{"id":582,"date":"2012-05-03T05:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/?p=582"},"modified":"2015-01-28T12:58:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T20:58:46","slug":"berkshire-meeting-circle-competence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/berkshire-meeting-circle-competence\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkshire Meeting Week: Circle of Competence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Circle<\/a>Your\u00a0“Circle of Competence” is\u00a0the area that you understand well.\u00a0 For investors<\/a> and business owners<\/a>, it is wise to\u00a0keep your business activities within your Circle of Competence<\/a>.\u00a0 This should not be a limiting concept — once you focus on something, you begin to see more opportunities in that area.\u00a0 In fact, most people have a lifetime of business opportunities staying within their Circle of Competence.\u00a0 One great thing about business and investing is that you can increase your Circle of Competence over time.\u00a0 Furthermore, everyone can be helped by spending time assessing what business activities you truly understand.<\/p>\n

For me, the most interesting question at the 2011 Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> meeting was the question, “If Warren<\/a> and Charlie<\/a> were young and starting out, what new area would they most want to\u00a0learn and include in their Circle of Competence?”\u00a0 I immediately guessed that they would say health care because it is such a huge and increasing segment of the American economy and sort of fits the Berkshire preference for stable, reliable segments (reminds me of energy, or\u00a0home products).\u00a0 As far as I know, Berkshire has not made a big investment in health care.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, Warren responded that he would want to understand “technology” because there are such outsize investment gains to be had\u00a0in technology.\u00a0 And then I was even more surprised when Charlie also seconded the notion with even more enthusiasm.\u00a0 This\u00a0was particularly surprising because Warren had spent so many years saying how he “doesn’t understand technology” and this seemed to imply a disdain for something where the future cash flows could not be predicted.<\/p>\n

I suppose I should have been able to guess that something like the investment in IBM would happen after last year’s meeting.<\/p>\n

What is your Circle of Competence?\u00a0 And, what would you most like to add to your Circle of Competence?<\/p>\n

\n
Categories:Competitive Advantage & Differentiation<\/a><\/span>
Tags:Berkshire Hathaway<\/a>, Business Growth & Opportunities<\/a>, Business Growth Strategy<\/a>, Circle of Competence<\/a>, IBM<\/a>, Technology<\/a>, Warren Buffett<\/a>
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your\u00a0“Circle of Competence” is\u00a0the area that you understand well.\u00a0 For investors and business owners, it is wise to\u00a0keep your business activities within your Circle of Competence.\u00a0 This should not be a limiting concept — once you focus on something, you begin to see more opportunities… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[30,79,91,105,103,104,29],"yoast_head":"\nCompetitive Advantages, Differentiation Strategy | Mason Myers Business Blog for Owners, Investors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business owner and investor Mason Myers offers expert insights on competitive advantages & differentiation strategy on his business blog, masonmyers.com.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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