Charlie Munger was one of the great minds of the 20th century. He had a profound impact on me. Our many conversations inspired my book Clear Thinking.
Charles “Charlie” Munger, a longtime resident of Pasadena, California, was perhaps best known as the business partner of Warren Buffett at the world’s greatest compound interest machine: Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.
During his and Warren Buffett’s reign as the leaders of Berkshire, the company has returned roughly 2,000,000% on its initial value, or 20,000 to 1. This was accomplished in the adult lifetime of two men simply by investing the company’s capital in an increasing number of prosperous enterprises and without dangerous amounts of borrowing. It is a story for the ages.
Charlie was a fiercely independent intellectual who, in the words of his partner Buffett, “Marches to the beat of his own music, and it’s music like virtually no one else is listening to.”
Besides his work co-headlining the Berkshire affair and various other business and philanthropic ventures, Charlie was known for his fluent, multidisciplinary mind.
Trained as a meteorologist during World War II and as a lawyer at Harvard before devoting himself to business, Munger drew insight from the study of psychology, economics, physics, biology, and history, among other disciplines, in developing his system of “multiple mental models” to cut through difficult problems in complex social systems. It is a system like no other.
As a result, his insights on business and life are unique, rare, and correct with unusual consistency. Speeches and writings made long ago stand up in their logic and validity today as much as when they were written, given their basis in the deeply fundamental wisdom of the world.
When asked his secret to success, Munger once answered, “I’m rational.” Adopting the Munger approach to thinking is difficult, as is imitating any genius, but utilizing its core tenets will quickly remove the cobwebs from your mind.
Charlie Munger Quotes
Speeches
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment — The magnum opus on why we behave as we do.
A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom — Charlie describes his thoughts on investing, but only after going through a detailed list of useful mental models fundamental to understanding the world before you learn to invest.
Turning $2 Million Into $2 Trillion — Charlie goes through a long mental exercise of building Coca-Cola up from scratch, starting in 1986, using only the elementary mental models that would be learned by a young college student.
Academic Economics — Strengths and Weaknesses, after Considering Interdisciplinary Needs — Economics has often been the Queen of the social sciences. And yet, it’s still not very good. Charlie diagnoses its strengths and weaknesses and offers ways to improve.
How to Guarantee a Life of Misery — Munger offers all the ways we can ensure misery instead of telling you how to be happy.
Suggested Readings on Charlie Munger
The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life that Really Works — A talk on how to live an effective life.
Charlie Munger on Mental Models — A list of big ideas of the major disciplines.
Five Simple Notions For Solving Problems — Munger recommends a five-step approach to solving difficult problems.
The Tension Created by Stretch Goals — What is a better approach: Setting stretch goals that might cause people to cheat? Or making goals a little easier? Charlie thinks there is a tension between the two.
Adding Mental Models to Your Mind’s Toolbox — Charlie explains his concept of developing “multiple mental models” to add to your thinking toolbox.
Charlie Munger on the Value of Thinking Backward and Forward — You need to learn how to invert a problem to solve it most effectively.
Three Underrated Reasons for Berkshire Hathaway’s Enormous Success — Charlie and his partner, Warren Buffett, diagnose some of the more under-appreciated aspects of Berkshire’s rise to wealth.
Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed — Trust is the key to great relationships, especially business partnerships.
Circle of Competence — If there’s one thing Charlie takes pride in, he knows what he knows and doesn’t know. That is a circle of competence.
Temperament is more important than IQ — “If you keep learning all the time, you have a wonderful advantage.”
Charlie Munger on why Energy Independence is a Terribly Stupid Idea — Charlie takes up a very unpopular opinion on “energy independence.”
The Work Required To Have An Opinion — How to be wrong a lot less often? Know the other side of the argument better than others.
A Two-step Process for Making Effective Decisions – You need to analyze the variables in a major decision and where your brain naturally leads you astray.
Worldly-Wisdom from Charlie Munger — Here is a sampling of Charlie’s insightful comments at the 2013 Daily Journal Corporation annual meeting.
How Good Gamblers Think — The one secret to winning at gambling is the secret to winning at investing: Wait for the odds and bet only then.
Charlie Munger: “If I were teaching business school …” — How would Munger teach business school students how to think about business?
Bad Morals Drive Out the Good – Gresham’s Law says bad currency drives out good. Charlie thinks bad morality is the major functional equivalent in the real world.
The Human Mind has a Shut-Off Device — Charlie thinks we all tend to land on our first idea and stay there, and we need an antidote.
Getting The Best Odds — Gamblers can’t predict what will happen on any hand, but they can bet when they have the odds in their favor. Over time, they accrue an advantage.
How Raising Prices Can Increase Sales — Everyone in economics thinks lowering prices leads to rising sales. Sometimes that is true. But knowing when it isn’t true leads to some interesting results.
Charlie Munger: Why Bureaucracy is not Shareholder Friendly — The constant curse of scale is that it leads to big, dumb bureaucracy—which, of course, reaches its highest and worst form in government where the incentives are really awful.
Charlie Munger on Getting Rich, Wisdom, Focus, Fake Knowledge and More — Here is a long list of wonderful thoughts from Munger.
Videos
A Conversation with Charlie Munger DuBridge Distinguished Visitor Lecture 2008 – In 2008, Charlie Munger spoke at Caltech, offering some of his most incisive, cutting, and original thoughts.
Daily Journal Corporation Notes
Charlie Munger is the Chairman of the Daily Journal, a public company based in LA. Every year at the annual shareholders meeting he talks for hours. I take very detailed notes.
- 2021 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2019 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2017 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2016 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2015 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2014 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
- 2013 Daily Journal Meeting Notes
Articles
Books
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger – Compiled by Glenair CEO Peter Kaufman, Poor Charlie’s Almanack is the greatest compendium of Munger wisdom available.
Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger – Janet Lowe’s brief, readable biography of Charlie Munger’s life.
The Great Mental Models – A series of four volumes that capture the biggest ideas from all the major disciplines.