The Man Who Cloned Warren Buffett
- Prem Shah
- Aug 14, 2021
- 3 min read
I was reading a book:
How the world's greatest investors win in markets and life
Every chapter of this book is a focus on one of the best investors in the world and what is there to learn from them for life and investing.
This is one of the guys from the chapters from which I learned something.
He is an Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist..
Mohnish gives his credit for success to his habit of cloning (copying).
He thought if he could figure out how Buffett picked a stock and could mimic his winning approach then he will be successful too.
I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don't believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody's that smart. - Charlie Munger
I have heard this habit of copying/cloning/stealing in the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.
“Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don't come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”
- Austin Kleon
But, Mohnish Pabrai was a real-life example for me.
How just by cloning he created an extraordinary life for himself.
He identified the most skilful player of this particular game (in his case, starting from Warren Buffet), analyzed why he was so successful, then copied his approach with attention to detail. He termed this process cloning. This is a technique for people who care more about winning than sounding respectable or highbrow.
"If you learn, basically, from other people, you don't have to get too many ideas on your own. You can just apply the best of what you see." - Warren Buffett
Choosing the right person is difficult sometimes, Pabrai is not just copying the actions of Buffett but his approach. So he needs to make sure he is choosing the right guy.
Because copying actions is an easy and shallow thing to do. While approach takes in-depth research and understanding why he did what he did.
"Humans have something weird in their DNA which prohibits them from adopting good ideas easily," says Pabrai. "What I learned a long time back is, keep observing the world inside and outside your industry, and when you see someone doing something smart, force yourself to adopt it."
Forcing yourself to adopt it!
I loved this line.
I have seen myself, even if I know that these habits are logically important for me to succeed in life, it is still very very difficult to adapt to them. It's not in my nature to adapt to things that are going to change the way I operate or make me uncomfortable.
So forcing myself makes complete sense to me.
To be a great cloner, you have to check your ego at the door. - William Green
I'm a shameless copycat, everything in my life is cloned.
One more thing I noticed and which inspired me was his openness in admitting that he copied and even sharing from where. I have seen many people, including myself, copying. But I don't like to say that I copied it. It doesn't feel good to say that this is not original, this is not my idea. It takes a different amount of self-acceptance and ego-less-ness to say that yes I copied and from this guy.
It is so clear that just by cloning, one can achieve greatness.
Mohnish Pabrai's net worth is approx. $130 Million (₹970,22,31,500) now.
He runs an NGO called Dakshana Foundation which helps bright and impoverished students predominantly from rural India to prepare for IIT and medical entrance exams.
They have a success rate of 62% which is extraordinary I think
Thank you for reading
Credits:
Photo: William Green LinkedIn
Some excerpt from: Richer, Wiser, Happier by William Green, Mahnish Pabrai website, Wikipedia and Dakshana Foundation website.
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