with Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corp.

Right before spring break of 2004, my cousin proposed the idea that we visit Cuba, one of the last remaining communist countries in the Western Hemisphere. He said something that piqued my interested: "Why don't we try to meet with Fidel Castro?" Meeting a dictator? Interesting, but I replied that I rather meet someone like, well, Warren E. Buffett.

The whole group gathered in Omaha with Buffett in November.

If you are passionate about music, you'd want to meet Aerosmith. Or if your thing was motion pictures, you'd want to meet Steven Spielberg. My interest is business and, in particular, investing. The process of researching a business and learning what makes it better than its competitors — and in the process making a couple of dollars as the stock price increases — is something I find fascinating.

After a few e-mails to Buffet's staff, I was amazed to find myself standing in Buffett's lobby in Omaha, Nebraska, waiting for him to see us last spring. I looked to my cousin and said, "What do we say?" He responded, "This is your thing." But before I knew it, Warren Buffett popped out and said, "Aww…the Aggie invasion." We all laughed; but more importantly this took a little of the nervousness out of the air – on our part at least.

And who would have thought he'd invite us back, with 30 of our Aggie friends?

In November, we headed to Omaha for a whirlwind 24-hour trip that opened my eyes to the world of a humble, thankful man whose license plate reads "THRIFTY" — the same man whose investment strategies have made him the second wealthiest man in the world.

1. Integrity

Not only did we meet with Buffett, we also met with people from Berkshire Hathaway companies Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim's (the largest single-store independent jeweler in the nation). One of the biggest themes we heard was integrity and how important it is to the culture of Berkshire Hathaway. As Susan Jaques of Borsheim's told us, "It takes 37 years to build your reputation, and you can lose it in 37 seconds." She said she thinks about this every time she is about to make an important decision.

While 33 of us Aggies were eating lunch with Buffett in a simple steakhouse in Omaha, he told us what he tells all of his managers: To only make decisions that you wouldn't mind reading about in the newspaper the following day.

He said to act as if an unbiased reporter stood next to you as you made your decisions. He guaranteed that we would avoid most of the problems that plagued today's white-collar criminals if we thought like this. He sure does!

2. Thankfulness

It's funny. Buffett, with his loads of wealth, was able to make a bunch of cash-strapped college students feel just as wealthy as him – in a different kind of way.

As we were walking out of Gorat's (his favorite steakhouse) for lunch that November day, Buffett said he really wanted to show us his car. Immediately, the other students began thinking, what kind of car does Warren Buffett drive? Does he have the newest Hummer or a limo waiting to pick him up?

Not exactly. Buffett drives a Lincoln Town Car. What he wanted to show us was his license plate, with the word "THRIFTY" emphasizing his philosophy.

It is quite amazing that someone with his wealth and power realizes just how lucky we, as Americans, are. You might think that someone of his stature is thankful for his material possessions. Not Buffett. As he said, "If I were born in Bangladesh 200 years ago, I would have been someone's meal."

His ability to allocate capital and valuable businesses would be worthless in another country at a different time. As Buffett likes to say, we won the "ovarian lottery." According to Buffett, his odds of being born in the United States in 1930 were 50 to 1. Buffett explained that we pulled quite a valuable lottery ticket: We live in the United States in a society where we have equal rights, attend a major university, and have the chance to make it big. Some people would pay an arm and a leg to have what we have.

3. Business Advice

Buffett shares his stock picks with Kelli Swanson '05.

What would our visit with the world's best businessman be without business advice? He didn't offer us any stock picks, but I do think he gave us some great advice.

Buffett told us to invest within our circle of competence. The idea is simple, but makes a lot of sense. Many entrepreneurs and investors will invest in unfamiliar industries. Warren believes that risk in investing comes from not knowing what you are doing (and not, say, volatility of the stock price, as some would tell you).

So he tries to reduce this risk by staying within his circle of competence. As Buffett says, "It's not important how big your circle is" or how many industries you are familiar with but that you "define and know where the perimeter is."

Some other good advice Buffett gave was to work for someone we admired. We shouldn't spend a second working for someone who doesn't treat us fairly and isn't respected in our eyes.

If I become just one-tenth of what Mr. Buffett has accomplished and become, while maintaining his social responsibility and sense of justice and fairness, then I think I'll do just fine. My lesson: Surround yourself with people you trust, and follow your instincts, but only if you know what you're betting on.

For a transcript of the Aggies' Question-and-Answer session with Warren Buffett in November 2004, click here.