Thursday, September 27

Warren Buffett's MBA Talk Vs Evolution of Dance

WHO?
Warren Edward Buffett (b. August 30, 1930, Omaha, Nebraska), often called the "Sage of Omaha" or the "Oracle of Omaha", is an American investor, businessperson and philanthropist ($30 billion donation to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!). Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world as of September 2007, behind Bill Gates ...more

WARREN BUFFETT MBA TALK?
This (FREE) Google Video Warren Buffett MBA Talk (made before a graduating MBA class at University of Florida), is simply a must for anyone studying, doing, or planning to do business. You might hate him or love him, but certainly you can spare 1 1/2 hours of your life to learn from his amazing razor sharp wisdom and advice in investment, finance, business and life in general. If you want a more instructionally chunked version (6-12 minute parts) you can always enjoy the 10 part series on YouTube. Here is the Google Video version, if you missed it:


WISDOM OF THE CROWDS?
Amazingly, Warren Buffett's MBA Talk on Google Video has only been viewed +98,000 times (since September 04, 2006). I suppose it sounds a lot, but if you compare it to the most viewed video on YouTube (at the moment), it has roughly 600 times less views. Believe it or not, the six minute Evolution of Dance has until now got more than 59 MILLION views (since April 06, 2006). Alright, I got to admt it is really funny, and even I have used it during a few workshops and classes to loosen up the participants with a bit of laughter! One might also argue that the Google Video version is too long (88 minutes) to get so many views, but the chunked version on YouTube has even got fewer views. The Buffett MBA Talk Part 1 has until now only got +38,000 views (since May 23, 2007), and that is more than any of the other 9 parts.

Let's look at it from another angle. The Worldwide MBA registration figures for the council’s Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), used by 1,700 business schools worldwide in the admission process, were 241,662 in December 2006, up from 238,706 a year earlier and 227,490 in December 2004. For example, if we assume that there are approximately 1 million MBA students around the world today, only 1 out of 10 would have watched this video on Google Video. Hmm, let's hope that this video has been watched in crowds or been downloaded and shared using other tools. Also, I wouldn't be surprised that most of those that have viewed it are not even MBA students (including me!).

WHO CARES!
To sum up, this is only one example (of many) excellent free online learning resources out there that are not being fully utilized by the global intelligence learning network. The world of the Internet has an unbelievable amount of learning treasures, but we often get distracted by all the other fun and junk.

It is alright to have a bit of fun, but we should also spare some time for great learning adventures like the Warren Buffett MBA Talk. Actually, ALL educational programs should make it a requirement in their curriculum to watch, listen and collaboratively reflect such talks or resources.

We should focus more on the people behind the theories and practices than simply learning what their outputs are made of, and how they are being used or practiced. In other words, it is very important to reflect the masterminds or geniuses' life stories, and their struggles and trials leading them to their theories, practices, inventions and innovations. By doing so, we will also appreciate their efforts and lessons learned more.

Warren Buffett is one of those geniuses worth reading about, watching, listening and learning from :)

1 comment:

Jason M. Finkelstein said...

for a live up-to-date look at the stocks in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, here's another useful resource:
http://www.buffettbuys.com