EO Member Has Lunch with Warren Buffett

Last week I had lunch with one of my heroes, Warren Buffett. It never would have happened without EO.

It all started when I met Mohnish Pabrai, a YPOer and successful investment manager. I first met Mohnish at a general meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was inundated with people who were all trying to meet him. I lucked out. I believe that a key factor in us getting together was my application of the Gestalt Language Protocol, a behavior I learned in Forum.

During our first dinner, I shared my experiences about the topics we discussed. He enjoyed the non-threatening manner in which we talked, and we quickly formed a friendship. Several subsequent meetings resulted. The safety created by Gestalt meant that Mohnish was happy to bring up confidential topics in our meetings, including his wanting to bid on, and win, an auction for a power lunch with Buffett. We worked together to propose a bid that would secure a spot with Buffett, and we won at an asking price of US$650,100 (which went to charity).

An explosion of public interest has occurred since the lunch. People want to know what Buffett was like, what we talked about … all of the delicious details. Much of what went on during the lunch was reported by Time.com . The Web site ran an article on my amazing experience, and it became the most popular article of the day. It seems the public is fascinated by one of the world’s greatest stock market investors, and I can’t disagree. He is one of the most brilliant business minds in the world, and meeting him in person was beyond surreal.

But what’s not being talked about is how much EO factored into this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. EO played an integral part in my winning lunch with Warren Buffett. Had I not learned the value of Gestalt and applied it in my initial conversation with Mohnish, I would not have met Buffett, one of the richest people on the planet. What’s more, I would not have established a friendship with Mohnish that continues to grow stronger each day.

My eternal thanks goes to EO, my Forum and several key members for teaching me some important lessons, without which the power lunch of my dreams would have never happened.

If you’re interested in what occurred during Guy’s lunch, read the article in Time if you would like additional insight.