Tom Gayner: Short-Term Patience, Long-Term Results [The Knowledge Project Ep. 186]

Shane Parrish: I think we should start with Munger. He passed away yesterday. And I know he had a big influence on my life and a huge influence on your life. I’d love to hear your thoughts and some of the lessons you learned from him.

Thomas Gayner: Wow, you said we booked three hours for this, and three hours would not even begin to do justice to 99 years of his life. What an amazing teacher. His statements about the best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want and work … backwards from that idea and that concept. And as recently as the most recent annual meeting, I think the story was told about what you should do is write your own obituary and then work backwards from what you wrote [about] you wanted to be. And his life just stands as a testament to that over and over and over again. Now that’s at the 80,000-foot level, and I think that’s really where his most dramatic influence and communication skills as a teacher can really land with people.