@croasian I don't like to sing Buffett's praises - as I feel...

@croasian

I don't like to sing Buffett's praises - as I feel uneasy jumping onto very crowded band wagons.

However, if one puts that aside, and one looks past the adulators who simply get mesmerised by his billions (and who flock to the capitalist Woodstock) - or "sycophants to wealth and power" (as you like to say), I think his intellect and character has a subtlety that may easily elude many, and be especially under estimated by those who are prone to ideology and fervent visions of how the world should be.

But regardless of what value one puts on his intrinsic worth as a human being, I don't think his influence can be denied. Sure, without his wealth (and thus power), he would not have had the same influence. That's just a fact. Without his wealth, he could have had the best attributes of Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, and he still would not have had the influence that he has.

It is hard to quantify the influence of his understated example as a corporate leader, and steward of "great wealth and power", not only on corporate governance (of the real kind that goes beyond the box ticking brigade), but also in shaping young minds. Young minds that as they contemplate their course in life in their quest for prosperity ("sycophants to wealth and power" that most of us are), without the influence of someone like Buffett, may be under the illusion that the only path to success is one that involves a ruthless zero-sum game, without regard for integrity and with no sense of enlightened self-interest. These people are influenced for the better to a greater extent by Buffett, than they are by Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela.

Buffett (and Munger) have enough wisdom, I suspect, to not care about having to proclaim any strong ideology. In fact, I'm guessing they understand that strong ideology is the path to stupidity.