Collection: Li Lu - #2 'My Role Model Charlie Munger'
[Transcript]
LI LU: Now, I have been very fortunate to be influenced at the very beginning by the investment giant Buffett and Munger. And later on I was really, really lucky. It was just a stroke of luck that you can’t even make it up in fiction, that I struck a good connection with Charlie Munger and he became an investor in 2003, 2004. And we’ve been partners since then basically.
He has been a mentor, an investor, a business partner and a great friend all these years. And for many, many years we have dinner every Tuesday night. So that’s my version of Tuesday night with Charlie, every week. That lasted for years until just right around the pandemic. And we talk a lot more.
So obviously, I had a great deal of influence by him. But I have to say that the greatest influence from Charlie was really beyond just investment. It was more of a role model in the way he conducted himself in real life. Now I think for every profession, for everybody, it is wonderful to have role models in life. And often we find role models among the eminent dead because it’s safer. (Laughter)
So it’s pretty risky to pick a role model that’s still alive. And it is always a risk of disappointing. But in my case, I got really, really lucky in the sense that my role model never failed and instead continued to inspire me, right into his 97th year, basically.
And so mostly it’s really based on his attitude towards life and his ability to keep equanimity in a sense, in the face of ups and downs, successes or setbacks. And I’ve witnessed quite a bit of them over the 17 years or so, we’ve been working closely – maintain that rational composure, commonsensical approach to all problems in investment or life. That is extraordinarily hard, and it is a bit against our natural tendencies.
And I’ve really watched up close and personal, how Charlie has conducted himself. And it is in that regard that he’s probably the most influential person in my life. And I have been very, very lucky in that regard.
(Source: https://youtu.be/FiHrWy2jGbA)