Warren Buffett has said a college degree doesn't matter
Warren Buffett has repeatedly emphasized in his shareholder letters and public remarks that a candidate’s educational background plays no role in his decision when selecting leaders for Berkshire Hathaway companies. For Buffett, character and business instinct matter far more than whether someone studied at an elite university or pursued a less conventional path.
He points to examples like Pete Liegl, the late Forest River CEO who built remarkable success without Ivy League credentials, Bill Gates, who famously left Harvard before founding Microsoft, and Ben Rosner, whose schooling ended after sixth grade. Buffett argues that such stories prove raw talent and operational excellence outweigh diplomas. While he himself studied at Nebraska, Wharton, and Columbia, he insists that much of business ability is intuitive, and that overemphasis on academic pedigree risks overlooking exceptional “natural” managers.
As one of the most successful investors in history, Buffett grew Berkshire from a struggling textile business into a global holding company through disciplined value investing and a long-term focus. By mid-2025, his fortune was estimated between $144 billion and $160 billion, placing him among the wealthiest people in the world. His track record is rooted in identifying undervalued businesses, cultivating compounding returns, and maintaining transparency and integrity. Beyond investing, he has pledged the bulk of his wealth to philanthropy and continues to shape generations of investors through his writings and shareholder meetings.
His views on credentials resonate with other leaders. Former Google executive Jad Tarifi has argued that advanced degrees are losing relevance as AI and technological change redefine work, stressing that qualities like perspective, initiative, and emotional awareness matter more than formal schooling. Mark Zuckerberg, who also dropped out of Harvard to build Facebook, has questioned whether college adequately prepares young people for today’s jobs, pointing to the many innovators in tech with unconventional backgrounds. Across industries, the consensus seems to be that innovation and operational excellence come from diverse experiences and ongoing learning, not from the name of a school on a résumé.