Friendship Test by Warren Buffett

Paula Schleis is the author of a valuable article titled Day with Warren Buffett enriching to University of Akron  students in The Akron Beacon Journal.  The article is based on a meeting between Warren Buffett and a few University of Akron students lead by Todd A. Finkle, Associate Professor of Management, Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Akron.  In this article, the most striking comments from Warren Buffett are not about investments but about friendship and love.  While Buffett’s friendship test’s validity is debatable, what is clear is that he has learned from his life’s experiences.

Todd Finkle said many comments made a deep impression on him as well, but one he’ll never forget was in response to Finkle’s own question about the most influential people in Warren Buffett’s life.  Among those Warren Buffett named was a friend who was a Polish Jew, taken to a World War II concentration camp after an acquaintance reported the friend’s hiding place to the Germans.  Warren Buffett said ever since hearing that story, ”when he would begin friendships, he would ask the question: Would this person hide me from the Nazis?”

”Warren Buffett then went on to say that one of the most important things [if not the most important] was unconditional love.  If you can find two or three people who love you unconditionally, you are a lucky person.”