Warren Buffett says ‘you’re giving up your potential’ if you don’t have this one skill—and it has nothing to do with the stock market
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May 28, 2026, 11:16 AM ET
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Warren Buffett emphasizes the importance of communication skills.Getty Images—Alex Wong
Particularly with the advent of AI, strong communication skills have become even more critical to success in business. Even some of the biggest tech- and AI-focused companies in the world are shelling out million-dollar pay packages for people who can lead communications efforts at a high level.
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And it’s a key skill Warren Buffett, one of the most legendary investors in history, firmly believes in.
“You’ve got to be able to communicate in life, and it’s enormously important,” the Oracle of Omaha said during a 2013 interview with Levo League, a career website for young women. “Schools, to some extent, under-emphasize that.”
Early in his career, at age 20, Buffett set out to conquer his fear of public speaking by enrolling in a Dale Carnegie course, which still exists today. Before the public speaking course, Buffett said he and the other students in the class were “terrified of getting up and saying our names.”
But over the course of his 60-year career at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became a prolific communicator and public speaker. In fact, his voice became one of the loudest in the finance world and had the power to move markets.
“If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential,” Buffett emphasized.
Buffett’s advice still holds up today. An April survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows verbal and written communication skills are at the top of the wishlist for what employers want to see on recent college graduates’ resumes.
Reflecting on his career ahead of his retirement at the end of 2025, Buffett suggested in his final shareholder letter as CEO learning is a lifelong journey.
“It is never too late to improve,” he wrote. “Get the right heroes and copy them.”
What other executives say about the importance of communication skills
Jeff Bezos is another major proponent of strong communication skills. When he was named Businessperson of the Year by Fortune in 2012, he highlighted how important communication skills are to Amazon’s now-famous six-page memo culture. During meetings, they read through these memos together.
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“For new employees, it’s a strange initial experience,” he told Fortune. “They’re just not accustomed to sitting silently in a room and doing study hall with a bunch of executives.”
But the art of crafting a memo is even more challenging to master.
“Full sentences are harder to write,” he added. “They have verbs. The paragraphs have topic sentences. There is no way to write a six-page, narratively structured memo and not have clear thinking.”
And as Gen Z enters a workforce dominated by AI, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said it will take more than only mastering technical skills to be successful in today’s job market.
“My advice to people would be critical thinking, learn skills, learn your EQ [emotional quotient], learn how to be good in a meeting, how to communicate, how to write,” Dimon told Fox News in December 2025. “You’ll have plenty of jobs.”
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About the Author
By Sydney LakeAssociate Editor
Sydney Lake is an associate editor at Fortune, where she writes and edits news for the publication’s global news desk.
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