Republished from Reuters —
Thinking independently and looking for truth are key to success in both careers, said Buffett, a fixture on the Forbes list, and Jay-Z, cited by Forbes as likely to make the list by 2015.
“When you come to a conclusion you have to really not care what other people say. Just follow the facts and your reasoning,” Buffett said, adding he learned to think of a stock “not as something with a ticker symbol that wiggles around but to think about it as part of a business.”
Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha” for his successful investments, said he learned, “Don’t get elated because something had gone up or depressed because it went down.”
Listening to Buffett in the interview, Jay-Z said, “I could just hear all the similarities and all the things in what he’s saying, right?”
“Because if you don’t look at the tickers, you’re really just searching for the truth within all the numbers and all the chaos,” he said. “And that’s the key to being a recording artist. You’re telling your story or finding your truth.”
Jay-Z, who headed Def Jam Recordings and is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists, said he found there was nothing wrong with making art and money.
“Just so long as you separate the two and you’re not making music with business in mind,” he said. “When you’re in the studio you’re an artist, you make music, and then after you finish, you market it to the world.”
Buffett concurred: “Jay said it perfectly when he talked about how he’s in there recording for himself, and the money comes afterward.”
“I got to do what I love, and it doesn’t get any luckier than that,” Buffett said.
Read The Rest at Forbes.com
