Meeting Warren Buffett

A group of LSU students spends the day with the business magnate and philanthropist recognized as one of the most successful investors in the world.

Nanette Noland approaches her bridge game with the same drive, tenacity and skill that she has brought to her hugely successful private investment firm, The Powell Group, which has diversified holdings around the world.

So it's not surprising that when Noland entered a competitive bridge tournament last summer in Omaha, Neb., she found herself placed at a table of equally driven, highly skilled players—notable among them billionaire investor, business magnate and philanthropist Warren Buffett.

“I introduced myself to him and we've been communicating ever since,” Noland says of her acquaintanceship with the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. “He's the most unassuming person, completely down-to-earth.”

Not to overstate the nature of the relationship: It's not as though Noland and Buffett have become close friends. But they have struck up a correspondence, writing and emailing on a variety of issues. So when Buffett invited a group of students from LSU's E.J. Ourso College of Business to Omaha to spend the day with him last month, Noland was not only part of the contingency, she played host to several students on her corporate jet.

“I teach an entrepreneur class every fall in the business school,” Noland says. “So as an entrepreneur you can image how exciting this was. It was a tremendous opportunity both for me and for these students.”

The trip was arranged by LSU alumnus Harold Melton, a Dallas businessman and investor who earned undergraduate and graduate business degrees from LSU in the 1960s and 1970s. He knows Buffett from the high-stakes world of global investing and was aware that Buffett invites business students to his corporate headquarters every year.

This year's trip included a total of 120 students from six universities around the country. Thanks to Melton, 20 students were from the MBA and undergraduate finance programs at LSU.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to Harold Melton for helping to secure this experience for our students,” says Eli Jones, dean of the business college.

Noland became a part of the trip because Buffett personally invited her when he realized LSU students would be part of the contingency. She decided to make the experience particularly memorable for a handful of deserving students by offering to fly five of them to Omaha with her.

“I asked the dean to select five superstars from the group,” Noland says. “I wanted to recognize the ones who are really working hard and do something special for them. As it turns out, they were all women.”

Once in Omaha, the Jan. 13 trip included a tour of two Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries and a two-hour question-and-answer session with Buffett, at which students were given free rein to ask anything they wanted. It was followed by lunch with Buffett at his favorite Omaha eatery, Pickle O'Keefe, and opportunities to pose with him for pictures.

“It was amazing,” says LSU MBA student Erika McManus. “Going into my last semester in school, it was a motivation and an inspiration to hear such a smart businessman impart wisdom and insights in such a humble and memorable way.”

So what's the third-richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated to be $25 billion or so, like?

Unassuming and completely down-to-earth, say Noland and the students who heard him speak. Honest and candid. Far younger than his 81 years. Entertaining, amusing, engaging and, above all, extremely passionate about what he does.

“He told the kids, ‘If you don't feel passionate about getting up every day and coming to work, then don't do it,'” Noland says.

His message resonated with Mc-Manus and Stephanie Bissell, another MBA student from the group, whose photo with Buffett shows him in a pose on bended knee as if proposing to her.

“He told us to think about what we would do if we had enough money that we didn't have to worry about working,” Bissell says. “He told us if you do what you love, success will follow.”

Though Buffett didn't share any specific stock tips, he did tell the students about his passion for global markets and his long-term approach toward investing. He recounted how he would read market reports as a child, and how to this day he likes to unwind by thumbing through old stock quotes.

“He told us how just the other day he went through an old financial book that had 10 or 15 companies he had earmarked as potentially good investments,” Bissell says. “He was doing that just for fun.”

For Bissell, hearing such stories was a breath of fresh air. Many students she knows are motivated purely by the prospect of financial gain, something that leaves her cold.

“It was good to see someone doing it because he loves it,” she says.

That's the kind of lesson you can't get in the classroom, and Noland believes the students will benefit from it, not only for the near term but also for the duration of their career.

“He told the kids that you can make it on your own if you have the drive and the passion,” Noland says. “He's proof of that, and it really hit home.”