Munger Mondays in May: Success By Doing The Right Thing

Posted by Jesse Kliza in Business, Leadership, Management

For this last monday in May, I thought I’d end with this great statement by Charles Munger regarding one of Berkshire Hathaway’s keys to success:

“We don’t claim to have perfect morals, but at least we have a huge area of things that, while legal, are beneath us.  We won’t do them.  Currently, there’s a culture in America that says that anything that won’t send you to prison is okay.

We believe there should be a huge area between everything that you should do and everything you can do without getting into legal trouble.  I don’t think you should come anywhere near that line.  We don’t deserve much credit for this.  It helps us make more money.  I’d like to believe that we’d behave well even if it didn’t work.  But more often, we’ve made extra money from doing the right thing.” – Charles Munger

I’m a firm believer in doing what is right, regardless of the cost.  It’s great to see a company as successful as Berkshire Hathaway taking this stance.